Q&A: Emotional Faith
Emotional Faith
Question
Dear Rabbi, hello.
I watched the Rabbi’s debate on the “Rosh BaRosh” channel about whether belief in God is rational. In general, I understood that the main argument says that because of the complexity of reality, one concludes that it certainly has a creator.
On the other hand, I watched the Rabbi’s interview with Arel Segal.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w84sFpFihuTCa4I88jrOHFtY5tbTdD9T/view?usp=drivesdk
During the interview Arel says:
“I find faith when I look at a night full of stars and I look and say: I can’t understand what eternity is, I can’t understand the magnitude, but מתוך that greatness I recognize my own smallness, and I say to myself, wow, in every cell of mine there is room from here to the moon; for me, there has to be a God, a creator of this thing.”
And the Rabbi answered:
“Existentially, you can arrive at God in all kinds of ways; as far as I’m concerned, you’re still an atheist if that’s your God.”
What Arel said is pretty similar to looking at the complexity of reality.
If Arel had not used expressions of emotion but expressions of contemplation, would that make his faith correct according to the Rabbi’s approach?.
What is the way to arrive at correct faith?
Do I need to examine, before I approach the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), what stages this text went through before it reached us? Because maybe we’re being fed nonsense.
Why is the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) binding according to the Rabbi?
Answer
With that method, you can rescue any statement. If someone who said Y meant X, then sure, it’s reasonable.
Discussion on Answer
And regarding the question of whether, before I accept Jewish law on the basis of the Talmud, I need to check that the Talmud is historically a reliable source—
is it possible to know that the Torah is from Heaven?
Obviously you need to have trust in the Talmud; otherwise why obey it? Do you obey every text that was written just because it was written?! But that trust does not mean historical trust—meaning that what appears in the Talmud was in fact given at Sinai. The trust is that what appears there is the result of what was given at Sinai. The interpretation is by human beings, not a tradition from Sinai. But it is an application of what we received there. I have written here more than once that the authenticity of Jewish law is not a condition for our being bound by it.
Obviously, Torah from Heaven is a condition for all this. The question of whether and how this can be known is addressed to you. Ask yourself what you think. In my opinion, yes—but this is a historical question, and as such it is hard to bring decisive, logical, or philosophical arguments to settle it. It is an impression formed from the overall body of material that has come down to us and from various arguments. I have also discussed that more than once. It is discussed in detail in my book The First Existent, in the fifth conversation.
Thanks.