Q&A: Genius
Genius
Question
Hello Rabbi,
What is genius in your opinion, and who do you consider a genius, if you could give examples?
Do you think Yeshayahu Leibowitz was a genius?
Do you think Aharon Barak is aware of his dizzying hypocrisy?
Answer
I don’t know how to define genius. It’s a matter of arbitrary definition, so I can’t answer it. There is no doubt that Leibowitz was very gifted, and so was Aharon Barak.
Aharon Barak, like most of us, followed his own views, and I assume that like all of us he also wasn’t always aware of the assumptions embedded in them.
Discussion on Answer
With God’s help,
If I remember correctly, in one of his lectures the Rabbi defined the moment of scientific discovery as a flash of genius (not committing to the exact wording)
Rabbi Michi,
how is it that you mentioned Leibowitz by name but not Steinsaltz?
Genius is measured by IQ. And I won’t elaborate here.
“It’s easy to see” that all the greatest mathematicians and physicists were mega-super-geniuses