Regarding lesson 9 in conceptual analysis: Is leaving an undefined question, like repenting?

שו”ת › Category: philosophy › Regarding lesson 9 in conceptual analysis: Is leaving an undefined question, like repenting?

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asked 5 years ago

Hello Rabbi,
Is questioning also undefined, like repenting? Does questioning also happen to me and then I change my thinking and consequently my behavior?
Best regards,
given

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מיכי Staff answered 5 years ago

I’m not sure I understood the question. Indeed, it is a change and that is a change. But the comparison is to a repentant person and not a Baal Teshuvah, of course (I discussed this in detail in column 367). A repentant person changes a system of values and perceptions, and so does a questioner. On the other hand, a Baal Teshuvah is supposed to act proactively, that is, to decide proactively that he needs to return to his quarry (to act according to his beliefs). I said that this seems impossible. On the other hand, in a questioner, both parameters are not met: he does not return proactively (but rather reaches new insights) and neither to his quarry (since it is not true that in the past he believed in secularism and acted because of his instincts and now he overcomes his instincts). Therefore, there is no problem with being a Baal Teshuvah, but there is a problem with being a Baal Teshuvah.

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נתן replied 5 years ago

Minute 1:10:22 in the lesson: “In this sense, being a repentant is also impossible. Not logically defined.” Maybe here I got confused between a repentant and a Baal Teshuvah.

So a Baal Teshuvah who changes his own, proactively, his set of values is impossible, otherwise the change has already been made. There is only one who makes Teshuvah from external influence, and not proactively, and he is called a repentant. So there is nothing to be excited about for him to have repented, who has changed from secular to religious, because it happened to him, and he should not receive credit for it.
My question is whether it comes down to whether he can be criticized for it. Did it also simply happen to him (he was influenced by someone) and then his set of values changed, and then there is nothing to complain to/punish him for. I guess I am missing something.

מיכי Staff replied 5 years ago

In class I explained that a person who has repented is not possible because of weakness of will and that a person who has repented is not possible because of the reversal (it happens to him and is not done on his own initiative).
And it is definitely impossible to criticize someone who comes out with a question saying that he did a serious examination and that is his conclusion. At most, one can criticize him for overlapping examinations or not examining. You didn't miss anything.