Question

Hello Rabbi, I heard you say that you feel contempt toward new spiritual movements in the form of Israeli/traditional Judaism and the like.
I understand why one might feel contempt toward small-mindedness, but I wanted to challenge that view. You argue that Judaism of these kinds is folklore and not serious because it relies on pragmatic arguments rather than rational ones, but people’s beliefs are not always transparent even to themselves. It could very well be that even within those communities there are beliefs that they do not know how to articulate. I know that in popular discourse lately there have been voices praising the pragmatism of religion. But in my opinion these movements are not only pragmatic; it may very well be that they think there is something true in Judaism and they just do not know what it is. Certain things sound true to them and certain things do not, and based on that they choose their way of life.
Suppose a person believes with 80% confidence that there is a God, and with 20% confidence that the revelation at Mount Sinai took place. It seems very logical to me that he would choose to be a person who bases his moral outlook on God, because he thinks morality has divine validity, and that he would observe only some of the commandments because he is not willing to put all his chips on something he only believes in by one-fifth.
What do you think about this kind of belief?
Does it sound reasonable to you?
Thank you very much! I really love listening to the lectures and reading the materials.