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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<br><br>
<font size=3>In fact, God does not appeal to our feelings and intuitions.
He has<br>
not built our "religion" on the mysterious, trackless sand of a
shore<br>
gently washed by waves of dreams and fancies. <br>
(Deut. 4, 35)-"I have caused you to see in order to have you know
that the Lord alone is God and none else<br>
beside Him"). Your covenant with God does not refer you to mere<br>
"belief," but to that which you yourself have seen and
experienced.<br>
God has placed the foundations of His covenant with you upon a<br>
world of concrete realities; namely, your election and your
commitment.<br>
To the reality of the creation of heaven and earth He has added<br>
the reality of His revelation, confirmed by the experience of your
own<br>
national history. He has addressed to you these words so that you
may<br>
reflect upon them even in the remotest future.<br><br>
It is on this clear historic basis, on realities confirmed by the<br>
concrete experience of an entire nation, that Judaism stands, in
both<br>
theory and practice. In Judaism emotion must not be allowed to run<br>
away with the mind. Rather, the emotions must be guided by realities<br>
which were clearly apprehended by the senses, grasped by the lucid<br>
intellect and considered by logical thought so that they serve as
guides<br>
for every aspect of our lives. Our reflections on these realities
must<br>
produce a firm, solemn resolve on our part to fashion our lives on<br>
earth in accordance with the words of God which were addressed to<br>
the thinking mind. Clear reasoning and vigorous willpower: these are<br>
the forces on which Judaism counts; in Judaism, the heart and the<br>
emotions only serve to mediate between intellect and action.<br><br>
Not "belief' but "knowledge," not "sentiment"
but "determination<br>
and accomplishment;" these are the energies through which the<br>
"Jewish religion" becomes manifest. And for that very reason
Judaism<br>
is not a "religion." It has no part with any of the facets that
other<br>
"religions" emphasize as the "essence of religion."
He who would drag<br>
Judaism down to the level of "belief' divorced from knowledge,
who<br>
would place also at the head of the "Jewish faith" all the
nebulous<br>
subjectivism which indulges in "devout impulses" and have
these<br>
notions constitute the basic requirements of the Jewish
"religion,"<br>
cannot be one of the "priests of the Lord." He is in reality
one of the<br>
priestlings of paganism who exploit vague sentiment and
sensibilities<br>
for the worship of their own delusions, whose harvest, therefore,
has<br>
mostly been grief and mourning, misery and distress.</font></body>
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