Keeping the faith

I’d like to start this post with a statement: I greatly admire baal teshuva’s i.e. people who grow up in the secular world and become orthodox. I am in awe of those people who find truth and decide to break with the traditions that they grew up with. It can be an incredibly hard thing to do. It requires strength and determination; it requires a reprogramming of ones mind and body. It is not an easy thing to do and I respect people who take a hard line, people who see the halakha as the path towards god. They are the keepers of our great tradition and without them Judaism would never have survived and would not be flourishing as it is today. Of course with that said I also have no respect for those in the frum community who see their observance as the only path to god. Who see their particular brand as the only true, only authentic expression of the revelation on Mount Sinai. Because anyone who does any serious scholastic research into the matter knows that it simply isn’t the case.

The Torah both written and Oral is rife with contradiction in my opinion that is its greatest strength within its own sphere its dynamic. For instance lets pose a question is god omniscient i.e. infinite or not? This seems somewhat straight forward god being everything is of course omniscient, encompassing everything that is was and will be. But in the Torah its not so clear and in the later works of the Rabbi’s it becomes increasingly vague. This is a huge concept and I have no desire to debate it now but it is a very real question, and it does not have a clear answer.

Another big question where Judaism is less then crystal clear is the idea of gods’ unity. The Shema, the most straight forward edict we declare gods oneness, gods completeness. I know I saw it everyday and believe it. But then what about the kabbalah (no not Madonna) I mean the real kabbalah. In it there is the concept of the sefirot which are the ten ‘qualities’ of gods being. Through them the creation is formed, they are the way that gods reveals himself in the creation. Doesn’t that split up god? Isn’t that a contradiction to the idea of the unity of the creation? I’m not claiming to have any real answers for these questions; I just want to present the idea that they are legitimate questions that Jewish philosophers have been asking throughout time. I want to impress upon you the idea that these are legitimate questions that all of us who go down this path need to have the courage to explore.

I guess what I’m really trying to say is that for me, personally my time at an orthodox yeshiva these idea were never even brought up. I have no problem with people who insist that there is no contradiction between the ideas I brought up and the many other that arise. What I find troubling however is the suppression by some, not all that these are even legitimate questions to be asking. Because they are real and they need to be talked about and explored if not I think to many of us seekers will turn away from this path and not look back. And that would be too bad because Judaism has so many great things to offer. I don’t have the answers believe me I wish I did. All I know is we can not be afraid of ideas, we need to have the courage to face those questions and find our own answers and then have the courage and strength to go the way that our conclusions lead us. May we all merit illumination and the strength to find our way. Amen.