Q&A: Simple Faith!
Simple Faith!
Question
What does it mean? (Just to be a donkey and not think, or something more than that? As is known, this concept comes from our master the Baal Shem Tov, and he also wrote that one should investigate faith, as explained in the book Baal Shem Tov, Noah section, Amud HaTefillah. So apparently there is some kind of simplicity here that is deeper than just not thinking, etc.—because unfortunately there are some preachers who educate their students with that kind of crooked approach.)
Answer
I’ve explained this several times here on the site, especially in the introduction to the first volume of Matzui HaRishon.
Faith that comes through philosophical inquiry reaches conclusions on the basis of arguments. But every argument is based on premises, and you accept the premises without an argument proving them. If so, adopting the premise is an act of faith (in other words: intuition). So there are people for whom faith in God is itself a primary intuition, and that is not essentially different from those who prove God’s existence on the basis of axioms that themselves rest on intuitions.
Discussion on Answer
Thanks, is column 6 about guarding the eyes?
Sorry, I made a mistake! Mistakes always come back around…
I saw that the Rabbi mentioned in another answer to go to the dictionary, but here it seems to me that the Rabbi coined a new dictionary entry, and I’ll quote it:
“Faith (in other words: intuition)”
Of course, for that very reason, those who forbid thinking and inquiry are mistaken. That’s just nonsense. See column 6.