Q&A: Rationalism
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Rationalism
Question
Hello, Rabbi!
Is there a rational reason for a mother’s love for her son? Or is it something much deeper and unrelated to rationalism?
Answer
Why deeper? More superficial. It’s a fact of nature, and that’s all.
Why more superficial? Apparently it’s deeper in the psyche (it’s a love that is inherited in the very essence of “motherhood,” long before intellectual judgment). Perhaps you mean that it empties it of value content, that it isn’t connected to appreciation, and lacks deliberation. Okay, with that I probably agree. Maybe this is really just a matter of semantics.