Welcome to Gaia! ::

I think it's a great idea. Better than animal testing.

Well if you look at wise and smart in the sense of the secular world, of course, the person might deliver incorrect judgements. But we're looking at the Torah's point of view, and that changes things (that happens quite often wink ).

You say a wise person can have incorrect judgement... well, that is why the torah calls the rightous man a "wise person". By our understanding, a person can be wise, but evil. But this isn't so according to the torah. The real wise person is the man who sees the true path and wants to know more, to become close to g-d, and to understand him.

Notice how during the passover seder we said there is a wise son, and in contrast, the evil son. Doesn't it seem strange? What kind of contrast is that? Evil is not the opposite of wise, and neither is foolishness the opposite of good. It does seem out of place, but it isn't really. The torah calls the evil person foolish, because he is taking the path that will lead to nothing, on the other hand, the torah calls the rightous person a wise person, because he is taking the path that is good and streight in g-d's eyes. A person that wants life and reward chooses g-ds path. Can you find anyone that is mentally sane that would actually choose punishment and death? Therefore, those people that do chose the wrong path are considered foolish. When you look at it from the side, they really are.

The vilna ga'on was both wise and rightous. He was wise in the sense that we say he was intelligent, but not only that - he was rightous in his intelligence. One who is rightous in his intelligence is wise. One who is called wise, the Torah says he is rewarded with more wisdom. Doesn't that seem like a strange reward? Yes, it is, but when you think about what wise really means, it makes sense. The wise person wants to learn more, to become closer to the true understanding. The torah promises these people insight and wisdom. The vilna ga'on was a perfect example for such a person.