Q&A: What Happened to Jewish Thought?
Originally published:
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What Happened to Jewish Thought?
Question
I wanted to ask how it could be that in the past there were Jewish philosophers (Maimonides, Rabbi Hasdai Crescas, Rabbi Joseph Albo, and others) who grew out of the beit midrash and were considered part of the conservative religious mainstream, whereas today that hardly exists at all.
Answer
I assume that fear caused people to distance themselves from thought and philosophy and shift to “hashkafah” among the Haredim and “faith” among the Religious Zionists. As a friend of mine once said: instead of thinking, they study “Jewish thought.”