Natan Slifkin - Rabbinic Ban

Rabbinic Ban

In 2005, a group of Haredi rabbis in Israel and the United States, including Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, Dovid Feinstein, Aharon Leib Shteinman, Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg, and Shmuel Auerbach declared a ban on Slifkin's books, so that Haredi Jews in their communities could not purchase or read his work. The main objection is Slifkin's suggestion that the Talmud is mistaken on certain scientific matters and the universe is really billions of years old. All of the rabbis in question belong to the Lithuanian (non-Hasidic) stream of Haredi Judaism.

The rabbis object to two aspects of Slifkin's work: First, it objects to Slifkin's assertion that the scientific writing contained in the Talmud may not be as authoritative as the more overtly religious content, "that Chazal Hakedoshim can err chas vesholom in worldly matters." Secondly, it objects to the tone of Slifkin's work, stating that "even what is not heretical is expressed in a way only a heretic would speak."

The ban sparked a debate, largely on the Internet which led to Slifkin's publisher, Targum Press discontinuing distribution of his books. Yashar Books, a smaller Jewish publisher, agreed to distribute them. Materials written by Slifkin were removed from the websites of influential Orthodox kiruv (Jewish outreach) organizations, such as Aish HaTorah.

Moment magazine quoted an anonymous rabbi who said: “The Slifkin ban is a huge break. It’s a kind of power struggle, and those who didn’t sign the ban are outraged right now. I’m talking about rabbis with long white beards who are furious about it...He’s saying out loud what a lot of people have been talking about quietly all along. To those people, he’s a kind of figurehead."

Rabbi Aharon Feldman and Rabbi Shlomo Miller wrote articles in defense of the ban, and Rabbi Moshe Meiselman gave three lectures on this topic at Toras Moshe, although Rabbi Feldman grants that, even in the opinion of Rabbi Eliashiv, Slifkin "cannot be called a heretic" even though parts of the books are, in their view, heretical, because "he did follow, at least, a minority opinion." These defenses of the ban were themselves controversial, and Rabbi Slifkin posted them all on his website, together with rebuttals written by various people. Rabbi Meiselman requested that Rabbi Slifkin remove the lectures from his website, a request to which Slifkin did not acquiesce.

On October 5, 2008, Slifkin published an essay entitled In Defense of My Opponents in which he acknowledges that there is a reasonable basis for a ban on his books in certain communities.