Natan Slifkin (also Nosson Slifkin) (; born 25 June 1975 in

Manchester, England Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

), popularly known as the "Zoo Rabbi", is a British-born Israeli

Modern Orthodox Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

community

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

, and the director of the

Biblical Museum of Natural History The Biblical Museum of Natural History (), currently located in Hartuv at the entrance to Beit Shemesh, Israel, was founded in 2014 by Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin, affectionately referred to as the "Zoo Rabbi." Vision and purpose The establishment ...

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city council (Israel), city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named afte ...

, Israel. Slifkin is best known for his interests in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

, Judaism's relationship to

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

biblical history The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

, and his writing on these topics.

Biography

Slifkin was born and raised in Manchester,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where he studied at a local

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

called Yeshivas Shaarei Torah. He left in 1995 to continue his studies in the Medrash Shmuel yeshiva and Mir Yeshiva in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

Ohr Somayach Ohr Somayach may refer to: * Ohr Somayach (book), commentary by Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk **''Ohr Somayach'', common reference to Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk *Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem, a network of yeshivas based in Israel * Ohr Somayach, Monsey, ...

Institutions, where he taught Talmud and contemporary Judaism. He now lives with his family in

Ramat Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named after and located near the ...

, where he runs the

. Slifkin has a master's degree in Judaic studies from the Lander Institute in Jerusalem, and a doctorate in Jewish history from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

, completed in 2016. His dissertation was entitled: ''Rabbinic and Maskilic Encounters with Zoology in the Nineteenth Century''.

Views and opinions

Slifkin explores traditional rabbinic perspectives in his books, and discusses how they may relate to issues of interest to modern

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. Slifkin is the author of numerous books dealing with the intersection of Torah, science, and zoology. In Slifkin's approach to the reconciliation of Genesis and modern scientific theory, traditional

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

mandates neither a literalistic approach to

biblical cosmology Biblical cosmology is the biblical writers' conception of the cosmos as an organised, structured entity, including its origin, order, meaning and destiny. The Bible was formed over many centuries, involving many authors, and reflects shifting ...

, nor a belief that the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

is always correct about scientific matters. Views similar to these were accepted by some as within the realm of Orthodox Judaism. A public debate triggered by Slifkin's books began regarding how literally Orthodox Judaism interprets the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

, and how much weight should be given to the scientific discussions of rabbinic sages.

Controversy

Slifkin's books, which had "cautious references to evolutionary theory", led to a denunciation of his work by "ultra-Orthodox" authorities. The rabbis object 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 The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

, which led Slifkin's publisher,

Targum Press Menucha Publishers is an Orthodox Jewish English-language publishing company based in Brooklyn, New York. Originally founded as a distributor for Targum Press, in 2011 after Targum's shutdown. Menucha established itself as an independent publis ...

, to discontinue distribution of his books. Yashar Books, a smaller Jewish publisher, agreed to distribute them. ''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." Rabbis Aharon Feldman and Shlomo Miller wrote articles in defense of the ban, and Rabbi

Moshe Meiselman Moshe Meiselman () is an American-born Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Yeshiva Toras Moshe in Jerusalem, which he established in 1982. He also founded and served as principal of Yeshiva University of Los Angeles (YULA) from 1977 to 19 ...

gave three lectures on this topic at Toras Moshe. These defenses of the ban were themselves controversial, and Slifkin posted them all on his website, together with rebuttals written by various people. Meiselman requested that Slifkin remove the lectures from his website, but Slifkin did not. In 2013, Meiselman released a nearly 900-page book entitled "Torah, Chazal, and Science", which he stated "was in response to some recent controversies surrounding issues of Torah and science. A spate of books ... have attempted to introduce a radical new theology and proclaim it compatible with classic Jewish belief." Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz broke with his Haredi colleagues in not seeking a ban on Slifkin's books. On 5 October 2008, Slifkin published an essay entitled, ''In Defense of My Opponents'', in which he says that there is a reasonable basis for a ban on his books in certain communities.

Published works

*''The Science of Torah: The Reflection of Torah in the Laws of Science, The Creation of the Universe and the Development of Life'' (Targum Press 2001) . Later republished in a revised and expanded edition as ''The Challenge of Creation: Judaism's Encounter with Science, Cosmology and Evolution'' (Zoo Torah/Yashar Books 2006) *''Mysterious Creatures'' (Targum Press 2003) . Republished in a revised and expanded edition as ''Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythical Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash'' (Zoo Torah/Yashar Books 2006) *''The Camel, the Hare and the Hyrax: A Study of the Laws of Animals with One Kosher Sign in Light of Modern Zoology'' (Targum Press 2004) . Republished with corrections in 2011. *''Lying for Truth: Understanding Yaakov's Deception of Yitzchak'' (Targum Press 1998) * ''Second Focus: Original and Stimulating Essays on Jewish Thought'' (Targum Press 1999) *''In Noah's Footsteps: Biblical Perspectives on the Zoo'' ( The Tisch Family Zoological Gardens 2000) *''Nature's Song: An Elucidation of Perek Shirah, the Ancient Text that Lists the Philosophical and Ethical Lessons of the Natural World'' (Targum Press 2001) . Republished in 2009. *''Man and Beast: Our Relationship with Animals in Jewish Law and Thought'' (Zoo Torah/Yashar Books 2006) *''The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom'' (Maggid 2015) *''Rationalism Vs. Mysticism: Schisms in Traditional Jewish Thought'' (Gefen 2021) Slifkin writes a blog called "Rationalist Judaism", in which he promulgates his opinions on Jewish thought. He has also published

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

s on many of his topics of interest.

References

External links