I'm at the airport right now to leave Israel, which is very sad. ( I guess to look at the bright side, my sister got engaged!! (ayen the comments - baruch shelo asani isha :) ) ) So my summer here is over. I want to reflect on some things.
1. So you might remember my atheist debates. Our atheist remains stout in his heretical denial of the existence of G-d. He wasn't the only atheist here; as the program went on I had the "zchus" to discuss these issues with several more atheists. And there is one part of these debates that disturbs me more than anything else: I have asked each atheist the same question, to which they have no satisfactory answer. Suppose I am the only thing standing between you and a million dollars - is there any good reason that you should not kill me for your self benefit. If the world is just a bunch of random collisions of matter with no meaning and no purpose - nothing has any sanctity or meaning - so who cares if you kill me - you haven't destroyed anything meaningful - all I am is a bunch of dirt anyways. While not philosophers, these people are some of the smartest people I have ever met, but they have not given (some of them even admit it) a satisfactory answer to this question.
I don't think there is a good answer to this question if you don't believe in G-d, and herein lies an important truth: I posit that it is impossible for a society to maintain itself with any standards of morality without belief in G-d. Atheists such as Steven Weinberg point to the existence of moral atheists and immoral theists to prove that you don't need a G-d to be moral. I don't think the argument follows because of the following: people many times don't practice what they preach - despite the fact that they believe x, they act in a way inconsistent with x. That's human nature, to not be fully consistent and to allow a certain "cognitive dissonance". Hence some theists, despite believing in G-d, sin and act immorally. And some atheists, despite claiming to not believe in G-d, recognize deep down that there is meaning to this world and we aren't just giant masses of random atoms - these people act morally. But while individuals can maintain "cognitive dissonance", I believe that this would not hold on a societal level. If you don't have any rational basis for morality, society is doomed to crumble. (thank G-d most people believe in G-d)
This I think gives deeper insight into 2 rambams. a. (last rambam in zmanim) גדול השלום שכל התורה ניתנה לעשות שלום בעולם שנאמר דרכיה דרכי נעם וכל נתיבותיה שלום - torah is about fixing this world and making it a good place - without g-d, there is no morality and this world descends into chaos.
b. cant find the lashon i was looking for right now, but the point is that there is a halacha (which probably is not noheg bizman hazeh) of moridin vilo maalin for an apikores, and I think the rambam says the reason is li-hasir michshol. whats so dangerous about an atheist - I think this perspective allows us to answer that question. In particular, sometimes you might wonder why we can't be more tolerant of differing ideologies. Atheism isn't just a different ideology - it, by necessity, preaches immorality. I felt violated (to a certain extent) when I would ask people if they had any good reasons to not kill me and they couldn't answer - they essentially denied that my life (and anyone's life) has any sanctity or meaning. That is intolerable.
2. in addition to the atheists, i had some more positive discussions with a guy whose family goes to shul twice a year and fasts on yom kippur. And this has changed my perspective on the whole chiloni - dati relations situation. As an example, it used to be obvious to me that if possible, one should live in a totally dati neighborhood - why mix with chilonim who don't share our values and life goals? but take the other side - this is an unnatural situation, that there exist communities of jews who arent religious. while there were always yechidim, they in general left the jews and became goyim. now we have communities which, although the assimilation rate is high, are by and large long-term non-religious jewish communities. we cant just abandon our brothers and leave them like this - something needs to be done. what exactly, I don't know.
i've also learned through these discussions more about the degree of strength of my own religious convictions in different areas. If i am not comfortable with an idea, i will not be able to defend it well to others. maybe more about this some other time.
3. my (charedi) cousin started yeshiva gedolah this zman and is learning in ponevezh (by all accounts, one of the top charedi yeshivos in eretz yisrael). I was there for shabbos and they joked with me, "eliezer, next time you come, you can visit chaim in jail " - they just got a draft notice in the mail and while they were joking about it, the tension behind the joke was very real. also, while they were never rich (and thats an understatement, seeing as the father is a rosh kollel), finances weren't doing great either (the kollel wasn't paying anyone until it got more funds.) its easy to bash charedim for not going to the army / not working when you dont put a name to the face - its a lot harder when you know that these people are some of the nicest and best people you know. I still dont agree with what they do - in fact, im really appalled by some of it. but they really do think they're doing what g-d wants, and they are honest and good people. i don't want to see my cousin in jail, even if he doesn't go to the army, and i want my cousins to be able to put food on the table, even if they refuse to go to work. again, i dont know how to resolve this issue - all i know is that the current approach of war between the chilonim and charedim is not a mehalech.
(you might claim that my attitude towards other "enemies of the jewish people" might change if i would put a name to the face as well. very true. thats why i hate it when people have a friendly conversation with those i deem "enemy of the jewish people". it makes it harder to have blind hatred towards them and to dehumanize them - which in this extreme situation, is unfortunately necessary.)
I will leave off with a question to which I dont have a good answer: Fact: the only place in the torah where there is a remez to the idea that all of avodas hashem should be bisimcha (obviously there are specific mitzvos of simcha for yom tov, bikkurim, etc.) is in the tochacha this week - tachas asher lo avadta es hashem elokecha bisimcha - implication being that one should be oved es hashem bisimcha. see rabbeinu bichaye and the rambam who discuss how important simcha is in avodas hashem - isnt it odd that this is the only place it makes it into the torah?
wishing you from israel for the last time until i dont know when but hopefully very soon,
shabbat shalom.
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