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The following is from the sefer Rav Schwab on Yeshayahu. <br><br>
In seventh perek of Yeshayahu Hashem tells Yeshayahu to tell Achaz a
number of things. Among them is<br><br>
7:9 <font size=3><i>And the head of Ephraim is Shomron, and the
head of Shomron is Ben Remalyahu. If you do
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>nor
</font><i>believe this, <br>
it is because you do not want to be convinced. [lo </i>sa'aminu ki lo
sa'ameinu.]<br><br>
Rav Schwab comments:<br><br>
The word <i>Emunah </i>does not mean "belief" in the ordinary
sense of the word. "Belief"<br>
means to surmise or assume something is true, but <i>Emunah</i> means to
be convinced,<br>
or to have total confidence that something is true. <i>Rav </i>S. <i>R.
Hirsch </i>takes <i>Emunah</i> from<br>
<i>omein</i>, a nurse, or nurturer, in whom one places total trust and
confidence, as in "<i>ka'asher yisa ha'omein es hatinok</i>.<br>
<i>As the nurturer carries the suckling (Bamidbar </i>11: 12). The
highest<br>
form of confidence that a human being can experience is that of an infant
being held<br>
in the arms of its <i>omein</i>, its mother or father. This sense of
confidence is never repeated<br>
in later life, although we seek it throughout our lives. The same
relationship of the<br>
total trust of a child to its <i>omein</i> is what <i>HaKadosh Baruch Hu
</i>expects of us.<br>
The reason people do not have <i>emunah </i>is because they are afraid to
accept it.<br>
People are afraid to fully allow themselves to be convinced of the
omniscience of<br>
<i>HaKadosh Baruch Hu, </i>because if one really believes that God is
aware of his every<br>
action and thought, he would be forced to change his whole life.<br><br>
Rav Elchonon Wasserman, ZT"L, HY"D. in his <i>Maamar Al
HaEmunah, </i>points out<br>
the following. The <i>Chachamim </i>tell us that <i>Lo sasuru
achrei l'vavchem</i>, Do <i>not follow your<br>
hearts, etc. (Bamidbar </i>15:39), is a reference to <i>minus</i>
<i>heresy (Berachos 12b). </i>One<br>
would expect heresy, non-belief in <i>HaKadosh Baruch Hu, </i>to be
associated with the<br>
mind and not with the heart which is the seat of one's emotions and
desires, but<br>
not his intellect. However, says Reb Elchonon, the reason heresy is
associated with<br>
the "heart" is because one becomes a <i>kofer be'ikar, </i>a
heretic, not because of some<br>
intellectual or philosophical problem with the belief in God, but rather,
because such<br>
a belief carries with it moral imperatives which could interfere with the
desire of one's<br>
heart. One becomes an <i>apikores </i>because he wants to live a free
life following the<br>
dictates of his heart, without any moral constraints. And it is only as
an afterthought<br>
that one looks for some rationale for his disbelief. Any thinking person,
upon observing<br>
the precisely ordered universe, especially the highly complex vegetable,
animal,<br>
and human organisms on earth, will easily come to the conclusion that
there must<br>
be a Creator Who brought all of this into being. It strains the
imagination to believe<br>
otherwise. Disbelief in God is not the result of the <i>mind </i>at work,
but rather, <i>achrei l'vavchem</i>, <br>
it is the <i>heart </i>which is at the root of heresy. This, then, is the
meaning of <i>lo<br>
</i>sa'aminu ki lo sa'ameinu, "If you do not believe, it is
because you do not want to believe."<br>
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