Q&A: Why Didn’t King Solomon Produce Autonomous Cars?
Why Didn’t King Solomon Produce Autonomous Cars?
Question
(Resent with a few corrections):
Hello Honorable Rabbi, and have a good week!
In Kislev 5777, a conference was held in Jerusalem for thousands of seminary girls, in order to warn against the danger of academia. Rabbis and leading Torah figures spoke there, and among them the great gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, may he live long, a member of the Council of Torah Sages (son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and brother-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, may he live long). Here is a quote from his words:
“In the seventh chapter of tractate Gittin, there are two full pages in the Talmud with remedies. The Maharsha says that if a person understood what is written there, there would be no illness he could not cure. I was at the Western Wall, and there was an engineer there talking about the weight of the stones—how did they know how to raise them to such a height without cranes?
It says in the verse in Ecclesiastes, ‘I acquired for myself male and female singers, and delights of the sons of men, shiddah and shiddot’; these are ornamental carriages. The question is asked: for that you need King Solomon? Any wagon driver knows how to do that. Our master the Ben Ish Chai answers: each shiddah was like a ship. Where is that today? He hid them away because he feared traffic accidents. He knew how to make cars, he knew how to devise a crane, and it was all from the Torah.” End quote.
From Rabbi Zilberstein’s words I understand that King Solomon, in his immense wisdom, knew all branches of wisdom, and therefore must also have known how to produce anything that is produced today, such as cars. The only reason he did not reveal this wisdom and allow cars to be mass-produced was because he understood the destructive consequences of modern transportation and wished to prevent traffic accidents.
The obvious question is: why didn’t Solomon reveal the secret of autonomous cars??? In that way he would have enabled his generation and future generations to travel conveniently and pleasantly, while also being safe and secure. He would also have saved tens of thousands and millions from fatal traffic accidents throughout history.
I would be very glad if you could enlighten me as to why our King Solomon did not arrive at this solution.
Answer
Indeed, this requires very serious study.
Discussion on Answer
Maybe to prevent the hole in the ozone layer?
To Boaz — he could also have paved roads.
Back in the day they explained this to me at length in the holy yeshiva: as I vaguely recall, the yeshiva dean of sainted memory was always troubled by the matter of the copying machine—why in ancient times no one thought of the idea of copying by means of one press onto many pages. After all, we find something even more advanced in their times: there were several people who knew how to copy several things simultaneously through their fingers, but they did not reveal it. And that is a tremendous wonder, because go out and see how much this advanced humanity.
Rather, the resolution was (I no longer remember whether it was from the dean or the Chazon Ish or someone else there) that they knew how many terrible things, injustices, wickedness, and other evils would come from this development, so they made a conspiracy of silence not to develop such things. See also TNT, the atomic bomb, MOAB, and so on and so on—the very idea is horrifying.
And I would add that presumably the Mizronikers will add that it was necessary to wait until the soul of the nations became somewhat more refined from their barbarity before they could occupy themselves with these terrible things. (Though this requires examination after the world wars; see also the appendix in Perplexed of the Generation regarding other religions.)
Chaim,
It was a joke. I thought the emoji would help me, and I was mistaken.
And with a bit of seriousness, I’ll tell you a real explanation in my humble opinion: just as in matters of prophecy you need two components—
A. the capacity to prophesy.
B. an opportune time for prophecy.
So it is in matters of wisdom: you need two things,
A. the talent for wisdom,
B. the right moment to reveal that wisdom.
And now, although Solomon was the wisest of all men, that does not necessarily mean that his time (that is, the period in which he lived) was a fitting time for the revelation of that wisdom.
In light of the statement above, can it be determined that Rabbi Zilberstein falls into the category of “a Torah scholar who lacks understanding” (Leviticus Rabbah 1:15)?
Let’s at least agree that he is not as wise as Solomon was in his time?
“A fence for wisdom is silence,” and therefore he didn’t reveal the above?
Does Rabbi Michi agree that Rabbi Zilberstein is in the category of “a Torah scholar who lacks understanding”?
With God’s help, 27 Sivan 5779
King Solomon himself answers: “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” Producing sophisticated devices is craftsmanship. Wisdom is what brings a person to knowledge of God and to the refinement of the soul and of the deeds of the individual and of society. The modern world succeeded in developing sophisticated technological means, but in the realm of values the modern world has much to learn from King Solomon.
Best regards,
S.Z.
Regarding the problematic nature of cars, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook already addressed this in one of his letters, and wondered whether, if a Sanhedrin were established, it would not decree a prohibition on automobiles. After all, a Sanhedrin that executes one person in seven years—and some say one in seventy years—is called destructive. So Rabbi Kook preceded Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein in expressing concern over the refinements of technology.
What’s the problem? Solomon, wisest of all, also knew about the potential for hacking and remote control, and understood that if he produced an autonomous car—ISIS could take it over, and the disasters would be terrible. Why be of little faith?
It should be added that we are like a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant, and as I vaguely recall, the book Cheshbon HaNefesh speaks about this.
With God’s help, 28 Sivan 5779
In the midrashim of the Sages, King Solomon’s “autonomous throne” is described, and this is how it is described in Beit HaMidrash, vol. 2, p. 83:
“… There were six steps to the throne… On each and every step there were two lions… When King Solomon wished to ascend the first step, the lions on it would stretch out their hands upward, and writing was inscribed on their hands, and he would not ascend to the second step until he had read the verses that were inscribed… He turned his face to his right side and would see the writing that was in the hand of the lion on the right, and what was written there? ‘You shall not show partiality in judgment.’ He turned his face to his left side, and it was written there: ‘You shall not take a bribe.’ And so on all the lions there was written matters of judgment such as these, for example: ‘And you shall not favor a poor man in his dispute,’ and the like…
“… And when the king stood upon the throne, he placed his foot on the first step, and the wheel turned, and the lion stretched out its right hand and the eagle its left wing, and the king leaned upon them. And on the second step the wheel turned… and so on all of them. And when he had ascended all the steps, a golden serpent would draw the wheel of the throne, and they would bend King Solomon and seat him on the throne. Immediately the eagles spread their wings and rose on the wheel of the throne, and they formed a covering above his head. And a golden dove stood between the pillars and opened the ark for him and took the Torah scroll and placed it on his knees, to fulfill what is said: ‘And it shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life’…”
We thus learn that the technical wonders were aimed at instilling in the king, as he sat upon the throne to judge, the duty to judge justly and to go according to the Torah.
Even when witnesses came to testify, the animals of the throne were activated in order to cast fear upon them so that they would tell the truth: “And when they brought the witnesses to testify before the king, the wheels of the throne would turn and lions would roar and eagles would fly and peacocks would cry out—and why all this? In order to seize the witnesses’ hearts so that they would testify truthfully.”
The lions that knew how to honor Solomon also knew how to repel one who was not fit to sit on Solomon’s throne, and they struck Pharaoh Necho and Nebuchadnezzar and turned them into cripples when they tried to sit on Solomon’s throne.
That is to say: the advanced technology of Solomon’s throne had one goal only—to bring the one sitting in judgment, and those testifying before him, to judge with justice and truth!
Best regards,
S.Z.
Hello Rabbi,
About nine months ago I asked here above whether it can be determined that Rabbi Zilberstein is “a Torah scholar who lacks understanding,” and you dodged answering.
In light of what you wrote about him a few days ago, I’m asking again (and while we’re at it, I’ll ask also about his brother-in-law Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky):
And this is what you wrote:
“These statements are insolence beyond measure (?), especially with his promises of protection (Rabbi Zilberstein) and those of his brother-in-law (Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky), of which we have already had our fill these very days. In general, their decision-making leaves them able to do nothing except repent and keep silent for the rest of their lives.”
Again, I won’t answer. I wrote my opinion.
And it would seem one could say that indeed Solomon could easily have produced autonomous cars, except that in his day there were no paved roads, as it seems to me for the sake of the force of the question. ?