הלכה על מכות 3:11

One example of this is the procedure delineated by the Mishnah (Makkot 3:11) for administering malkot (lashes), which relies upon a doctor’s evaluation of how many lashes the offender can sustain. It seems from this Mishnah that we will rely upon a doctor’s counsel if poskim determine that it is based on a solid foundation of evidence. Rav Yonatan Adler thus concludes (Techumin 24:504) that each specific claim of archaeologists should be evaluated by poskim to determine whether it should be dismissed as conjecture, regarded as possibly correct, or accepted as certain or almost certain truth.²⁹See our earlier discussion regarding the admissibility of blood tests and DNA evidence in beit din for other examples of how poskim display varying levels of acceptance of scientific claims. Cooperation between poskim and observant archaeologists would be most helpful in reaching appropriate conclusions about such matters.