Who, alive today, can answer questions like R Aryeh Kaplan?

i second that

chalilavchas

There are numerous people who work for Aish, Ohr Samayach and Gateways who can answer these questions. Besides, you can buy all of Rabbi Kaplans books. They are written in a very easy to understand manner.

I would not recommend Nosson Slifkin. Its ridiculous to even use Rabbi Kaplan and Slifkin in the same sentence. Uch!

So according to truthsharer, not only are the gedolim all wrong, but Slifkin is way smarter than them, and they only ban him due to their own insecurities.

A maskil once wanted to speak in the Malbim’s shul. The Malbim did not allow him to go up. SO the maskil said, “I will only quote from sources that you approve of!” The Malbim replied that even of one uses all kosher ingredients, but he cooks it in a treifa pot, then the result is treif. The gedolim have already paskened that when it comes to brias haolam hashkafa, NS is a treifa pot. Beyond that point, I don’t really care.

Truthsharer obviously doesn’t accept that gedolim are correct in guiding mesorah. Someone else started a thread tonight on limud Hatorah. I will copy here what I wrote on that thread.

“It is important for a yid to have his daas shaped by the Torah and not by the whims of society. Talmud Torah is the way to help our mind work the way Hashem wants it to. If not, you have people who issue statements like “That’s the only reasonable psak” which was stated by a commenter on a different thread. One must conform his reason to the Torah, and not make halacha conform to his reason.”

It is much easier intellectually to say that the scientific evidence is accurate, and teitch up Chazal that say differently with lomdus. The obligation of a yid is to take Torah as the starting point and then try to reconcile science, not the other way around. That is a challenge. Don’t ever accuse the gedolim of being intellectually lazy.

Rav Aharon Feldman of Ner Yisroel

any other ideas?

I also concur with the Nosson Slifkin suggestion. He is genuine and really knows what he’s talking about, from both the Torah and science perspectives.

How can you say sliffkin when all the gedolim have already issued their statement that he is unreliable? Do you not consider yourself orthodox? do you have no emunas chachamim?

good job Toi for letting everybody know how your commet was only a joke. Let the truth ring true!!

Truthsharer: Did you miss my Malbim quote above? Or do you just think that if enough comments pass by after a question is answered, you can just put it back up again and it becomes a shlug up again?

It is silly to say that “all the Gedolim” say that he borders on heresy. Many do, but he does have the support of a number of Gedolim as well.

Rav Moshe Plutchok, a Rebbi in Derech Chaim, as well as being the Rav in Manhattan Beach would definately be someone who is overqualified as well as being highly accessible to answer these types of questions. As well as being a massive Talmud Chochom and Posek, he is exceptionally well versed in many areas of science, literature, history, law, and any other area you can imagine.

The are no n’viem today and no one knows for sure all the details of ma’seh b’reishis.

I also forgot to add Rav Moshe Meiselman from Yeshivas Toras Moshe in Jerusalem. Not only is he a Talmud Chacham, but he is also one of the largest challengers against Rabbi Natan Slifkin. I heard he is coming out with a new book that specifically challenges statements made by Rabbi Slifkin.

hello99- i had to retract my statement. in regards to your taaneh, i disagree. the chofetz chaim is mivu’ar that if people are following someone kineged hatorah its a mitzva to speak out. i personally saw the letter that R shlomo miller shlita of toronto wrote against him. and R Shlomo isnt manipulated by askanim. also funny how you jump to shry lh on me when all the kollel/chareidi bashing doesnt bother you that much, and loshon hora (or motzi shem ra) is tzen mohl ehrger on a tzibbur.