Q&A: The Kuzari, and Various Other Topics Again
The Kuzari, and Various Other Topics Again
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi Michi.
- How was the Sabbath?
On the Sabbath I read the first essay of the Kuzari, and a few questions came up for me:
1. What is the divine thing / the divine matter discussed in the Kuzari?
2. I didn’t really understand the issue of the separate intellects and the active intellect.
3. How do the spheres work? I think Maimonides also talks about this in the laws of the Foundations of the Torah, chapters 2–3. But the source is Aristotelian.
On another topic, Defense Minister Katz danced at the Ateret Shlomo yeshiva to the tune of “We do not believe in the rule of the heretics.” Following the fact that the Haredim control the coalition and Bibi, see also the statements of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef over the years, and in general during the war on the issue of the draft, in my opinion it would be worth considering stopping the teaching of daily Jewish law from his rulings on military bases, and also the purchase of Yalkut Yosef for IDF bases.
Is there no chance that the prime minister will come to his senses and fire Katz over this—that a sitting defense minister, who in my opinion is clearly biased in favor of exempting the Haredim, took part in a celebration at a place that opposes his own ministry???
Answer
I don’t deal with those topics.
In my view, you don’t disqualify a book because of its author. And besides, if the government behaves this way, who exactly is going to order them to stop teaching the book in the IDF? And who is even teaching this book in the IDF?