Q&A: Again, Various Topics
Again, Various Topics
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi!
Hope you're having a good day.
1. A worn-out question, and it seems to me you've already dealt with it and I just missed it: how do you reconcile the age of the universe (several billion years) with the Hebrew date of the creation of the world (5785 years)?
2. What do you mean by religious feelings? Something like Hasidim?
3. Is there anything in the words of the kabbalists / rabbis who speak about the World to Come—not in terms of reward and punishment, but in terms of what happens after death, what Heaven and Hell look like, etc.?
4. Why does the very fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us the land make it holy?
5. How did Maimonides' 13 principles become binding? How can you reduce the Torah to 13 parts and say these are the most important and create the basis for a discussion of faith, and that someone who doesn't believe in one of them isn't part of the game?
And if I don't believe in the resurrection of the dead, for example—will they force me to believe it?
Answer
I've had a reasonable day. Though I don't understand why this day is different from its predecessors. You could have asked about my life in general. Well, it's perfectly fine. 🙂
- There are several possible resolutions to this, and therefore I'm not interested in this topic. For example, that time during creation passed much faster than usual (that was certainly the case in the Big Bang). Another possibility is that Scripture describes history from the creation of man, and before that the "days" were not ordinary 24-hour days. A third possibility is that all of this is a mythical story and not a factual description.
- Why do Hasidim seem to you to be something clearer than religious feelings? Or perhaps you mean an English-English dictionary? I don't see what there is to explain here.
- In my opinion, they have no real source at all for everything they say. Pretty dubious speculations.
- It doesn't. He gave it to us, and it is holy.
- Many have raised this difficulty against Maimonides (for example in Sefer Ha-Ikkarim). I've written more than once that you can't force belief, and therefore you also can't demand belief in facts. So Maimonides' principles are certainly not binding, and I'm not even sure they are all correct.
Discussion on Answer
I assume you know what a feeling is. We're talking about a feeling with religious content, a kind of excitement or experience connected to the Holy One, blessed be He, or to His service. Yes, there are also reports of people feeling the Holy One, blessed be He.
Hi Rabbi Michi!
Me again—what a thing.
What I meant in question 2 is this:
I remember you said in one video that you don't have religious feelings, and you also don't see any need for them because they seem dubious to you, and you added that you're pretty Lithuanian when it comes to religious feelings (I know you're a Hazon Ish person), so I assumed the opposite about Hasidim. Maybe I'm wrong and remembered it incorrectly; in any case, I just wanted to know what you mean when you say "religious feelings" and whether you have an example.
That is, someone who feels the Holy One, blessed be He, or experiences Him (it sounds stupid when I write it).
Good night, and almost a super-cool Sabbath