לזכות הרב משה בן רייזל והרב יצחק בן ברכה ור' יהודה בן הרמינה לרפו"ש בתוך שח"י
In ancient Greek culture, the study of philosophy was central and they had great faith in the human intellect to understand things.
Today, we have advanced far beyond them. We know that the human intellect, with all of its powers, is limited. The more we know - the more we see that we don't know. We also know that man is, inherently, a primarily irrational being. Simply put, most of what we do, think, feel and say is based on subconscious, irrational factors. We LIKE to think that we are being rational - but there is a LOT more going on. There is a ton of research about this - such as the books of Daniel Kahaneman [nephew of the Ponovitcher Rov!!!] and Dan Ariely [great great grandson of Yaakov Avinu!!!]. If you don't believe them - ask your therapist....
This is significant [for many reasons, including] b/c when people say that they left religion for "purely philosophical reasons" it is pure baloney. Yes, they have questions. But there are other people [some with much much much more towering intellects] with the same questions [and more!] who remain religious. So why do these people stick with the program and others don't? B/c there are other factors involved besides pure intellect. Bad experiences, a desire to be free of so many laws, negative family dynamics and a thousand other possibilities can cause a person to stray.
I read about a person who grew up Chasidic and said that he heard a talk by Richard Dawkins ימ"ש and said "Walla, there is no G-d" עפ"ל. OK dear Choosid - Explain how the world came into being? How did absolutely NOTHING create everything? Richie and a million like him have no answer. They just say that one day we will figure it out. Or maybe - we HAVE already figured it out??! Like, it makes sense that an Intelligent Being created intelligence and it is very difficult to understand how ZERO intelligence created so much intelligence. So is it purely intellectual when one decides not to believe? Hardly.
And we shouldn't fool ourselves. People aren't religious either for purely intellectual reasons. There are many other factors involved.
Mussar Haskel: Make being a Torah Jew SUPER GESHMAK for yourselves and your children. The better it is for you, the better a Jew you will be. It is not enough to profess belief. Most Israelis fast on Yom Kippur, so they believe on some level. But most of them aren't fully observant or even close. If they thought that being frum would be more enjoyable, then they would be! We are all pleasure seekers. Just different people seek their pleasure in different places. Make Torah and Avoda your pleasure!!!
Mussar Haskel Number 2: Chazal say "אין אדם חוטא אא"כ נכנסה בו רוח שטות". Sin is a case of temporary insanity. How can one sin when he knows that Hashem is watching and what the consequences will be??? So try to remain sane. How?
Learn MUSSAR!!!!!
