Q&A: Pas Nishet Argument
Pas Nishet Argument
Question
I’m sitting here in the university library, and on the shelf next to me there are various editions of the New Testament, and my question is this—
Suppose I were the person in charge of the place and decided which books to keep. On the one hand, a university library can’t not have such central books as the Quran and the New Testament (and even Eastern wisdom texts, which I’m not knowledgeable about), but on the other hand, at the end of the day there is a prohibition involved. So what would I do?
(There’s a well-known annoying phenomenon that when edge-case questions are asked purely for the sake of study, rabbis dodge them and like to say that since the case didn’t actually happen there won’t be “divine assistance” in giving the answer… From my impression, the Rabbi opposes this phenomenon?)
Answer
I don’t see any problem with keeping such a book. It is intended for study purposes. For study purposes one may also enter churches and read the New Testament.