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Scientific decision-making on issues

שו”תCategory: Torah and ScienceScientific decision-making on issues
asked 4 years ago

Is there a place to decide disputes in the laws of mixtures by scientific considerations? For example, to say whether air and moisture conduct a drop of milk in a piece of meat by testing it by scientific means. Is there a difference in this matter between disputes among Amoraim and disputes among Rishonim?

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מיכי Staff answered 4 years ago

Absolutely. Questions of fact are decided scientifically and empirically. However, not every halakhic claim is a claim of fact. When someone says that something swallows, the question is what is swallowing. There are experiments conducted at Bar Ilan on swallowing with utensils, and those involved in this have also drawn halakhic conclusions: https://faculty.biu.ac.il/~fixeled/FixlerFrankBliea.pdf.
See also here: https://www.machonso.org/hamaayan/?gilayon=29&id=995
It really doesn’t matter if it’s Amoraic issues or Rishonim. A fact is a fact. And if there is a wrong fact in the Talmud, then it is wrong and must be rejected.

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