Q&A: Love of the Bible
Love of the Bible
Question
Hello, Rabbi!
I am 19 years old. I read the beautiful trilogy. I discovered that I already had these views even before that. But I am in a bind: I come from the hard-core camp of Rabbi Kook and the settlement movement, and really more on the ideological level than the practical one. A fierce love of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and of the landscapes of the Land was instilled in me, and that has not left me even now. So I find myself in a tangle. Can I really hold both this love of the Bible and the Land, and at the same time remain faithful to the philosophical worldview that I see as true? Is that possible? The Rabbi’s approach is that God does not intervene in history and did not Himself direct the redemption of the Jewish people. The Rabbi also says that he has nothing to learn from the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and that this book is not relevant for him. Both of these things are very hard for me to accept. Can the Rabbi’s worldview destroy to the very foundations my romantic view of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and of the history of Israel, which of course gives life a sublime beauty and meaning?
I will ask further: is it possible to accept the Rabbi’s views but not accept the idea that God did not direct us in history up to this point, or is this view bound up with an entire system, so that one cannot deny it on this issue if I accept the rest of the Rabbi’s worldview? I hope I made myself clear!
Answer
Hello,
I have been asked more than once questions about “cooling off my bathwater.” First, you should not be asking me this but yourself. If there is something you believe in or think, then that is your position. The fact that I say otherwise should not change anything for you. If my arguments convinced you, then it is no longer your position. So what is the problem? If the problem is that the arguments convinced you but in your heart you are still in the previous place, that is a problem in psychology, not in philosophy or Torah. Get over it.
In short, you need to examine the arguments and formulate a position in light of what you think. Whatever comes out of that is your position, and it really does not matter what I say is possible or impossible.
If there is a specific question you would like to discuss, you are of course welcome to do so in any context.
Discussion on Answer
Tell me, Rabbi Michi,
Doesn’t the writer up above בשם Kohelet drive you crazy?
He sounds like he took you on as a project, huh?
Why go crazy when you can just not read?
With God’s help, 4 Tishrei 5783
To Eliyahu — hello,
There is no logical way to believe in “Torah from Heaven,” as the author of the trilogy goes to great lengths to prove, without accepting the central message that emerges from all the sections of Scripture: that the God of Israel directs His world. All the more so when we see with our own eyes the fulfillment of the Torah’s promise: “Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes… and He will return and gather you from all the peoples…”
Best regards, Kohelet Osofansky-Kabtzieli