Responsa zu Mischlej 22:34

However, the well-known [Greek philosophy] books of "Physics", this is not being referred to, though it is proper to distance oneself from them if they try to uproot the principles of our holy Torah, and especially two foundational pillars, which is creation ex nihilo and God's personal divine providence within the human species. They bring demonstrations and proofs according to their opinion to uphold eternity of the world, that it comes as a necessity from God, such as given that light necessarily comes from the sun, and the shade from the tree, God has no ability to change something as part of his very being, He cannot lengthen the wing of a fly and cannot shorten the leg of an ant, just like the sun cannot change the light which comes from it, nor the tree the shade. And similarly with Divine Providence, there is none beneath the sphere of the moon. They write in their books that one can only know through speculation, not through an accepted tradition. And we, receivers of the truth of our knowledge that our Torah is perfect, that it came to us at Sinai from the mouth of God, through the master of all prophets [Moses], this is higher than everything; all their speculation is nothing in comparison. We learn in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 90a) that "These are the ones without a share in the World to Come: One who says: There is no resurrection of the dead derived from the Torah, and one who says: The Torah did not originate from Heaven, and an epikoros. Rabbi Akiva said: Even those who read external books." The Talmud states that it was taught that this refers to the books of the heretics. Is there any greater "books of heretics" than these that try to disprove the principles of the Torah with proofs and demonstrations?! And Rabbi Akiva didn't say, "Those who *believe* in the external books," but rather even those who read them, lest their hearts are lead astray to believe their words, like what happened with Elisha [ben Avuya], Acher, which we see in the Talmud (Chagigah 15b), "They said about Elisha-Acher that when he would stand up in the study house, many books of heresy would fall from his lap." The Nagid, Rabbi Shmuel Halevi, already asked from Rabbi Hai Gaon whether one can learn these wisdoms, and he responded, "The goodness of the body and the ways of a man should be accomplished through learning Mishna and Talmud, and it is the fortune of Israel, for study of Torah helps him and others like him, and helps the regular masses, for it will draw them after the ways of the Torah and the commandments. And one who turns his heart away to study those things, it will turn one away from Torah and fear of heaven, it will cause him to lose those things, for he will cast off all the words of the Torah completely, and from this removal a person will have mistaken ideas, to the point that even abandoning worship won't be a concern for him. But those who have a solid foundation in Torah and fear of heaven stay away from this, for they lead the masses for the good, without doubts, and don't wish to place and doubts about God, and if you will see some people studying these wisdoms, and they will say to you that it is a paved path, that they can achieve knowledge of the Creator, you should not hate them, and you should know that they are lying to you, and one will not find fear of heaven, fear of sin, zealousness to perform commandments, humility, purity, holiness, except with someone who studies Mishna and Talmud." Thus was his answer. And the Rashba also wrote in a letter to stay away from those among them who are always learning these wisdoms, "And the youth brought up on the wisdom of "Physics" and sees Aristotle's proofs will always believe him, and he will will deny the principles [of faith], and if we try to respond to him, he will blaspheme all the more so." One should not bring proof from Maimonides [who studied Greek philosophy], for he first studied the entire Torah completely, its laws, narratives, the Tosefta, the Sifra, the Sifre, the entire Talmud both Babylonian and Jerusalem, as we can see from his Mishneh Torah that he wrote. Plus, he wrote the Guide for the Perplexed to respond to the heretic to fight the proofs and demonstrations that the Philosopher [Aristotle] offered for the eternality of the world, and also for divine providence, and because in his day, many Jews were perplexed about the principles of the Torah out of what they learned from that wisdom. One can also say like that which is stated in the Talmud (Chagigah 15b) regarding Rabbi Meir, "How could he learn Torah from Acher?" And they answered: Rabbi Meir found a verse and expounded it, (Proverbs 22:17) 'Incline your ear and listen to the words of the sages; Pay attention to my wisdom." It does not say "to their wisdom", but "to my wisdom", meaning to wicked ones who one must nevertheless incline one's ear toward. They explain there that this refers to a great man but not a regular person. Meaning, a student who is great, can separate the kernel from the chafe, as they said there about Rabbi Meir, he would eat the content of the pomegranate and through away the outer shell. Thus, Maimonides brings this verse in the beginning of the Guide. Nevertheless, Maimonides was drawn a bit after some of these proofs, like the [resurrection] of the son of the Zarephath woman [see Guide for the Perplexed 1:42], and regarding the revelation at Sinai. Perhaps he only allowed for these things because he could not give great answers for them from end to end, and so he explained some minor things in the Torah with a view of accordance with philosophy. This, too, he wrote in hints, and hid his opinion of the angels that Abraham saw, which he said happened in a prophetic vision, which Nachmanides responded to in his commentary on the Torah. And the sage Rabbi Levi [ben Gershon] was also a great sage, learned in Talmud, and he produced a beautiful commentary to the Torah and the Prophets, and he followed after Maimonides, but he also really inclined much more to those wisdoms that the way of truth, and he took the opposite approach to that of Maimonides in certain topics, such as whether God has knowledge of the possible future, and also whether the sun actually stood for Joshua, and the promise (Isaiah 38:8) of the sun and shadow - he wrote things that is forbidden to hear. Similarly regarding life of the soul after death, and divine providence regarding the punishment of the wicked in this world, all of which is written in the book he titled "Wars of the Lord." Now every person should make an a fortiori argument for himself using these two kings [Maimonides and Gersonides], that if they could not stay on the straight and narrow regarding some things, and they were among the greatest in the world, how much more so we, who cannot compare to them, we see those who have cast off the yoke of worship, loosening the bind of Torah and the commandments, from learning these wisdoms, like what Rabbi Hai Gaon wrote in that response I cited above.

They responded [in my dream]: "You are not wise to ask such a question," (Kohelet 7:10) "for the ways of the Lord are upright, the righteous will walk their paths, and the wicked shall stumble" (Hosea 14:10), "Have I not written it three times?" (Proverbs 22:20) "Incline after the many" (Exodus 23:2) - and the majority today forbid such things. In the Heavenly Yeshiva, there is no dispute on this subject, and we all rule that this is forbidden.