[Avodah] The Kuzari, vindicated

[Micha Berger]

My opinion on the dispute between the Rambam and Rihal is split:

I'm at home with the Rambam's universalism, the notion that being
Jewish "just" means having more tools at your disposal to reach the
same goal. Rihal not only defines Jews as different in composition, he
makes a distinction between geir and ezrach.

OTOH, the Rambam is overly cerebral for my liking. In his hashkafah,
life is a chain of intellectual comprehension from philosophy to Torah
to ruach haqodesh (perhaps, if one gets there in life) and nevuah, and
olam haba. All based on a unity brought through a philosophical
understanding of the Borei. In his world, it is not Jews who are
inherently superior, but people of greater intellectual capacity.

Along the way, the two end up with very different notions of the role
of philosophy. The Rambam, as stated before, believed that some kind
of neo-Platonic Aristotilianism was a necessary stepping stone on the
way to sheleimus. The Rihal, OTOH... Here's the Kuzari 1:13 (tr
Hirschfeld):

> The Rabbi: That which thou dost express is religion based on
> speculation and system, the research of thought, but open to many
> doubts. Now ask the philosophers, and thou wilt find that they do not
> agree on one action or one principle, since some doctrines can be
> established by arguments, which are only partially satisfactory, and
> still much less capable of being proved.

And here's a quote I received today from William James:
> There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and
> that is to contradict other philosophers.

(William James was a 19th cent American thinker who straddled the
fence between philosophy and the field that came to be known as
psychology. He was a pragmaticist, which means he defined truth in
terms of what was useful, given that we will never know for 100%
certain what's really out there.)

James is mesiach lefi tumo, that the Rambam was wrong to place such
confidence in philosophical search for universal truth.

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv



SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv