By the Grace of G-d 26th of Tishrei, 5734 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

It is quite some time since I heard from you, I trust that the initial inevitable problems attending aliyah have been overcome, and that you have now settled down satisfactorily in every respect, not least in respect of making it an "aliyah” spiritually, in the land which is universally recognized as the "Holy Land," and, in the words of the Torah:

ארץ אשר ה‘ אלקיך דורש אותה, תמיד עיני ה״א בה מראשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה. (דברים, עקב, יא:יב)

As we are now near the conclusion of the Chodesh kloli for the entire year, I take this opportunity of sending you the enclosed, which I trust you will find interesting.

I owe you a reply to your letter in which you write on the subject of science vis-a-vis religion, wherein you express, among other things, your doubts about religion's general negation of science.

You are right that such is not the Torah view, as I discussed it at some length elsewhere. I pointed out that, on the contrary, science enjoys a greater validity status in Torah than it claims for itself according to its current view.¹ As I stated in the letter to which you refer,² science can speak only in terms of probability, contingent upon scientific knowledge as it is today, and other qualifications, as you well know; whereas Torah, Toras Emes, declares that Halacha is the word of G-d, Creator and Master of the Universe, and declares this unequivocally, and Halacha declares that pikuach nefesh supersedes Shabbos and Yom Kippur, and the deciding factor in this is the opinion of a doctor and not a layman.

This attitude to science is further emphasized by the Baal haTanya (end of ch. 8), where he speaks of the Chochmos hoUmos as being useful to the extent that they can be conducive to avodas haShem and His Torah. This is not in contradiction to what he declares there earlier as to how wary one must be of science when the said condition is lacking. For the essential thing in this case is the basic approach to scientific exploration, whether it comes from the viewpoint of one who is, first of all, a maamin, who also recognizes that the Torah requires everyone, especially a Jew, to utilize his capacities, particularly the noblest of all, namely, the power of the intellect and intellectual research, yet at no time losing sight of the fact this, too, is only a human, hence a limited and not infallible, capacity, and consequently, should be used only within the bounds of emunah; or — whether, the approach to science is that of the "science of the gentiles" who claim that science is the “final” word, qualifying it only by its present standing and conclusions. The latter approach is that of the philosophy of those who proclaim " kochi v'otzem yodi''³ only on a more sophisticated level.

The importance of the said distinction is pointedly underscored by Chazal in the principle that even the approach to Torah must be on the basis of na'aseh before v’nishma (Shabbos, end of 88a, see it there), pointing out that if one reverses the order — even in Torah study — it will lead one astray and into distorted notions, in support of which they cite (Mishlei 11:3) - תומת ישרים תנחם וסלף בוגדים ישדם.

If this is so in regard to Torah study, how much more so in regard to secular study, i.e. science.

To conclude this letter on a timely topic, having just celebrated Succos, which, this year, recalled the mitzvah of hakhel, involving all our people, men, women, and children, and since in a spiritual way, if not in actual practice, all mitzvot of Bizman haBayis are extant also now,

I trust you will utilize your capacities to the full, in the spirit of Hakhel:

למען ישמעו ולמען ילמדו ויראו את ה‘ אלקיכם ושמרו לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת with emphasis on “all the words of this Torah," (דברים, וילך לא: יב) without distinction between the so-called "rational" mitzvot and those called "chukim."

With prayerful wishes to you and your family

להסתדרות טובה בגשמיות וברוחניות גם יחד ולגדל כל ילדיהם שיחיו לתורה ולחופה ולמעשים טובים מתוך הרחבה בכבוד ובברכה