In yeshivot, there is an important piece of wisdom that keeps discussions going when we find ourselves stumped. The adage, attributed to R. Chaim Voloziner, is that “Fun a kashe shtarbt man nisht” (One doesn’t die from a question).”

This adage is not only helpful practically, but also sound intellectually. Whether in the sciences or in the humanities, a theory is not expected to immediately explain all relevant data. Given the messiness of reality and the limitations of the human intellect, a theory that explains a large percentage of the data in a cogent and coherent fashion has a strong claim to truth. The associated working assumption is that we will eventually be able to explain the data that doesn’t fit; or that we will consider refining our theory slightly. Plugging this back into Torah knowledge, it means that we too can continue asserting an otherwise good theory when it doesn’t explain everything. To read more click here.