Q&A: Clarifying the Rabbi’s View on Doctrinal Authority
Clarifying the Rabbi’s View on Doctrinal Authority
Question
I saw that in another responsum the Rabbi stated that regarding the resurrection of the dead and the coming of the Messiah — “I have no position on the matter. I don’t know whether this is a tradition from Sinai or an invention.”
As someone who thinks highly of the Rabbi and his views, it’s hard for me to ignore the sources above, and I’d be glad to hear how the Rabbi deals with them:
“When a person corrupts one of these fundamental principles, he has left the community and denied the essential tenet. He is called a heretic, an apikores, and one who cuts down the plantings. It is a commandment to hate him and destroy him. About him it is said (Psalms 139:21): ‘Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord, and contend with those who rise against You?’” (Maimonides, the Thirteen Principles of Faith)
“And these are the ones who have no share in the World to Come: one who says that the resurrection of the dead is not from the Torah, that the Torah is not from Heaven, and an apikores” (Sanhedrin, chapter Helek, Mishnah 1)
Rashi there: “The correct text is: one who says that the resurrection of the dead is not from the Torah — meaning that he denies the exegetical teachings by which we expound in the Talmud later on: from where in the Torah do we know the resurrection of the dead. And even if he admits and believes that the dead will live again, but only says that it is not hinted at in the Torah, he is still a denier, since he uproots the claim that the resurrection of the dead is from the Torah. What do we care about his belief? For from where does he know that this is so? Therefore he is a complete denier.”
Thank you!
Answer
I didn’t understand what I’m supposed to do with these sources. What do they add to the discussion? Do you think that when I answered those questions I didn’t know that according to Maimonides these are fundamental principles? I’ve explained more than once that I do not accept instructions about what to think, because there is no formal authority regarding facts.
It seems to me that even so there is still room for a question here — maybe a slightly different one — namely, what does the Rabbi think about Maimonides’ position? Did Maimonides think there is formal authority regarding facts? Didn’t they understand that there is something absurd about commanding a person what to believe? The idea the Rabbi presents is very logical and compelling, so how does the Rabbi explain the fact that most of the great Torah authorities did not take this approach (or did they, and the Rabbi has an explanation for places where it seems otherwise, like here)?
Thank you