Q&A: Personal Philosophical Questions
Personal Philosophical Questions
Question
The logical argument for the existence of God is clear to me, largely thanks to your book God Plays Dice.
But from there to embracing faith in the God of Israel, there is a big gap.
Do you believe in the revelation at Mount Sinai and in the giving of the Torah? And if so, how do you justify that rationally? After all, you are extremely rational.
If, in your view, there really was a revelation—
do you think the Torah was written by Moses our teacher? After all, there are so many findings showing that the Torah was influenced by earlier stories that were told before, or around the same time as, the period in which the Torah was written.
Assuming yes, that the Torah was written by Moses—
do you think the Oral Torah is also divine?
Isn’t the Talmud a discussion among people? Aren’t Jewish laws an overly early freezing of ideas?
Supposedly it is the Oral Torah, but there is no agreement about it. So how is that possible?
There are all kinds of answers to these questions, but I’d be happy to hear your personal answer out of your own life, because you come across to me as a very rational person.
I don’t know whether questions like these have been asked before (I assume they have), I just couldn’t find them in the search.
Thank you for what you do, and Sabbath peace.
Answer
These matters are explained in detail in my book The First Existent. It is entirely devoted to this. It contains five conversations, four of which are philosophical proofs for the existence of God. The fifth conversation is the transition from a philosophical God to Jewish religious commitment. It’s hard to elaborate here.
Discussion on Answer
It’s the first book in my latest trilogy. Its Hebrew title is The First Existent.
I thought to myself that maybe that’s what you meant, and I don’t know why I preferred asking over googling. Thanks!
What do you mean by “my book The First Existent”?