[Avodah] (no subject)

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 06:12:15AM -0500, Allen Gerstl wrote:
: 2. RSRH , IIRC, in chapter 18 of his nineteen letters criticizes
: the Rambam for his use of Greek philosophers as RSRH advocates the
: use of Jewish sources. The Greek philosophers referenced were actually
: transmitted through Arabic sources- so I assume that RSRH while praising
: and showing the deficiencies of such philosophers in his Chumash
: commentary, was much more negative in his approach to such outside
: sources of religious philosophy in his Nineteen Letters.

Perhaps: What's laudable in a nation that wasn't given the Torah isn't
laudable in a baal mesorah. The Moslems used Greek thought in noble
ways, and it is good to learn from them. But not to the point that one
is force-fitting Torah into alien categories.

In the 18th letter RSRH writes, "The age gave birth to a man [1]" -- the
footnote reads "Maimonides" --
    a mind, who, the product of unomprehended Judaism and Arabic science,
    was obliged to reconcile the strife which raged in his own beast in
    his own manner, and who, by proclaiming it to the world, became the
    guide of all in whome the same conflice existed.
    This great man, to whom, and to whom alone, we ove the preservation
    of practical Juidaism to our time, is responsible, because he sought
    to reconcile Judaism with the difficulties which confronted it from
    without, instead of developing creatively from within, for all the
    good and evil which bless and afflict the heritage of the father...

IOW, his criticism is not unequivical. RSRH lauds the solution, and
laments the problem it sets to solve. Perhaps as the Rambam did, when he
titled the book as being for al cha'irin (nevuchim). Or perhaps not,
since Hil Yesodei haTorah is equally Greek.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When a king dies, his power ends,
micha at aishdas.org        but when a prophet dies, his influence is just
http://www.aishdas.org   beginning.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                    - Soren Kierkegaard