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Question in the lights of resurrection

שו”תCategory: philosophyQuestion in the lights of resurrection
asked 9 years ago

Hello Rabbi,
My name is H., second class in the Heder yeshiva.
In the Yeshiva’s Orot HaTachiya class, we studied paragraph 22. When we studied the paragraph, it reminded me very much of the opening of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s “Ish HaHalacha,” and I will explain why. Rabbi Kook describes how there are two sides to a Ben Yisrael. There is a spiritual education side alongside a logical, intellectual, halachic analysis. He explains how this is precisely the uniqueness of Israel and why it is the secret of our wholeness.
This analysis reminded me very much of the religious man and the intellectual man of the halakhah man. At first glance, they seem as if they are incompatible with each other, and even contradictory. But it is precisely from the contradictions that “a personality glorious in holiness emerges and rises.” “The mental rupture passes into reconciliation… from pain to pain, and according to the reconciliation rupture!” Both unite within one soul and create the most complete person.
But when I approached the rabbi and showed him the parallels, he insisted that there was really no similarity here. I also discussed the issue with several friends, and several of them also told me that there was a difference here. They tried to explain to me, but I didn’t accept their argument. They tried to explain to me that the starting point was different between them, and I understood that, but ultimately both describe the integration and union of the two worlds, spiritual and intellectual, into a victorious harmony. So I found no basis for the practical side of the “dispute.”
I opened Rabbi Chaim Navon’s book on Rabbi Soloveitchik’s philosophy, “Clinging to the Thicket,” because for some reason I remembered seeing somewhere some comparison between Rabbi Kook’s worldview and that of Rabbi Soloveitchik, and I thought it was in this book, but I couldn’t find it. I went through chapters 6 and 8 of the book because they seemed to me to be most appropriate to the topic, but I couldn’t find an answer.
I would be grateful if the rabbi could explain to me what he thinks about this comparison. Does he agree with it or is there really a fundamental difference here? What is the difference between the methods? Is there a difference at the level of “actuality”?
Thank you very much,


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 9 years ago
It’s hard for me to help you, because as far as I understand, this is a psychological question that has no real meaning. As far as I understand, it has no scientific basis. I’m not really interested in this literature because I feel that it plays with words and describes experiences and doesn’t make claims. I deal with claims, not experiences.

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