Truth and rationality
Hello Rabbi,
From the new website under the heading "About" it says:
"Rabbi Michael Avraham is a unique rabbinical figure in our time who maintains a rational approach on the one hand, and does not despair of the truth on the other."
I asked: Should I conclude that truth is contrary to rationality?
Thank you for the thoughtful website (it was necessary, I spent a lot of time searching for a compilation of your ideas and articles, thank you!)
And happy holidays
This is the obvious conclusion that should have led to Danan's despair. But since I am a rationalist and yet have not despaired of the truth, my goal is to show that there is no contradiction and no need to despair. Truth and rationality are not opposed. See my friend Nadav Shnerb's article "A wise deed that made us despair of reason": http://asif.co.il/?wpfb_filepage=zhr-18-23-pdf
Thanks should be directed to the site editor and founder (this is his site, and he only received permission from me).
Happy Holidays,
Michi
Thanks for the reference to Nadav Shnerb's article. As usual, it's a pleasure to read it and his insightful comments.
A) I don't understand why postmodernism is an expression of so-called "intelligence." Standing on the roof and shouting that nothing is absolute and certain - even a fool can do it.
b) Why is it discouraging if there is a contradiction? After all, the moment there is a contradiction between the rational and the "truth" – then it (=this "truth") is a lie! And again, everything is fine and dandy, right?
That is, in the words of the Gemara, "If Elijah had come and said" - we would have arrived at empirical knowledge of the truth - it would have instantly become rational.
c) And interestingly enough, on the same subject: I also heard the debate between you and Rabbi Navon (at Sarah Beck). At the end of the conversation, there is something interesting: Rabbi Navon places the halakha on the basis of custom, and you answer him that you base your practices on the status of Mount Sinai (i.e.: a kind of empiricism). Perhaps there is also something fundamental here that distinguishes between Maran (Rabbi Yosef Karo) and the Rema (who writes several times that "despite the fact that it is a foolish custom - I practice it because of the custom") I will comment that in tractate Minchot Def Lev and in Yevamot Kav the HaGam considers custom more than Elijah.
D) On a personal note. I have also despaired of the truth. Not of all the truth, but of a section. That is, there are some things that I will probably never be able to know if they are this or that, but from here to despairing of the truth – the road is very long! Therefore, I too despise the automatic despair that blows from the direction of Rabbi Shagar.
Happy holidays
A. There's no need to ridicule this too much. The world has matured and understood that at the foundation of every perception are unfounded assumptions. That's why they started shouting that everything is relative and not absolute.
B. There are those who speak of a truth that is beyond the rational (and even identify it with faith). See the book True and Unstable, which is devoted to this, among other things.
C. The poskim wrote that a foolish custom must be abolished, and the Rema also agrees with this. The question is what is a foolish custom. Customs must be considered (to one degree or another of validity), but this too is by Sinaitic force (do not neglect).
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