Q&A: Question about the book No Man Has Power over the Spirit
Question about the book No Man Has Power over the Spirit
Question
Honorable Rabbi, hello,
Congratulations on the updated and new website.
The Rabbi stated that in matters of faith, the Sages have no authority over us at all, not even formal authority, and you wrote two reasons: (a) it was not received from Sinai and is only a product of their thinking / their period; (b) there is no commandment regarding beliefs. And this requires clarification: (a) how is this different from the law of the Talmud, which does have formal authority since we accepted it upon ourselves? Why not say there too that it was not received from Sinai [I am talking about things that are not part of the tradition], and it is only a product of their thinking? (b) Just as there is no commandment regarding beliefs, there is no commandment regarding laws that do not make sense [I believe there are such laws] [of course, (a) comes after (b)].
Thank you.
Answer
I did not understand the question. That itself is exactly the distinction I made between facts and norms. It is certainly possible to command the observance of laws that are not logical, at least logically speaking. But a command to believe in facts that are not logical is logically impossible. Because if it is not logical, I do not believe it. But with an illogical law, I can fail to believe that this is the proper way to act, and that still does not contradict the fact that this is how I will act.
Discussion on Answer
There is no problem at all with saying that. There, you just proved it. Oh, and you also didn’t prove it, and there is a problem with saying it. And there is also a problem with saying it, and you proved it. (I simply accepted upon myself not to obey the rules of logic.)
It’s not the same thing. In day-to-day life every person is obligated to obey the rules of logic, but with regard to the words of the Sages, not so, because we accepted their words whether they are correct or not.
I didn’t explain myself correctly.
Since we accepted the Sages upon ourselves, I remove my own responsibility and accept their words even if that creates a logical contradiction. What is the problem with saying: I believe A, and I have a difficulty from B, but I accept the Sages upon myself, and therefore that is what I believe? [And this has nothing to do with the Sages having greater understanding, but simply with the fact that this is what we accepted upon ourselves.]