Q&A: Does the Rabbi think he really has become more liberal over the years?
Does the Rabbi think he really has become more liberal over the years?
Question
Hello and blessings, Rabbi,
From the rumors I’ve heard, your listeners divide your work into two periods: the period of the Quartet and God Plays Dice, and the period of the trilogy (mainly No Man Has Power Over the Wind and Moves in the Wind). In the first period, you don’t try to challenge the accepted conceptions in Judaism, and you serve as quite a good apologist for them; in the second period, you confront them head-on. Some claim this happened because of a drastic shift in you in a liberal direction. Do you think there’s any substance to what they’re saying? (If so, that’s not a bad thing at all, as you elaborated so well in the post about Rabbi Melamed.) And if so, why?
Answer
As is the way of “studies,” the division into two periods is too schematic and too rigid. There is an ongoing, continuous process of deterioration in a liberal direction. As for why, one can answer on at least two levels:
What influenced me psychologically? That’s for psychologists and researchers.
What influenced me intellectually? Simply because it now seems right to me.
But if I put on the researcher’s hat, I’d say there is a connection between the “periods.” The first volume parallels Two Wagons. A defense of faith. But that defense led me to ground it in critical thinking, and applying that to Jewish law and thought led to the trilogy. That’s on the essential level.
On the psychological/social level, defending against attacks and questions brought me into direct contact with the difficulties. I understood that it is always lacking in honesty to keep defending and assume that the justification is already in my hands. Straightforward listening to those who ask, and to the disappointed and the perplexed, leads to recognizing that they are justified in quite a few things. Just as I demand honesty and conclusions from them, they are justified in demanding the same from me.
It’s easy to defend a perfect thesis when you don’t seriously encounter the challenges to it and make do with slogans. That’s how every cult operates