What’s a worse Chillul Hashem, the claim Torah greats erred about reality or the claim the Torah contradicts reality?
If the Torah really wrote things we fail to understand, such as Parah Adumah, we are certainly obligated to bow to the Torah and its Divine imperatives.
But if the written Torah and Chazal inform us of things which accord precisely to reality, and then later Jewish sages come along and tell us the Torah says things which do not accord with reality, there is a great Chillul Hashem, as though the Torah contradicts reality. Better we publicly admit and announce Torah greats erred, and the Torah is true than the reverse, as though the Torah itself contradicts reality.
