Dear Arik,



I hope you have also read the questions and answers titled Bermuda Triangle, Prophecy in the Talmud and Chazal’s knowledge of the wonders of the fetus. The most important thing to understand is that outreach activists will stop at nothing to hide the full statements of the Sages from their listeners and readers. They even make things up to suit their fantasies of faith, as though Chazal were experts in some hidden knowledge they were not supposed to know. It is enough to understand the Talmudic issue which begins with a discussion of donkey urine, through to camel and horse urine, ending with bee’s honey, to see that Chazal were as far from scientific research as east is from west.

It is written in Tractate Bechorot 7a-b:

They asked Rav Shashet: Is the urine of a donkey permitted for drinking? We ask specifically about the urine of a donkey and not of a horse or a camel, for the urine of horses and camels is clear and not fouled–it goes in as water and comes out as water, and it is clear that it is permitted. We ask about the urine of a donkey, for its urine is fouled. Is the urine of a donkey the product of its flesh and therefore forbidden, or is the urine of a donkey also water going in and water coming out, and permitted? Rav Sheshet answered them that fouled urine is forbidden for drinking, for it comes from the flesh of the donkey.



Another, stranger version is brought in the Talmud: They asked Rav Shashet: Is the urine of a donkey permitted for drinking? We ask specifically about the urine of a donkey, as people drink it to be cured of hepatitis. Rav Sheshet answered that anything which comes from the impure is impure, even if it goes in like water and comes out like water. About this version they asked Rav Sheshet: And is not the honey of bees permitted because they take it in to their bodies but do not excrete it from their bodies? [Rashi: they eat the flowers and make honey from that, not from their own intestines.] Rab Sheshet answered them that honey is permitted as an exception based on the Scriptures, though in general it should have been forbidden, as it is forbidden to drink urine.



Do you think that from this sort of “scientific” writing you can conclude anything about the process of creating honey by bees? Would this be accepted in a university?

Why don’t outreach activists reveal Chazal’s “knowledge” in the process of creating the urine of donkeys, horses, and camels?



Sincerely,



Daat Emet

Dear Shai,



Your letter borders on the edge of what is permitted for posting on Daat Emet. Please try to restrain your attacks. As to your claims: We brought the Talmudic source which deals with donkeys, camels, horses, and bees and the phenomenon of taking things into their bodies, but not producing the excreted item from their bodies. Until here was the words of our rabbis.

Now the question is asked: What do we know, scientifically, from this description by Chazal?

The answer is: Nothing.

The process of creating honey is known to us from research, not from Chazal.

From the words of Chazal what we could learn is that the process of producing honey is like the process of a horse or a camel excreting urine. To back up our words, we will bring the opinions of Maimonides and of Rashi, to show that they, too, did not understand the process of creating honey, and each interpreted it differently than his colleague. “Bee’s honey and wasp’s honey is permitted because it is not a product of their bodies, they gather it from the grasses and spew it into combs so they will be able to find it to eat during the rainy days” (Laws of Forbidden Foods 3:3). This means that honey is created only in the mouth of the bee.

According to Rashi: “That [the bees] bring into their bodies — they eat from the flowers of the tree, and from this they make honey in their intestines.” Neither of these rabbis correctly state the process of creating honey.



In conclusion, let us bring the words of the Encyclopedia Hebraica (entry bees pp. 844-846): “Aristotle included in his ‘History of Animals’ excellent research into bees…in Talmudic literature, in Halacha ,and in aggadah, bees are mentioned frequently…but the biological understanding and knowledge of bees seems limited and blurry.”



N.B. I have a suggestion for you. If you really and truly believe that Chazal knew, through the Holy Spirit, scientific information, why not search the Talmudic text and find some scientific discovery which has not yet been published. Publish it, and you may not only win the Nobel Prize, you’ll also get a nice financial reward.



Sincerely,



Daat Emet