Q&A: The Truth That Needs to Be Said versus Strategic Considerations
The Truth That Needs to Be Said versus Strategic Considerations
Question
It’s pretty clear to anyone who follows your lectures and writing that you are unusual not only in terms of content, but also in your very approach to what should be said and written. You are among the few in the Torah world who have the courage to present their conclusions without filters and without considerations of “what will people say.”
And yet, precisely now, when you are founding a movement like “The Third Path,” and it seems that you want to influence the broader public and not suffice with internal intellectual thought, the question arises: isn’t there a certain contradiction here? Do you think that sometimes it might be better to downplay content that grates on traditional ears, in order to enable broader listening to other content? A kind of strategic self-limitation—along the lines of “the gain is not worth the king’s loss.”
For example, if I’m arguing with a Haredi person and want to convince him that, halakhically and morally, he should enlist in the army, or for instance that there is room for interpretive, homiletic reading within Jewish law, then if I use the reasoned arguments from the Rabbi’s books and columns, those clearly have the potential to influence him—as someone accustomed to thinking, but who has simply never encountered this in matters of “worldview.” (As we see this selective mechanism in YouTube videos from the Degel HaTorah channel. You wrote in a column that it’s exactly like that! And I would add, from repeated discussions, that learned kollel men, well-versed in Torah and Jewish law, not only do not apply yeshiva-style analytical and therefore critical thinking to matters of leadership and worldview, they are actually not familiar with the Torah sources regarding authority in Jewish law, or even issues like an obligatory war, etc.)
Leaving aside the masses of amulet-kissers and people pushing in line for “the Yenuka,” logic and arguments definitely do work on a large segment of the population. But they too have weaknesses in the form of ad hominem: “What you’re saying makes sense, but who is saying it? Michael Abraham, who doesn’t believe in individual providence?”
I emphasize: especially in discussions of topics with current practical significance—what in the Haredi public is called “worldview”—issues that affect enlistment, core curriculum, etc., where in any debate about them it is very easy to reach a total argumentative knockout, when the other side is finally forced to admit: I’m convinced, but are you smarter than the leading sages of Israel? It is important that behind those who present the position that does conceptual/Torah/halakhic analysis—and, as mentioned, it speaks to much of the relevant public—there should stand advocates who will not easily collapse in the face of ad hominem arguments.
So the question is whether you ever considered neutralizing parts that are seen as “provocative” in order to make the rest of your thought more accessible, or whether you are completely committed to the position that the truth must be said even at the cost of potentially harming public influence? Or perhaps, I’m trying to guess, what matters to you with regard to the masses is to instill the approach that a logical/intellectual/Torah/value-based conclusion should be stated at any price, and that for this very reason it is important to present also the conclusions that are perceived as very extreme/innovative/provocative.
And from here, a complementary question: are there philosophical-religious conclusions that you arrived at, and nevertheless chose not to publish, specifically for educational or strategic reasons?
Answer
Hello.
I really did go through such a process. In the past there were things I did not say because of concerns about problematic effects. Over the years I came to understand that I don’t like that, and I also don’t think that is the right way to act. True, some things will have less influence, certainly on parts of the public, but the lesson of genuine honesty is, in my view, more important than the specific lessons. My feeling is that surrender to the masses is a fundamental part of the problem we are facing, and therefore explaining my position in a non-open and non-straightforward way would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
This is not a principled and universal position. I understand those who think and act differently, but that is only if, in their view, there is central value to the specific lessons they want to convey. For me, the main lesson is the method and the form of discussion, not the specific lessons, and therefore I adopt a different policy.
By the way, part of the issue was that I received reports that my words had caused people to go off the religious path (or at least pushed them in that direction). I felt very bad about that. But on the other hand, I understood that dishonest and slanted discussion causes many others to go off the religious path. And indeed, I heard of quite a few people who returned to religion or remained religious because of my words. Since there are many who speak the esoteric language besides me, I thought my role was to take care of those who need direct and open language. They have no one else to do that for them. The price is heavy in both directions, but as has been said (Havvot Ya’ir, the responsa of Rabbi Isaiah Di Trani, and others): Plato and Socrates are beloved, but truth is most beloved of all.
From this came various sayings that I’ve heard going around about me: for example, that I am a red heifer—defiling the pure and purifying the impure. Or that I did not leave so-and-so with a kippah on his head, but I did leave him with a head under the kippah, and the like.
In general, today, in an age when information is available to everyone, there is no point in esotericism anyway. It is better to put the problems on the table and deal with them than to hide them. People do not grasp that a major change has taken place and continue to follow a policy that has long since become outdated.
I do not recall such conclusions.
I didn’t understand—why does it matter who made the argument? Accept the truth from whoever says it. If they have a problem with the source, tell it to them in your own style.