לזכות מיכל רבקה בת פסח דוד וכל אשר לה לברכה והצלחה בכל מעשי ידיהם!!
For the sake of our discussion we will break up people into three categories.
1] People who believe for sure that there is a G-d [and that the Torah is true etc.].
2] People who believe for sure that there is no G-d [G-d forbid!:-)].
3] People who aren't sure [known as "agnostic"].
People who believe for sure are fulfilling the first commandment of אנכי השם א-להיך as ruled by the Rambam in his Sefer Hamitzvos and at the very beginning of Hilchos Yesodei Ha-Torah.
People who are sure that there is no G-d are just being foolish. How do they know? There is not one proof that there is no G-d. Not one. Nobody has offered a solid proof that the Sinai event didn't happen. All people can claim is that the evidence we believers offer is not sufficient but that does not create certitude - just a doubt. Saying that our ancestors were monkeys doesn't explain the mystery of the Universe.
So we will not relate to silliness.
Now to category 3 - people who aren't sure. Is there halachic validity for a person who is in doubt? He doesn't believe nor does he disbelieve. Most people aren't 100 percent [on the conscious level - our neshamos know 100 percent and all we have to do is connect to our neshamos] and find themselves somewhere in the world of doubt - 80 percent sure, 60 percent sure etc. For many it depends on the day, how life is going, how they are feeling etc. etc.
I have seen the following proof offered for the validity of doubt [if I recall correctly from an essay in the book Faith and Doubt by Rabbi Lamm - I read it probably over 20 years and you can look it up to check my accuracy]. The gemara in Shabbos relates that a goy came before Shammai and wanted to convert but without accepting the Oral Law. Shammai kicked him out. He came before Hillel and Hillel converted him.
How did Hillel convert a non-believer. The gemara says that if one wants to convert and declares that he accepts EVERYTHING except for one mitzva, we don't accept him. So how did Hillel convert this man who didn't believe in the Oral Law? Rashi says some very cryptic words to answer this question.
דלא דמיא הא לחוץ מדבר אחד, שלא היה כופר בתורה שבעל פה אלא שלא היה מאמין שהיא מפי הגבורה והלל הובטח שאחר שילמדנו יסמוך עליו.
There are those who understood from this Rashi that he was an agnostic. So we see that one may an agnostic and a kosher Jew at the same time.
I am "kofer" that this is Rashi's intention. Rashi could have said that he had a "safek" or was a "מאמין ואינו מאמין" which would have meant that he was in doubt.
I think what he means is that this person accepted upon himself all of the mitzvos until the very last rabbinic ones. However, he didn't believe that we received the Oral Law from Hashem. So he believed in the Oral Law - just not in its Divine source. This is NOT an acceptable belief but does not prevent the geirus from taking place because he obligated himself to keep all of the mitzvos [including the rabbinic ones]. Hillel was convinced that after converting him, he [Hillel] would be able to convince him that the Oral Law has a Divine source [as he did in the end].
So this gemara is not talking about doubt but about a detail of hilchos geirus. I searched the many sefarim that deal with this Rashi and saw various explanations [94 sefarim mention it!!].
At any rate, whatever the correct explanation of Rashi is - the halacha is as ruled by the Rambam at the begining of the Sefer Ha-yad - יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון - One must KNOW that there is a G-d who created the world. וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי ה' הוא הא-להים בשמים ממעל. Absolute, unwavering, unskeptical knowledge that Hashem is the Creator. The Rambam further rules in Hilchos Avoda Zara [2/3] that one may not even have a thought that casts doubt upon the veracity of the Torah.
In conclusion: There is no room in halacha for doubt. One must be absolutely sure. As we say in the piyut on Yom Kippur הודאי שמו כן תהילתו - Definite [knowledge] of His name is His praise.
BUT WAIT! What happens if one can't help it. He/she has questions. The answer would seem to be that if the questions prompt one to further search with the intention of being convinced, then the questions are valid. For that we have so many sefarim written to strengthen people's belief. But one who is in doubt may not remain passively in doubt. Amalek - the epitome of evil in the world, shares a gematria with safek [240]. Just as we must blot out Amalek, we must blot out any doubt we may harbor.
I once heard a Rabbi [of the more modern persuasion] saying that we have a lot of evidence that the Torah is true but since we can't really be sure, we have to take a "leap of faith" [and so wrote a woman in her book about the phenomenon of kids off the derech]. This is a terrible mistake. The entire thrust of our life is to come to a place where there are no "leaps" but firm, solid, unshaking belief.
The gemara says [end of Makkos] that all of the Torah can be wrapped up in sentence וצדיק באמונתו יחיה - A tzadik lives by his faith. We must learn about Emunah, we must daven with Emunah and for Emunah. We must keep all of the mitzvos with Emunah, as Dovid Ha-melech said כל מצותך אמונה - All of the mitzvos are a reflection of Emunah.
May we constantly grow in our emunah and relationship with Hashem - Amen!!!:-)
