What is the connection between the Maharal and SHerlock Holmes?
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SimchasTorah
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The original: www.horrormasters.com/Text/a1973.pdf was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories; but this story doesn't contain Holmes. Like the Holmes stories, it did appear in The Strand magazine, which was immediately translated into Russian; Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg, the Maharal-story author, could read Russian (job requirement for being a "crown rabbi"). Rabbi Rosenberg later described the story as "folk literature", never intended as true history! This and more from Leiman's article/lecture. – Shalom Aug 19 '10 at 12:50
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2Another link: http://www.leimanlibrary.com/texts_of_publications/83.%20The%20Adventure%20of%20the%20Maharal%20of%20Prague%20in%20London.pdf – YDK Aug 23 '10 at 03:34
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Well not a connection, but a sharp distinction: Maharal very much valued knowledge of science; his student worked in the lab of astronomer Tyco Brahe and wrote "Nechmad v'Naim", synthesizing Torah with astronomy; rumor also has it that Maharal himself sat in on Brahe's lectures when the latter visited Prague from his native Copenhagen.
On the other hand, here's Holmes, from A Study in Scarlet:
... he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. ... "You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."
"To forget it!"
"You see," he explained, "...It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
"But the Solar System!" I protested. "What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.
Shalom
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Maharal banned Azariah deRossi's book Me'or Einayim just as much as Sherlock Holmes did.
Shalom
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1Exactly. And any claim that Maharal banned Meor Einayim is likewise fiction. – Shalom Aug 20 '10 at 01:19
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From the way he talks about it in B'er Hagolah it is not hard to imagine him banning it. – Yahu Aug 20 '10 at 06:54
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IN Be’er Shishi of Be’er HaGolah he writes concerning the book Me’or Einayim: “Cursed is the day on which these things were exposed and revealed. A person who does not know how to understand the words of the Sages, even one thing from their minor statements…how did he not fear to speak of the Sages, and he speaks of them as though they are people in his generation, his friends… And furthermore these words were putinto print… they are worthy of being burned like the books of heretics, and they are even worse than them, and they were printed as though they are holy books…" – Yahu Aug 20 '10 at 07:09
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He very strongly attacks Meor Einayim's approach, no doubt about it! But did he actually ever declare a ban? – Shalom Aug 20 '10 at 08:34
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You want to know if there was a "chalos ban"? I do not know if there are such halachos. But I do know that chazal banned the books of the heretics and Maharal said this is worse, so ... 1+1=2. – Yahu Aug 20 '10 at 17:25
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BTW, my translation of Maharal was taken from Nosson Slifkin's translation of Rav Moshe Shapiro's letter condemning three of his books. (Why reinvent the wheel?) – Yahu Aug 20 '10 at 17:27
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Another point: Don't bring me a proof that he did not consider it banned from the fact that his student (the Tosfos Yomtov) quotes it. That would be pure speculation and we do have the Maharal's own words on the subject. – Yahu Aug 20 '10 at 17:30
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He said "I consider this work [or portions thereof] worthy of burning"; IMHO, it's unclear whether that means "I therefore proclaim it assur for anyone to read it", or "I disagree very strongly with it and believe most people would not be well-served reading it." The fact that his students then quote it would indicate the latter; again I consider Maharal's words ambiguous. – Shalom Aug 20 '10 at 17:45
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I'll admit that this answer was somewhat controversial and "chappy." (And intended as such.) Notice how much more interest it's gotten than the astronomy answer. I don't think debating this further will help; I hereby vote to delete it. – Shalom Aug 20 '10 at 17:46
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And I vote to undelete it for two reasons: #1: I'm having too much fun. #2: Don't think you can get off with the last word by deleting it! ;-) – Yahu Aug 22 '10 at 06:15
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My point is very simple: Hazal banned the books of the heretics. Maharal considers Meor Einayim as worse. Ergo, a fortiori, Maharal would consider M.E. under the ban made by Hazal. – Yahu Aug 22 '10 at 06:16
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Reb Yahu; the gaol of m.y is questions that can be answered, not merely discussed or debated ad infinitum. You won't find this convincing, I realize; nonetheless: a.) have to understand exactly what chazal banned and how (e.g. plenty of anti-missionary rabbis have read the New Testament) b.) have to understand rabbinic writing, how literally did Maharal mean "deserve to be burned and worse than chazal" [really, actually, literally? Better to read Galatians than Meor Einayim?]. – Shalom Aug 22 '10 at 23:13
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c.) It's possible Chazal's category of banned books was closed and can't subsequently be expanded; i.e. it may be worse than what Chazal assered, but we're not chazal so all we can do is excoriate. Regardless: you read Maharal's statement as unambiguously banning, therefore any proof based on a later talmid or other rabbi reading Meor Einayim is irrelevant, the Maharal said assur. I'd read Maharal's statement as ambiguous (whether there's a bona-fide literal actual ban), hence the fact of Achronim citing Meor Einayim should shed light on that question. Again, we're at a stalemate. – Shalom Aug 22 '10 at 23:17
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I actually do not read it that way. I started by saying it is not hard to imagine if he did ban it. However, even if he did, we would need to reconstruct a timeline to determine if the Tosfos Yomtov and other students of Maharal who quote ME must have known about it. If we could see the possibility that they may not have gotten word of a ban, then I believe the question is still up in the air and that the comparison to Sherlock Holmes is flawed. – Yahu Aug 31 '10 at 23:56