Q&A: A Halakhic Obligation to Believe
A Halakhic Obligation to Believe
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Question:
What, if anything, is one actually under an absolute halakhic obligation to believe? Is there even such an obligation at all? I went through the answers here on the site and couldn’t find an answer regarding a halakhic obligation.
Thank you!
Answer
There is no halakhic obligation to believe, nor could there be one. True, Maimonides counts this as commandment number 1 in his Sefer HaMitzvot, but many have already pointed out the absurdity of that.
But beyond that, there is really no point in conducting the discussion in those terms at all. If there is a commandment, would that cause someone who does not believe to start believing? So what is the point of discussing it? By the way, this appears on the site.
Discussion on Answer
Why is that "on the other hand"? What did you see there?
Yes, that does seem to be the Rabbi’s general line, but on the other hand the Rabbi also wrote a few things like what appears in the link here, so I started getting a bit confused about a halakhic obligation.
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%95%d7%95%d7%99-%d7%a2%d7%9C-%d7%90%d7%9E%d7%95%d7%A0%D7%95%D7%AA/