[Avodah] Some Thoughts from RSRH's Tishri VI Essay

[Prof. Levine]

The following are some selections from the above cited essay that is 
in Volume II of the Collected Writings of RSRH. Given what we see 
going on today that is labeled as Orthodox Judaism,  I think they are 
particularly important. YL

In fact, God does not appeal to our feelings and intuitions. He has
not built our "religion" on the mysterious, trackless sand of a shore
gently washed by waves of dreams and fancies.
(Deut. 4, 35)-"I have caused you to see in order to have you know 
that the Lord alone is God and none else
beside Him"). Your covenant with God does not refer you to mere
"belief," but to that which you yourself have seen and experienced.
God has placed the foundations of His covenant with you upon a
world of concrete realities; namely, your election and your commitment.
To the reality of the creation of heaven and earth He has added
the reality of His revelation, confirmed by the experience of your own
national history. He has addressed to you these words so that you may
reflect upon them even in the remotest future.

It is on this clear historic basis, on realities confirmed by the
concrete experience of an entire nation, that Judaism stands, in both
theory and practice. In Judaism emotion must not be allowed to run
away with the mind. Rather, the emotions must be guided by realities
which were clearly apprehended by the senses, grasped by the lucid
intellect and considered by logical thought so that they serve as guides
for every aspect of our lives. Our reflections on these realities must
produce a firm, solemn resolve on our part to fashion our lives on
earth in accordance with the words of God which were addressed to
the thinking mind. Clear reasoning and vigorous willpower: these are
the forces on which Judaism counts; in Judaism, the heart and the
emotions only serve to mediate between intellect and action.

Not "belief' but "knowledge," not "sentiment" but "determination
and accomplishment;" these are the energies through which the
"Jewish religion" becomes manifest. And for that very reason Judaism
is not a "religion." It has no part with any of the facets that other
"religions" emphasize as the "essence of religion." He who would drag
Judaism down to the level of "belief' divorced from knowledge, who
would place also at the head of the "Jewish faith" all the nebulous
subjectivism which indulges in "devout impulses" and have these
notions constitute the basic requirements of the Jewish "religion,"
cannot be one of the "priests of the Lord." He is in reality one of the
priestlings of paganism who exploit vague sentiment and sensibilities
for the worship of their own delusions, whose harvest, therefore, has
mostly been grief and mourning, misery and distress.
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