Lakewood Yid quotes a speech given by Rav Uren Reich at the Agudath Israel's 82nd National Convention. While I have problems with several parts of Rav Reich's speech (which I commented on at LY's blog), the discussion turned to one particular statement. The statement is as follows:
Chazal HaKedoshim – hakatan shebetalmidei Rabbeinu haKadosh mechayeh meisim! If the Gaon says that he could bring down kol galgal hachamah on this table and show it to Aristo – do we have a safek that what Chazal HaKedoshim said is emes? Ra’u mi’sof haolam ve’ad sofo – ain leharher achar divrei haGemara.
Roughly translated, what Rav Reich is saying is that if the Gaon (presumably the Vilna Gaon) said he could bring the entire universe down to his table top and show it to Aristotle, certainly the Talmudic statements regarding the nature of the universe would be shown to be correct.
Now, LY acknowledges that it's not so certain that the Gaon ever made such a statement. However, he goes on to state, that if he did, he certianly had the power to do so. When asked by a poster if the Gaon could actually do such a thing, he answers:
If the Gaon said he could, then he could. R'tzon Ye'rayov Yaaseh. (He [God] does the will of those that fear Him -- translation mine).
By postulating such a statement, LY, in effect, makes the Gaon omnipotent. If he could say it, he could do it (by virture of R'tzon Y'raiov Ya'aseh). Such a position is inherintly ridiculous.
Consider:
Why couldn't Yehoshua finish the conquest of Eretz Yisroel and drive out the Canaanites? After all, certainly Yehoshua feared Hashem and certainly he wanted to conquer EY. R'tzon Y'raiov Ya'aseh.
Why couldn't Dovid build the Beis Hamikdash? After all, Dovid certainly feared Hashem and certainly he wanted to build the BHM. Heck, he wrote the line "R'tzon Y'raiov Ya'aseh!"
Why couldn't Yirmiyahu prevent the destruction of the first Bais HaMikdash? Didn't Yirmiyahu fear Hashem? Was Yirmiyahu less than the Gra?
Why couldn't the Tana'im prevent the destruction of the second Bais HaMikdash and Betar? Was the Gaon greater than all of them put together? Did they not fear Hashem? Were they not aware of the verse of "R'tzon...?"
Why couldn't the Rishonim prevent the decimation of European Jewry during the Crusades? Did they not want to prevent it?! Did they not fear Hashem?
If none of these great people could prevent the very mundane (non-miraculous) happenings that happened during their lifetimes, why does it make sense to say that the Gra z"l could bring the entire universe down to his tabletop?
The Wolf
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Ruevein Ben Tova Chaya - R'fuah Sh'laimah
R. Harry Maryles posted about his young grandson who suddenly became ill with what looks like bone cancer. Please say Tehillim and be mispallel (pray) for Ruevein Ben Tova Chaya.
The Wolf
The Wolf
Saturday, August 19, 2006
National Geographic - Hareidi-Style
This week's Mishpacha magazine reports that National Geographic will be putting out a Hebrew edition aimed at the Torah-observant Jewry. The article notes that National Geographic has been been publishing in full color since 1962, but often discusses scientific theories that are "at odds with the Torah." This new edition, however, will be edited with "extreme sensitivity and refinement" so that Hareidim won't come into contact with anything that might possibly cause anyone to become interested in science.
I personally don't know if the magazine will adopt a Yated-like policy with regard to pictures of women, but if they do, here's a sampling of what to expect:
I personally don't know if the magazine will adopt a Yated-like policy with regard to pictures of women, but if they do, here's a sampling of what to expect:
The Wolf
Friday, August 18, 2006
Bloggers I Know
Ezzie and Steg posted about the bloggers that he's met In Real Life or via other media. I figured that it would be fun to do as well, however, I'm going to keep mine a lot simpler because (a) I don't know as many bloggers as he does and (b) I'm not going to use any confusing symbols.
So here goes:
Bloggers that I've met with face-to-face:
Hirhurim
PsychoToddler
PeskySettler - whom I've known for about 19 years (and who designed my blog banner)
Neandershort - although he doesn't know when he met me :) (or at least I don't think he does)
Joshua (commentor, not a blogger)
eeees (commentor, not a blogger. Of course, she sees me every day!)
There are others, of course, who have been at the same event as I, although we didn't meet face to face (or weren't formally introduced). They include:
Ezzie
Orthoprax
Just Passing Through
Sarah
Enigma4U
Canonist
Steve Brizel
and probably many others that I missed (please forgive me). If I missed you, please feel free to drop me an email and I'll correct it.
The Wolf
So here goes:
Bloggers that I've met with face-to-face:
Hirhurim
PsychoToddler
PeskySettler - whom I've known for about 19 years (and who designed my blog banner)
Neandershort - although he doesn't know when he met me :) (or at least I don't think he does)
Joshua (commentor, not a blogger)
eeees (commentor, not a blogger. Of course, she sees me every day!)
There are others, of course, who have been at the same event as I, although we didn't meet face to face (or weren't formally introduced). They include:
Ezzie
Orthoprax
Just Passing Through
Sarah
Enigma4U
Canonist
Steve Brizel
and probably many others that I missed (please forgive me). If I missed you, please feel free to drop me an email and I'll correct it.
The Wolf
Thursday, August 17, 2006
A Game: Where is the pasuk (verse)?
I've often noticed how our children in mainstream yeshivos are taught midrashim almost as if they were written in the very text of the Torah itself. After all, just about every first grader knows that the Chumash describes Avraham's harrowing ordeal in the Furnace or how he destroyed all the idols in his father's shop one day. Of course, none of this is recorded in the Chumash itself, along with details of many, many other midrashim that are taught as verbatim history to our children.
As such, I'm going to give my kids a test, and see how they perform. I'm going to ask them to find me the pasuk that says the following:
Patriarchs:
Find me the pasuk where...
... Avraham discovers God through self-deduction at age three.
... Rivka was three years old when she married Yitzchock
... that Ya'akov learned in the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever for fourteen years.
... that Dinah was hidden in a box.
Life in Egypt & the Exodus
... that the Jews had six children at once.
... that Moshe was born on the seventh of Adar.
... that when the Egyptians hit the frogs they split into multiple frogs.
... that there was someone dead in *every* Egyptian household after the final plauge.
... that the sea split into twelve separate pathways.
... that Nachshon ben Aminadav was the first person to jump into the sea.
In the Wilderness
... that God held Mt. Sinai over the heads of K'lal Yisrael.
... that the Jews perished (and were ressurected) with each word spoken by HKBH.
... that the Mann could taste like whatever the taster wanted.
That's probably enough. These are things that every school child in yeshiva knows and probably believes to be written in the Chumash itself. I'm going to ask my kids over the next few days to find the pesukim where these things are written - I'm curious to see what the result will be.
The answers, by the way, are:
.
The Wolf
As such, I'm going to give my kids a test, and see how they perform. I'm going to ask them to find me the pasuk that says the following:
Patriarchs:
Find me the pasuk where...
... Avraham discovers God through self-deduction at age three.
... Rivka was three years old when she married Yitzchock
... that Ya'akov learned in the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever for fourteen years.
... that Dinah was hidden in a box.
Life in Egypt & the Exodus
... that the Jews had six children at once.
... that Moshe was born on the seventh of Adar.
... that when the Egyptians hit the frogs they split into multiple frogs.
... that there was someone dead in *every* Egyptian household after the final plauge.
... that the sea split into twelve separate pathways.
... that Nachshon ben Aminadav was the first person to jump into the sea.
In the Wilderness
... that God held Mt. Sinai over the heads of K'lal Yisrael.
... that the Jews perished (and were ressurected) with each word spoken by HKBH.
... that the Mann could taste like whatever the taster wanted.
That's probably enough. These are things that every school child in yeshiva knows and probably believes to be written in the Chumash itself. I'm going to ask my kids over the next few days to find the pesukim where these things are written - I'm curious to see what the result will be.
The answers, by the way, are:
| Answer: (highlight to see): |
| Only the item about every Egyptian household having dead is actually a pasuk. The rest are from later sources. |
The Wolf
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Blog Banner
Some of you may have noticed the new blog banner that I put up a few weeks ago. I just wanted to publicly thank Pesky Settler (email her here) for the wonderful job that she did. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but she created something that was far better than anything I could have thought of. The Wolf
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Old Home Week
I have been a ba'al kriah for a long time. In fact, I've been laining every Shabbos and Yom Tov (with the occasional Shabbos off for a bar mitzvah, laryngitis*, etc.) for eighteen and a half years.
For the first sixteen and a half years, I lained in a shul in Kensington. I started when I was young and single and, in fact, walked forty minutes to shul every Shabbos/Yom Tov to lain. After I got married, we rented an apartment closer to the shul so that I could continue to stay there. The people in the shul embraced me as one of their own, and they later embraced my wife and children as well. We were truly happy there.
Unfortunately, the housing market forced us out of the neighborhood. We had reached the point in our lives where renting simply did not make sense for us anymore -- to rent an apartment was costing us almost as much as a monthly mortgage payment would be. In addition, the situation with our landlord was quickly becoming untenable (I'd rather not go into it - and they ended up selling the house shortly after we moved anyway) and we would have to move out. The houses in Kensington, however, were hideously priced. We saw hovels that were more than we could afford -- let alone places you'd actually want to live.
So, we ended up buying in another area of Brooklyn. I didn't want to leave the shul where I'd been for sixteen plus years, but I had no real choice. It was too far from my new house for my kids to walk (if it had been me alone, I would have continued laining there). Sadly, we left the shul where I had my aufruf, where my boys had their brissim and where I was sure they would have their bar mitzvahs. Such is life.
In my new neighborhood, I was fortunate to find a new ba'al kriah position within a week or two. And, to be honest, I'm happy in my new shul as well. However, despite that, my wife every now and again reminds me that she misses the old shul - as I do too. I still have family that davens in the old shul and every now and again I hear from them that they still miss me in the old shul and that my laining is missed as well. Well, it's nice to know that you're missed.
As it turns out, last Shabbos I ended up staying by some relatives who were sort-of in the neighborhood of the old shul. While I still had to walk back to my new shul to lain for Shacharis, I was able to walk in to the old shul and surprise everyone by showing up for Mincha. I walked in shortly after laining started. When the gabbai called me up for an aliya, the person laining handed me the tallis and said with a smile "here, you can lain for yourself." I had Se'uda Shlishis there as well and had a nice time catching up with some of the old crowd.
By some strange coincidence, someone from that shul had a baby boy last Thursday (poor kid - he's always going to be told "when you were born, it was like Tisha B'Av!"), so I had an excuse to go back this morning for the bris. Again, it was nice to see everyone (I got to see some people who weren't there by Shabbos mincha) and catch up with all the old news and gossip. My wife and kids also got to go and see old friends and renew old acquaintences. Heck, I even got to lain again in the old shul.
So, it's been "old home week" for me and my family. Of course, what all this has done is stir up some old feelings. I can't say that I regret the decision to move (for starters, I couldn't afford to stay in the neighborhood anymore and it was the right time for us to buy a house), but I can say that I regret some of the tradeoffs that came with making that decision. I like the new shul: I like the people, the rav, the style of davening, etc. - and it seems that they like my laining (they've let me continue for the last two years) - but it's not the same as the old shul.
When I think about my feelings regarding my old shul and my new shul, I'm often reminded of something I saw on TV. On the television series Soap, there was a character who appeared for a few episodes named Barney Gerber (played by Harold Gould). At one point, he's explaining about his life to Jodie (Billy Crystal) and his marriages. He was happily married to one woman for many years. After many years, however, his wife was killed (hit by a bus, IIRC). He was shattered and felt like he would never love anyone again. As it turned out, he did meet someone and fell in love again. The way he descirbed it, however, was that the new love "wasn't better" than the first. "It wasn't better, wasn't worse. It was just... different," as he put it. The rest of his speech made it clear that he dearly loved his second wife - not in any way that was inferior to the love he had for his first -- it was just ... different.
That's kind of the way I feel about the two shuls. I miss the first shul very much. I miss the people, the rav, even the building. Everything about it had (and still has) it's own charm. But yet, I also like the new shul. It's a differnet style of davening, a different crowd and a different style of rav - and yet I like it too. Not in any way that's worse, or better than the old shul - it's just different.
Now, if we could find a way to merge both congregations into one...
The Wolf
* Yes, one year I got laryngitis on Rosh HaShannah. I tried to lain anyway on the first day but after the second aliya, it was obvious that it wasn't going to work. I missed the rest of that day and the next. By Shabbos (RH was Thursday and Friday that year) I was able to lain again.
For the first sixteen and a half years, I lained in a shul in Kensington. I started when I was young and single and, in fact, walked forty minutes to shul every Shabbos/Yom Tov to lain. After I got married, we rented an apartment closer to the shul so that I could continue to stay there. The people in the shul embraced me as one of their own, and they later embraced my wife and children as well. We were truly happy there.
Unfortunately, the housing market forced us out of the neighborhood. We had reached the point in our lives where renting simply did not make sense for us anymore -- to rent an apartment was costing us almost as much as a monthly mortgage payment would be. In addition, the situation with our landlord was quickly becoming untenable (I'd rather not go into it - and they ended up selling the house shortly after we moved anyway) and we would have to move out. The houses in Kensington, however, were hideously priced. We saw hovels that were more than we could afford -- let alone places you'd actually want to live.
So, we ended up buying in another area of Brooklyn. I didn't want to leave the shul where I'd been for sixteen plus years, but I had no real choice. It was too far from my new house for my kids to walk (if it had been me alone, I would have continued laining there). Sadly, we left the shul where I had my aufruf, where my boys had their brissim and where I was sure they would have their bar mitzvahs. Such is life.
In my new neighborhood, I was fortunate to find a new ba'al kriah position within a week or two. And, to be honest, I'm happy in my new shul as well. However, despite that, my wife every now and again reminds me that she misses the old shul - as I do too. I still have family that davens in the old shul and every now and again I hear from them that they still miss me in the old shul and that my laining is missed as well. Well, it's nice to know that you're missed.
As it turns out, last Shabbos I ended up staying by some relatives who were sort-of in the neighborhood of the old shul. While I still had to walk back to my new shul to lain for Shacharis, I was able to walk in to the old shul and surprise everyone by showing up for Mincha. I walked in shortly after laining started. When the gabbai called me up for an aliya, the person laining handed me the tallis and said with a smile "here, you can lain for yourself." I had Se'uda Shlishis there as well and had a nice time catching up with some of the old crowd.
By some strange coincidence, someone from that shul had a baby boy last Thursday (poor kid - he's always going to be told "when you were born, it was like Tisha B'Av!"), so I had an excuse to go back this morning for the bris. Again, it was nice to see everyone (I got to see some people who weren't there by Shabbos mincha) and catch up with all the old news and gossip. My wife and kids also got to go and see old friends and renew old acquaintences. Heck, I even got to lain again in the old shul.
So, it's been "old home week" for me and my family. Of course, what all this has done is stir up some old feelings. I can't say that I regret the decision to move (for starters, I couldn't afford to stay in the neighborhood anymore and it was the right time for us to buy a house), but I can say that I regret some of the tradeoffs that came with making that decision. I like the new shul: I like the people, the rav, the style of davening, etc. - and it seems that they like my laining (they've let me continue for the last two years) - but it's not the same as the old shul.
When I think about my feelings regarding my old shul and my new shul, I'm often reminded of something I saw on TV. On the television series Soap, there was a character who appeared for a few episodes named Barney Gerber (played by Harold Gould). At one point, he's explaining about his life to Jodie (Billy Crystal) and his marriages. He was happily married to one woman for many years. After many years, however, his wife was killed (hit by a bus, IIRC). He was shattered and felt like he would never love anyone again. As it turned out, he did meet someone and fell in love again. The way he descirbed it, however, was that the new love "wasn't better" than the first. "It wasn't better, wasn't worse. It was just... different," as he put it. The rest of his speech made it clear that he dearly loved his second wife - not in any way that was inferior to the love he had for his first -- it was just ... different.
That's kind of the way I feel about the two shuls. I miss the first shul very much. I miss the people, the rav, even the building. Everything about it had (and still has) it's own charm. But yet, I also like the new shul. It's a differnet style of davening, a different crowd and a different style of rav - and yet I like it too. Not in any way that's worse, or better than the old shul - it's just different.
Now, if we could find a way to merge both congregations into one...
The Wolf
* Yes, one year I got laryngitis on Rosh HaShannah. I tried to lain anyway on the first day but after the second aliya, it was obvious that it wasn't going to work. I missed the rest of that day and the next. By Shabbos (RH was Thursday and Friday that year) I was able to lain again.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Dating: How it was and How it is
How it was:
אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל, לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמישה עשר באב וכיום הכיפורים, שבהם בנות ירושלים יוצאין בכלי לבן שאולים, כדי שלא לבייש את מי שאין לו. וכל הכלים טעונין טבילה. ובנות ירושלים יוצאות וחולות בכרמים. וכך הן אומרות, שא נא בחור עיניך וראה, מה אתה בורר לך; אל תיתן עיניך בנואי, אלא תן עיניך במשפחה.
R. Shimon Ben Gamleil said: There were no greater holidays in Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur, since on those days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white clothing (so as not to embarass those who did not have - and all such garments requried tevilah). The daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vinyards and this is what they would say: "Young man lift up [your eyes] and see, what [girl] do you choose for yourself? Do not look for beauty, but set your eyes on family." Mishnah - Ta'anis 4:8
How it is:
You can't meet a girl except through the arrangement of a shadchan. The shadchan must first check out the girl by asking all sorts of questions regarding schooling, hashkafah, size of the father's bank account, if there are any skeletons in the family's closet (did her cousin once accidently eat cholov stam?)? What type of tablecloth does her mother put on the Shabbos table? Does the family do anything that in the slightest way deviates from the norm?
Of course, in some circles, before the shadchan can even approach the boy, s/he has to have the answer to the most important question of all: For how long will your father support the young man in learning and how much support will he be providing? The larger the figure, of course, the more doors open to the young woman. If the figure is small (or non-existant), then the options may be few and far-between.
Once the shadchan puts his/her stamp of approval on a potential match (and, of course, after the parents give their approval), then it's time for the prospective couple to meet in a stressful setting where every word, action and breath has to measured and thought out three times before being executed, lest it convey the wrong idea (If I use the word "religious" instead of "frum" will he think I'm not religious... I mean frum enough?? Can I tell her this joke, or will she think that I'm not serious enough?) . Throughout the date, both parties must hide behind a mask of frumkeit, since they are afraid to let their true selves show through (even though, in the end, it is the true selves, not the mask, that they will be marrying).
At the end of the date, the young man will take the young woman home (to her house!) and both sides will confer with the shadchan and with their respective camps for a strategy session and date review where every minute action that happened (and didn't) on the date is wheighed and analyzed. Of course, any direct contact between the boy and girl at this point is strictly forbidden -- all contact must occur through the shadchan. Why, if he were to call her up directly and say something like "I really enjoyed our date, I'd like to see you again," it would cause such a public scandal that the two of them would likely not be able to get another date with anyone else within 100 miles. So, both parties discreetly contact the shadchan and give their impressions of the date, telling everything that they felt was right or wrong about the date, and then both parties wait for the shadchun to let them know that the other one is interested (or not) in seeing them again. And so, another date gets arranged (or not).
But no dancing!
The Wolf
(Yes, I know it's not truly as bad as I make it out to be in my post. But the point remains how such a system as existed in the times of the Mishnah would *never* fly in certain circles today. I guess they're just frummer than R. Shimon ben Gamliel.)
P.S. Happy anniversary to the artist who designed the header for my blog and who is supposed to get back to me with information! :)
אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל, לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמישה עשר באב וכיום הכיפורים, שבהם בנות ירושלים יוצאין בכלי לבן שאולים, כדי שלא לבייש את מי שאין לו. וכל הכלים טעונין טבילה. ובנות ירושלים יוצאות וחולות בכרמים. וכך הן אומרות, שא נא בחור עיניך וראה, מה אתה בורר לך; אל תיתן עיניך בנואי, אלא תן עיניך במשפחה.
R. Shimon Ben Gamleil said: There were no greater holidays in Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur, since on those days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white clothing (so as not to embarass those who did not have - and all such garments requried tevilah). The daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vinyards and this is what they would say: "Young man lift up [your eyes] and see, what [girl] do you choose for yourself? Do not look for beauty, but set your eyes on family." Mishnah - Ta'anis 4:8
How it is:
You can't meet a girl except through the arrangement of a shadchan. The shadchan must first check out the girl by asking all sorts of questions regarding schooling, hashkafah, size of the father's bank account, if there are any skeletons in the family's closet (did her cousin once accidently eat cholov stam?)? What type of tablecloth does her mother put on the Shabbos table? Does the family do anything that in the slightest way deviates from the norm?
Of course, in some circles, before the shadchan can even approach the boy, s/he has to have the answer to the most important question of all: For how long will your father support the young man in learning and how much support will he be providing? The larger the figure, of course, the more doors open to the young woman. If the figure is small (or non-existant), then the options may be few and far-between.
Once the shadchan puts his/her stamp of approval on a potential match (and, of course, after the parents give their approval), then it's time for the prospective couple to meet in a stressful setting where every word, action and breath has to measured and thought out three times before being executed, lest it convey the wrong idea (If I use the word "religious" instead of "frum" will he think I'm not religious... I mean frum enough?? Can I tell her this joke, or will she think that I'm not serious enough?) . Throughout the date, both parties must hide behind a mask of frumkeit, since they are afraid to let their true selves show through (even though, in the end, it is the true selves, not the mask, that they will be marrying).
At the end of the date, the young man will take the young woman home (to her house!) and both sides will confer with the shadchan and with their respective camps for a strategy session and date review where every minute action that happened (and didn't) on the date is wheighed and analyzed. Of course, any direct contact between the boy and girl at this point is strictly forbidden -- all contact must occur through the shadchan. Why, if he were to call her up directly and say something like "I really enjoyed our date, I'd like to see you again," it would cause such a public scandal that the two of them would likely not be able to get another date with anyone else within 100 miles. So, both parties discreetly contact the shadchan and give their impressions of the date, telling everything that they felt was right or wrong about the date, and then both parties wait for the shadchun to let them know that the other one is interested (or not) in seeing them again. And so, another date gets arranged (or not).
But no dancing!
The Wolf
(Yes, I know it's not truly as bad as I make it out to be in my post. But the point remains how such a system as existed in the times of the Mishnah would *never* fly in certain circles today. I guess they're just frummer than R. Shimon ben Gamliel.)
P.S. Happy anniversary to the artist who designed the header for my blog and who is supposed to get back to me with information! :)
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
On R. Nachman and Skepticism
Emet/Truth posts a saying of R. Nachman of Breslov. The saying (as quoted) is as follows:
It is written, 'A fool believes all things' (Proverbs 15:15). It is good to be such a fool. If you believe even that which is false and foolish, you will also believe the truth. You are better off than he who is sophisticated and skeptical of everything.
One can begin by ridiculing foolishness and falsehood. Eventually he will ridicule everything and end up denying even the truth. As one of our greatest sages once said, 'It is better that I be called a fool all my life and not be wicked even one moment before God (Eidiyot 5:6).
Sichos HaRan/ Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #103
( http://www.breslov.org/torah/wisdom/100-109.html)
I can hardly believe that this quote is accurate. Did R. Nachman really make such a statement? Should we actually be a fool and believe everything? Of course, such a feat is impossible. There is so much contradictory information out in the world that it is impossible to believe everything.
Even putting such contradictory information aside, I find it hard to believe that followers of R. Nachman would really recommend believing things that are simply hard to believe. Do they really believe that there are alien bodies being kept at Area 51? That the Bermuda Triangle is a place where ships mysteriously disappear? That Elvis is doing three shows a week on Jupiter?
Skepticism, in and of itself, is not a bad thing - and being skeptical of some things will not automatically lead one to ridicule everything. After all, it was skepticism that Jews showed 2000 years ago that caused us to reject the messianic claims of Jesus. Without that skepticism, we'd all be Christians today. It was skepticism of the claims of Mohammed that led the Jews of the Middle East to reject Islam.
Skepticism is the sign of a healthy mind. The ability to critically think through information to sift truth from falsehood (yes, Mis-nagid, I know what you're going to say) is something that has served Jews for ages. To go to a state of simply believing everything is downright dangerous.
Apparently, I'm become a skeptic of R. Nachman...)
The Wolf
It is written, 'A fool believes all things' (Proverbs 15:15). It is good to be such a fool. If you believe even that which is false and foolish, you will also believe the truth. You are better off than he who is sophisticated and skeptical of everything.
One can begin by ridiculing foolishness and falsehood. Eventually he will ridicule everything and end up denying even the truth. As one of our greatest sages once said, 'It is better that I be called a fool all my life and not be wicked even one moment before God (Eidiyot 5:6).
Sichos HaRan/ Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #103
( http://www.breslov.org/torah/wisdom/100-109.html)
I can hardly believe that this quote is accurate. Did R. Nachman really make such a statement? Should we actually be a fool and believe everything? Of course, such a feat is impossible. There is so much contradictory information out in the world that it is impossible to believe everything.
Even putting such contradictory information aside, I find it hard to believe that followers of R. Nachman would really recommend believing things that are simply hard to believe. Do they really believe that there are alien bodies being kept at Area 51? That the Bermuda Triangle is a place where ships mysteriously disappear? That Elvis is doing three shows a week on Jupiter?
Skepticism, in and of itself, is not a bad thing - and being skeptical of some things will not automatically lead one to ridicule everything. After all, it was skepticism that Jews showed 2000 years ago that caused us to reject the messianic claims of Jesus. Without that skepticism, we'd all be Christians today. It was skepticism of the claims of Mohammed that led the Jews of the Middle East to reject Islam.
Skepticism is the sign of a healthy mind. The ability to critically think through information to sift truth from falsehood (yes, Mis-nagid, I know what you're going to say) is something that has served Jews for ages. To go to a state of simply believing everything is downright dangerous.
Apparently, I'm become a skeptic of R. Nachman...)
The Wolf
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Index Added!
I've added an index of most of my previous posts to the sidebar on the left side of this blog.
The Wolf
The Wolf
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