Q&A: A Basic Question About Torah Study
A Basic Question About Torah Study
Question
Hello,
Suppose that altogether, in the entire Torah, there are 25,000 statements.
The Reform movement “weighted” all the statements and reached certain conclusions. For example, that because of the verse “and live by them,” one should do such-and-such.
The Haredim “weighted” all the statements and reached certain conclusions that even override the ABCs of Judaism (like going to work).
Certain rabbis in Religious Zionism weighted all the statements and reached certain conclusions that seem crazy (for example, now in the affair involving Tzvi Tau there are “Torah-based” statements where it is obvious that a person who said such things has not even begun the journey of becoming a human being).
So how am I, little me (and humble too 🙂 ), even supposed to begin studying Torah?
Who can guarantee that I won’t make mistakes?
And how am I supposed to trust my own intellect? After all, the first thing in self-awareness is to understand that our minds are full, without the evil eye, of all kinds of biases, childhood traumas, things even from the more distant past of previous generations, and so on. And in fact, over the years millions have held various Haredi outlooks and other currents, as well as other religions in which there are many billions, so why should my mind be any cleaner than the minds of all those people?
Thank you
Answer
I’ll ignore your strange, vague, and overgeneralized introduction. You have no other instrument, so despite the biases you have no choice but to rely on your common sense. Of course there is no certainty, and you have to remain open to the possibility of error and examine opposing arguments, etc. The very fact that you are aware of the different possibilities and the limitations, and that you check alternatives, makes you better than many others. There is nothing better than that. I’ve written columns about this. See, for example, 247.