[Avodah] Faith and Doubt

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R"n Toby Katz wrote:

> The difference between them was that Noach never was an agnostic.
> This whole clever vort falls apart right from the beginning.  When
> Rashi says that Noach did and did not believe, he is OBVIOUSLY
> talking about the Flood -- Noach doubted whether Hashem really
> would carry through on his threat to destroy the world.  Not for a
> moment did he doubt the existence of the One who was talking to him
> and giving him instructions! The premise is absurd.

On the one hand, I concede that "he is obviously talking about the flood",
given that Rashi (7:7) says explicitly, "He believed and did not believe
that the flood would come."

But on the other hand, that same Rashi begins with the words "Af Noach
mik'tanei amana haya - Even Noach was among those of little faith." Isn't
it clear that this refers to faith in general? "Little faith" is a world
apart from "Maybe He will relent."

Under normal circumstances, one does not deny the existence of the one (or
the One) who is talking to him. But nevuah is not a normal circumstance.
And as this same Rav Riskin taught my class when I was a freshman at YU,
"humans excel at self-deception." It's quite possible that Noach was merely
one of a long line of people who wondered, "Was that really God talking to
me, or did I only imagine it?"

Akiva Miller
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