Q&A: We Will Do and We Will Hear
We Will Do and We Will Hear
Question
Hello Rabbi, during your lectures on To the Perplexed of the Generation, in one of the classes the Rabbi spoke about the case of the heretic who asked Rava about “we will do and we will hear”… The Rabbi raised a nice argument there that I’d be happy to hear again. I’d also be glad if the Rabbi knows where exactly this appears.
Answer
Hello.
I no longer remember exactly. But it seems to me that what I argued there was that that heretic assumed that acceptance of the commandments is based on a principle of particular value—that is, each commandment is accepted out of understanding and identification with its reasons—whereas Israel accepts the commandments on the basis of a sweeping value principle: commitment to the word of God as such, regardless of understanding and identification with the commandments. Therefore, there was no point in Israel asking what is written in the Torah, because they do not assess the commandments individually, unlike the nations of the world.
It seems to me that I wrote this in one of the quartet books. I no longer remember. See here (around note 21):
Discussion on Answer
What’s the question?
Why is the heretic’s demand to accept the commandments on the basis of a principle of particular value called by Rava “the perversity of the treacherous”?
Why not? And in your opinion, why is that heretic called that?
So why does Rava describe the heretic’s approach as “the perversity of the treacherous will destroy them”?