Studying faith as studying Torah
Hello Rabbi, I have pure faith. I feel the reality of God in my daily life and do not feel an urgent need to prove His existence to myself. But on the other hand, I like to study the proofs of His existence (I am reading Rabbi’s book God Plays Dice) and other philosophy. Is there any value in studying it?
If it builds your worldview, there is value in it. If it entertains you, then it’s just for fun, and that’s perfectly fine too. And if it’s to know what to answer, then there is value in it too. There may be a place to see it as Torah study, but I highly doubt it.
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Asks:
Regarding what the rabbi said about seeing this study as Torah study, I was reminded of a lesson I heard from the rabbi in which he raises the question, “What is considered Torah study?” and admits that it is truly difficult to find a satisfactory answer.
I asked this question to several rabbis and the answer that seems most reasonable to me, despite its ramblings, is that what is considered Torah study is a book written by a rabbi who wrote the book in order to understand the will of God…whether it is a book on philosophy or halacha or other subjects. The rabbi may say that the cover of the book or whether the writer of the book wore a kippah or not is not interesting and should not make a difference, but the answer is that it is really not the cover that matters, but the purpose for which the book was written. When Aristotle wrote his book, for example, he did not intend to reveal the will of God, while when Rambam wrote The Teacher of the Perplexed, that was his intention, and therein lies the difference.
In my opinion, this answer needs more editing and precision than I have presented it now, if it is even close to the truth.
I would be happy for the Rabbi to give his opinion.
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Rabbi:
This is close but not enough. A person may think that writing a mathematics book is their way to discover God, or modern dance. There is no escape from relating to the content and not just the intentions. In a lesson there, which is also an article on the site, I divided between Torah in Gebra and Torah in Hapza, by name. If you search the site, you will find several references. Here are three of them:
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