[Avodah] The Knowledge Conundrum

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

I posted:
"A couple of thoughts juxtaposed...

Rabbi Sasha Picaric teaches in Teaneck. I suggested he do course on
moreh nevuchim

Then a Breslover friend warned me that Reb Nachman liked Rambam in
Halachah and opposed Chakira.

Kassuv hashlishi hamachria. Beineihem

Kuzari:
Emunah peshua (defined as al pi Mesorah) is best
Lechatchila

BUT
If one begins chakira then it is best to get Torah True stuff (perhaps
such as Kuzari itself and hovos halevavos etc.)
...
So lechatchila probably a simple approach is best.
However once one has been exposed (contaminated?) by intellectual chakira,
then a sophisticated approach is (probably) superior."

---------------------

My Breslover Chaveir dissented from my conclusion above:

"I disagree with your last point.
The point of R. Nachman's objection to Chakira is that is essentially
worthless. We lack the vocabulary to bridge the gap between HaShem's
Imminence and Transcendence. Here lie the Eternal Questions.The answers
to the great eternal questions are not available to us. Our response must
be silence and Emunah. The answers of M.N. and the rest of that genre are
either based on circular reasoning, or simply rephrase the problem in a
subtler way, thereby giving the illusion of having answered the question.
Kuzari is an exception. It uses Reason to show the limits of Reason,
and the need to rely on Emunah.

Note: This is very much like Eastern philosophies who use "Ordinary Mind
to dissolve Ordinary Mind."
---------------------

I added 2 points

1 maybe MN is also about teaching the limits of mind to grasp HKBH,
but does so through an oblique method. IOW he doesn't state but you
see it for yourself afterwards.

2. Perhaps some high IQ intellectuals CAN see the Yad Hashem via M N E.G.
RYDS, Rema, but the average mortal cannot bridge that chasm.

KT
RRW