Re: Torah and Science

crmhc (crmhc@wt.net)
Sun, 29 Dec 1996 16:19:54 -0600

Kira Sirote wrote:
>Let's take the splitting of the Sea, for instance. If we ask Science
>what happened, it will tell us of winds and earthquakes. If we ask
>Torah what happened, it will tell us of showing once and for all that
>G-d has a hand in history (a mighty hand, at that). The winds and
>earthquakes are fascinating, but in the long run, irrelevant.

To which Eli Turkel responded:
>The problem is that the Torah itself stresses the importance of the winds
>The verse (Shemot 14:21) tells us "... G-d moved the sea with a strong east
>wind all the night ... and the water split" (see also Ibn Ezra and Ramaban).

All the miracles of Hashem described in the Torah were based on natural
phenomena, i.e., the splitting of the sea, the ten plagues, the return of
the Jews to their land, etc. The reality of these miracles are that they
occurred when they were needed.

Arnold Wolf
crmhc@wt.net