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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: R' Saul.Z.Newman:<BR><BR>>>does everyone agree with the
claims of this skeptic blogger [ i can supply <BR>the source], that<BR>:
'proving' the tenets of Orthodoxy is essentially not doable ie the<BR>: 'proofs'
don't hold up when put to the EXPERT's eye? .... </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>: ..... the proofs for Orthodoxy<BR>: don't
exist<<<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>I think it's a truism that if you could absolutely slam-dunk PROVE the
truth of the Torah, bechira would be eliminated. So there is no such thing
as that "one perfect proof."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Instead there is the "preponderance of evidence" which of course is not
"proof." There are many, many pieces of evidence for the truth of the
Torah -- textual, historical, social, experiential, emotional, intellectual,
mystical -- but even when you put them all together, there is still no
"proof." All the pieces together are like the dots in a pointillist
painting -- they add up to a compelling picture.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have given this a lot of thought over the years -- as I'm sure we all
have -- and what I have concluded is that, even though we really don't have the
absolute proof that would eliminate doubt once and for all, we do have extremely
strong evidence for the following propositions:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1. Belief in atheism is based on even weaker and more tenuous
evidence than is belief in G-d. Atheism is every bit as much a religion
(i.e., a system of faith without proof) as is any G-d-based religion.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2. Every other religion other than Judaism has truly major,
significant flaws. In particular, the two major world religions that
actually derive from Judaism are shot full of logical holes, if -- as they
themselves posit! -- our Torah is essentially true.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>3. Any new (last two centuries) form of Judaism which claims to be
"authentic" but </DIV>
<DIV>a) does not derive in any logically or historically consistent way
from any Judaism known and practiced before the 18th century and
</DIV>
<DIV>b) cannot maintain itself for more than three generations </DIV>
<DIV>--is certainly false. This doesn't prove that Orthodoxy
is "true" but only that IF Judaism is true, then the Judaism that
is true is Orthodox Judaism.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Since we already know that all other religions are [probably] false and
that atheism is [probably] false, we are left with the deduction that the
overwhelming probability is that Judaism is true.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Please don't point out to me that I have proven nothing: I only said
that proofs exist, many many proofs, or rather, many many pieces of
evidence. I haven't actually said what they are. That would take a
book, of course, but we have all heard those pieces of evidence before, we have
all read those books.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the end we are left with existential uncertainty and -- because we are
human, and because we are Jews -- a profound yearning to know the Truth and an
even more profound yearning to connect with the Almighty, the Master of the
Universe, the Creator, the Father of all Humanity.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When I say "we are left with existential uncertainty" I do not mean that
all Jews are uncertain of their faith. On the contrary, to many Jews the
weight of the evidence is such that it amounts to certainty, and many Jews have
a very deep and profound emunah which is not at all uncertain, shaky or
foggy. But what I do mean is that there is no absolute proof, no one sure
thing that you can show a skeptic and say, "Here it is, here is THE
proof."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Many Torah writings -- e.g., much of Shir Hashirim -- gives voice
to the intense yearning that lies behind religious faith -- the
yearning to connect with Hashem when He is not visible to us, when He is
hidden, when we sense His presence "behind the wall" but cannot actually
see Him. For Jews the yearning is both intellectual and emotional -- an
intense package that is quintessentially Jewish.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Recently I saw an article -- if only I could remember where -- that
discussed the difference between "gentile atheists" and "Jewish atheists."
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Although it sounds like a joke -- and indeed, the very distinction does
lend itself to humor -- we also sense that there is a profound truth in the
distinction. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jewish atheists /are/ different. They are so intense. They are
so emotional, and so intellectual, all at the same time. And their
yearning not only to know the truth, but to tell the whole world the truth, is
so very Jewish, so messianic. Of course "the truth" they want to tell the
world is the very opposite of our truth -- they are missionaries of atheism,
after all. But the fervor with which they operate, the very intensity of
their grappling with these issues, testifies that they
have Jewish souls.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A Jewish atheist can never leave the subject alone. He is forever
compelled to wander the world, crying out, "G-d I don't believe in You. Do
You hear? I don't believe in You! You have done cruel things, I am
very angry at You, I don't understand how You run Your world, so G-d, I
cannot believe in You, do you hear me? Do You hear me?"</DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR></B><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's new at <A title="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" href="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" target="_blank">AOL.com</A> and <A title="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" href="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" target="_blank">Make AOL Your Homepage</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>