Q&A: Philosophy after the Expulsion from Spain
Philosophy after the Expulsion from Spain
Question
Rabbi Sherlo told me that, from a broad perspective, after the Expulsion from Spain there were no longer philosophers and books of philosophy/thought in the Jewish world like there had been in the Middle Ages. This is a sign that philosophy failed, and that it is not sufficient in a world of faith in the Holy One, blessed be He. We can see with our own eyes that the people who held on and remained religious during periods of major crises (such as the Expulsion from Spain) were not the philosophers, but rather those who truly had the faith of ancestral tradition, and so on and so on.
Philosophy is very important, but definitely not enough, and a person has other faculties as well (emotion, imagination, art, and the like).
Do you think there is anything to this? From what I know of you I assume not, so how do you explain the fact that after the Expulsion from Spain there really was no central Jewish philosophical movement like there had been in the Middle Ages?
Answer
There certainly were such books; it’s just that the scholars did not engage with them. The Maharal was after the expulsion. The students of the Rema, and he himself as well, engaged quite a bit in philosophy. But even if there were none, that would prove nothing. It is a historical process. The question of whether philosophy failed, whether yes or no, really does not interest me. The role of philosophy is not to succeed but to clarify the truth. As for the myth about the Hasid Yaavetz—that during the Expulsion from Spain the ordinary householders stood firm more than the Torah scholars—I have already written my view on that (search here on the site for ‘the Hasid Yaavetz’).
There can be many explanations for this historical process (which is not described accurately). Why is it interesting? Perhaps because the persecutions intensified and there was no peace of mind to engage in philosophy. There was less contact with non-Jews (generally, philosophy developed in places where there was openness and liberalism and contact with non-Jews).