Q&A: The Torah’s Intrinsic Effect on Reality
The Torah’s Intrinsic Effect on Reality
Question
Does the Rabbi think that the Torah has some intrinsic, quasi-metaphysical effect on reality?
If the Rabbi says no, then how does the Rabbi explain all the statements of the Sages and the Written Torah, where we see a correlation between abandoning the Torah and the destruction of the people and the land?
So if the Rabbi said no, then what does the Torah actually come to do in reality? Does it affect the individual, the nation, and the world in a psychological, rational, or faith-related way?
And if the Rabbi says that there is such an intrinsic effect, how far does that effect go? And when does one need to leave the study hall lectern and go act?
Answer
I do not know, and I assume no one knows. The correlation with exile from the land is, plainly, not the result of some intrinsic metaphysical property, but rather a punishment from the Holy One, blessed be He. I do not know what the Torah comes to do in reality, and I do not even know whether it operates within our reality. It presumably has purposes, but perhaps they are in other worlds or spheres.