[Avodah] Faith and Doubt

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

R' Riskin repeated a brilliant observation by R Moshe Besdin. (H/T
Mosaic Magazine.) I think it says a lot about what it means to have
a life of faith despite having periods of doubt.

Quoting from <http://j.mp/2ekffiv> (on blogs.timesofisrael.com):

   ...
   Noah didn't enter the ark until the water literally pushed him in.
   Rashi's phrase that "he believed and he didn't believe" is really
   another way of describing an agnostic who remains in the state of his
   uncertainty; he believes and doesn't believe. Noah is therefore
   described by Rashi as the first agnostic.

   The second Biblical agnostic appears in the guise of Haran...

   Haran is present at the trial and takes the position of having no
   position. He remains on the sidelines thinking that if Nimrod's furnace
   will prove hotter than Abramas flesh, he will side with the king; but
   if Abram survives the fire, then it would be clear that Abramas God is
   more powerful than Nimrodas gods, and he will throw in his lot with his
   brother.

   Only after Abram emerges unscathed, is Haran ready to rally behind his
   brother. He confidently enters the fiery furnace (literally: Ur
   Kasdim), but no miracles await him. Haran burns to death.

   Is it not strange that the fate of the two agnostics should be so
   diifferent? We read how Noah was a man of little faith, and yet not only
   does he survive the Flood, he turns into one of the central figures of
   human history. He is even termed arighteousa in the Bible.

   In contrast, Haran, father of Lot, brother to Abraham, hovers on the
   edge of obscurity, and is even punished with death for his lack of
   faith. Why is Haranas agnosticism considered so much worse than Noahas?

   Rabbi Moshe Besdin, zal, explained that while Noah and Haran shared
   uncertainty about God, there was a vast difference between them. Noah,
   despite his doubts, nevertheless build the ark, pounding away for 120
   years, even suffering abuse from a world ridiculing his eccentric
   persistence. Noah may not have entered the ark until the rains
   began -- but he did not wait for the Flood before obeying the divine
   command to build an ark!

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man can aspire to spiritual-moral greatness
micha at aishdas.org        which is seldom fully achieved and easily lost
http://www.aishdas.org   again. Fulfillment lies not in a final goal,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      but in an eternal striving for perfection. -RSRH