Q&A: Rational Proofs for a Jewish God, Tamar Ross, and Anti-Realism
Rational Proofs for a Jewish God, Tamar Ross, and Anti-Realism.
Question
Hello Rabbi, I hope you’re managing to maintain some routine during this difficult time.
A friend of mine and I [whose grandmother you surely know — there was a reference to Tamar Ross in “Two Carts and a Hot-Air Balloon”] are trying to build a certain worldview, and for now we’re trying to focus on the theological questions.
In short, aside from your notebooks/books, do you know of any other rational approaches [(good ones — we’re not willing to accept a sentence like “where reason ends, faith begins”)] that there’s somewhere to read about and study? Books, articles, videos… everything is welcome.
The second question, which is very ironic considering the previous question and the fact that my friend is Tamar’s granddaughter 😅, is whether you could explain Tamar’s proof for Judaism — specifically, anti-realism. From an initial reading on Wikipedia and a little from her writings, I couldn’t understand a thing, and my friend isn’t clear on it either.
Only good news.
Answer
Hello,
I’m not familiar with that literature, because I don’t deal with it. I think that in order to formulate a Jewish worldview, or any other worldview, one simply has to think. Reading various materials is, in my opinion, not very helpful.
I’m not sufficiently familiar with Tamar Ross’s views, and from what I do know, I don’t agree with them at all. Some of my criticism also appears in the second book of my trilogy. But if I may say so, as her granddaughter she should ask her, not me.