Q&A: Judaism? why?
Judaism? why?
Question
Dear Rabbi Dr. Lebens,
Shalom!
I’m a young Jewish thinker with a deep passion for philosophy, currently studying computer science and physics, but always pulled back to the deepest existential questions.
I’m reaching out to you because I’m in the middle of a very personal and philosophical search. I’ve read some of your work, and I get the sense that you’re one of the few religious thinkers who engage seriously with the modern mind. That’s exactly what I need right now.
I am not an atheist. I believe in God, not as a leap of faith, but as a philosophical conclusion. Through reasoning, I’ve come to accept that there is a non-physical, necessary first cause’ a Creator. In that sense, I’m a deist.
But my central question, the one I can’t let go of, is this:
Did this God actually give us the Torah?
Is Judaism really the revealed truth? Or is it a human attempt to respond to the divine? is there even any “truth” as a concept?
I want to be clear: I’m not searching for absolute certainty, I know that’s philosophically unattainable. What I’m seeking is the strongest probable case for belief. Not “true beyond doubt,” but “true enough to live by, to commit to with integrity.” That’s the kind of truth I’m after, grounded in reason, tested by doubt, and able to stand even in a probabilistic world.
Many people argue that Judaism must be true because it “works”, that its moral vision shaped the modern world.
But that’s not how I see it.
I think Judaism only “worked” in the moral sense because it seeded its values into Christianity and Islam, which later spread those values through empire and culture. The modern world sees certain Jewish ideas, like human dignity, rest, compassion, justice, as moral, because Judaism helped define what “moral” means in the first place.
In other words:
Judaism didn’t conform to existing morality, it created the moral framework that now makes it look “good.”
But if some other system had shaped history, say, Greco-Roman paganism ,we might now consider cruelty in the arena or domination as moral too.
So saying “Judaism is moral” is circular, because the moral lens was built by Judaism itself (via Christianity and Islam)….
It “worked” because it got there first, not necessarily because it’s true.
And even within Judaism, not all mitzvot feel moral.
Some feel meaningful, beautiful, symbolic, but not moral.
Even when I understand their historical or ritual reasoning, I wouldn’t claim that something like tefillin or sha’atnez promotes justice or compassion. or any other moral value.
So if the truth claim depends on the moral perfection of the Torah – I don’t buy it.
Last but not least, I don’t trust the historical “Evidence”
I’ve also heard the argument that Judaism is historically unique, that the national revelation at Sinai is a once-in-history event, and that such a story couldn’t have been fabricated.
But I don’t trust that logic either.
History is full of examples of entire nations believing in things that didn’t happen, or were later mythologized, like the Trojan War, or Romulus and Remus, or countless origin myths. Humans are brilliant at telling stories as if they were history. Especially in a world full with naive people…
So when people say, “If it wasn’t true, how could an entire people believe it?”, I don’t find that convincing. It’s happened before and after…
And if we’re being rigorous with inductive reasoning, the odds don’t favor Judaism either:
We both agree that dozens of religions were invented by people.
If we use that pattern, it’s more probable that Judaism is also a man-made system, even if it’s the best one.
It’s the same standard we apply to every other religion, so why should Judaism be immune?
Despite all this, I haven’t rejected Judaism.
But here’s my core question, the one I can’t stop asking:
Is Judaism true in the strongest sense?
Not just meaningful.
Not just beautiful.
Not just “ours.”
But actually, metaphysically, true (Probable would be more precise in this context, I think…)
What I’m Asking You
I’m not looking for apologetics. I’m not looking to be convinced emotionally.
I just want to know, from someone I respect intellectually:
What are the strongest rational reasons to believe that God, the real, non-human, first-cause God, actually gave the Torah to the Jewish people?
How do you distinguish true revelation from myth, especially when every myth looks real from the inside?
And how do you, personally, stay committed to Judaism without compromising your rational integrity?
If you’ve written or spoken on this already, I’d be truly grateful for a reference.
Even a short response of direction would mean a lot to me.
Thank you for your work, and for showing people like me that thinking deeply and staying honest can still be part of a religious life.
With respect and curiosity,
Ori
Answer
Hello Ori.
I’m writing in Hebrew because I assume you understand Hebrew (you said you’ve read and heard things by me).
First, my name is not Lebens but Michael Abraham. I hope you didn’t get the address wrong and that you really did mean to send these questions to me.
As for your actual points, I devoted an entire book to all these questions: The First Existents, in which I present a full picture. It is the first book in a trilogy that lays out my view regarding faith and Judaism in general. The first book deals with the existence of God, and from there moves to religious commitment. The second book deals with Jewish thought (in principle, in my opinion, there is no such thing as “Jewish thought”), and the third with Jewish law.
Still, I’ll address the points you raised here briefly, although this really requires a full essay.
As far as I’m concerned, there is no significance at all to whether some system “works.” Pragmatism (as a philosophical approach), in my eyes, is a dirty word. It subordinates what is to what ought to be. One has to examine whether the system is true, not whether it works. There can be systems that work wonderfully and are nonsensical, and certainly not true; and there can be systems that are true but do not work (certainly if you evaluate them by irrelevant criteria). By the way, the conduct of the religious sector in the State of Israel today is a very strong refutation of Judaism by that criterion. At least the Haredi leadership is the most corrupt, rotten, and opportunistic establishment that exists in Israel, and perhaps in the whole universe. So what use is moral history to me when the present is so horrifying?!
On the theoretical and conceptual level, I categorically reject any connection between Jewish law and morality. Jewish law is a particular matter relevant only to Jews, whereas morality is universal by definition. In my view there is no Jewish morality, only morality. True, historically the Torah contributed to its formulation, but it exists within each of us. I’ve written about this in columns here on the site as well, and I can refer you to them if you’d like (you can also search: Jewish law and morality). You yourself write that tefillin and sha’atnez do not promote moral values. I would claim more than that: nothing in Jewish law is meant to promote morality. Not even honoring parents, the prohibition of murder and theft, and the like. We find morality within ourselves, and therefore every person in the world is required to be moral. The question of who advanced morality and helped formulate it (the Torah, Judaism) is a historical question that is not important for our purposes. This is the well-known distinction in philosophy of science between the context of discovery and the context of justification. After all, Judaism requires morality from a gentile too, and he is not supposed to know or study the Torah.
Moreover, in my view morality is not the goal of the matter, and therefore measuring correct or incorrect faith by its morality is a mistake. Morality is a means to create a proper society, but society itself has functions for the sake of which it exists. Those are religious functions, and Jewish law strives toward them.
Even so, I absolutely do not accept your claim of circularity, that is, our inability to measure morality because the standards themselves were created by Judaism. According to that postmodern logic, you cannot measure or evaluate anything at all. You always do so by your own standards. I am a moral realist, and as such I believe that the morality I hold is the correct one, and I do not care whether it was created by the Torah or by Buddha. Whoever doubts this is a skeptic, and there is no way to answer skepticism. By the same token, you could doubt your own logic, your own epistemology, and so on.
In my opinion Judaism is definitely unique, and I think that is indeed a significant argument (even if not decisive). The examples you brought of various myths are not similar. As far as I know, those myths were not perceived as true by the entire public. Nor do they claim to be based on facts passed down from generation to generation on a broad front. There is much more to say about this, and you can search here on the site (there have been discussions about this here).
Much success,
Discussion on Answer
With pleasure
definitely meant to send the message to you! it was a confusion i guess…
Also, I do understand Hebrew I just find it easier to express myself more precisely in English, especially when dealing with deep or philosophical topics. I hope that’s okay…
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and respectful response.
There’s a lot here for me to think about, and I really appreciate you taking the time to engage with my questions seriously.