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Introduction
The Dialogue Style Captivates the Reader
Rabbi Yehuda Halevi (Rihal) bases his book on a historical fact, about a king who lived in a distant land and converted to Judaism, and later Rihal tells how this king converted his entire nation. The course of the book relies on a dialogue that the king holds with a wise man from among the Jewish sages (called "the Chaver"), in which the king clarifies many topics related to the Jewish religion. There is no doubt that this method makes the book an attractive and fascinating book, and it really stimulates the reader to continue and follow the discussion, and to delve into things. Thanks to the 'inquiry' style and the king's questions, Rihal allows himself to ask difficult and penetrating questions, and to answer them in the name of "the Chaver" with candor. Also, a method of debate with questions and answers deepens understanding and 'gives birth to knowledge', and only someone who understands the question well manages to get to the depth of the answer, and understands it better than someone who only reads the answer.
It Is No Coincidence That It Is Specifically a King
The questions and inquiries are asked by the "King." This is no coincidence. There is a tendency to think that religious faith is a refuge for weak people, who find it difficult to cope with the difficulties of life and the troubles in this world, and find shelter and protection in the shadow of the strong, merciful, and gracious God. Or in Marx's formulation: "Religion is the opium of the masses," meaning that religion is a kind of illusion required by people who suffer and are oppressed, and it even helps leaders to control their believers so that they do not rebel. Such claims are made by heretical people even today. Rihal, in his wisdom, and as if he foresaw the spirit that would be prophesied in this style, told about a search and investigation for answers to religious questions specifically by a "king"! A king is a person who has everything, he has no material problems, he has no livelihood problems, even when he encounters problems he has all the means to solve them, and he does not need to wallow in fantasies about some supreme power that will come and rescue him from his troubles. It is impossible to belittle an investigation process done by a king!
Good Intention Is Not Enough
This king is a very religious man, and he is very devout in his worship of his God. He himself served in the temple and offered sacrifices, and did everything he could to worship the God that was accepted to be worshiped in his time and place. It is accepted to say that even a gentile who worships his idols in innocence and prays to them, the Holy One, Blessed be He, listens to his prayer and answers him. For what is this poor man guilty of who does not know the truth, and innocently does what he was taught from his childhood, and does not know that he is bowing down to vanity and emptiness and praying to a god who will not save?! Apparently, this king is also righteous and God-fearing and there are no claims against him, since he does everything he can according to his knowledge and understanding. Rihal does not accept this approach and comes out against it clearly. The king dreams a dream in which he receives a clear message: Your intention is desirable, but your actions are not desirable! It is not enough that your intention is pure for the sake of heaven, you must also do desirable actions and refrain from doing undesirable actions. The deed is a very important thing!
The Deed Is Greater Than the Intention
Rihal states here decisively that the great principle in Judaism is deeds. This approach is revolutionary and ahead of its time, and it is as if Rihal foresaw that in the future they would hear opposing opinions in Judaism. Maimonides, for example, explained the matter of some of the commandments as symbols and as a reminder of certain ideas. And indeed, apparently we would think that the main thing is the intention and the deed is a marginal matter. For example, if I know and remember that the Holy One, Blessed be He, brought the people of Israel out of Egypt and performed great miracles for them, why do I need to eat matzah? After all, the whole purpose is to remember, and here, I remember even without matzah! Why do I need to sit in a sukkah? Even without doing so, I remember that our ancestors sat in sukkot when they left Egypt! Apparently, the deed is a means to bring about recognition and memory, and sometimes it seems superfluous. But Rihal does not understand this, and raises the importance of the deed and its meaning to a higher level than the intention. There can be a desirable intention, but if there is no desirable deed, everything is missed and lost. The deed is much more than a practical symbol for some abstract idea, but the deed is the meeting between man and God. Through the deeds of the commandments, man turns the Torah into a Torah of life, and all his life becomes a life of Torah and holiness. The deeds transform a person into something completely different, and give his life a meaning of depth and height. Without the deed, the Torah would have no hold on reality, and it would not be possible to elevate reality. Therefore, the deed is not a means to reach a higher level of awareness and a deeper understanding, but the deed elevates man and brings him to a meaningful connection with the Creator, a connection in all matters of life. Indeed, certainly both Maimonides' approach and Rihal's approach are true, and we will learn more later about the similarities and differences between the methods, and about what seems to us in the combination of approaches.
The Message in the Dream Determines That There Is a Possibility of Connection Between Man and the Creator
But even before we delve into the meaning of the message "Your intention is desirable, but your actions are not desirable," it is important to note an important and significant fact: the king received a message from God in a dream, and he treats it as something absolute. He does not doubt the truth of the dream for a moment, does not treat it as a hallucination or as trivial things, but as a direct speech from God to him, and as a kind of prophecy. Through this story, Rihal establishes several important statements: God connects with man, God turns to man and speaks to him, God guides man and tells him what he should do, and God announces that there are desirable actions and there are undesirable actions.
In doing so, Rihal also informs us about the subject of the book: devotion to the Holy One, Blessed be He. If the Almighty God connects with man and speaks to him, it means that there is a possibility of connection between man and the Creator, and there are even actions that lead to this. This is certainly the goal of every Jew, and Rihal announces here that this book guides what is the right way to connect and cling to the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Also, all these statements that arise from the dream undermine the claims of the philosopher, which the king will hear immediately, since the philosopher cannot accept any of these statements. He cannot accept the idea that God speaks to man, and he cannot even agree that there are actions that are desirable in the eyes of God.
