Intro To Machshava: Rav Sa'adiah Gaon - Faith and Doubt (Part 2 of 2)

Rav Aryeh Leibowitz

Adapted by Micah Hyman

Last week, we discredited the approach of those who fail to acknowledge their own intellectual shortcoming and the “Descartian” approach of rejecting one’s own tradition.  We will now be able to better explore and appreciate Rav Sa’adiah’s approach.  Rav Sa’adiah writes that the quest for deep emunah should be based upon intellectual inquiry coupled with a unwavering faith in the masorah. 

Rav Sa’adiah Gaon himself saw great proof of God and Torah in the miracle of manna.  For him, it is a great testament to the veracity of Jewish history.  The question he poses is simple: If the manna never happened, how was such a lie started? It is so hard to keep secrets, even when two people are in on the secret.  In the desert there were a million Jewish people.  One million people in on a lie?!  All it would take is for one idealistic person to denounce the falsehood and the great lie would be exposed. 

In addition to the manna, Rav Sa’adiah also points to the public revelation of the Torah. Precisely because a lie of such epic proportion would be so hard to “pull off,” it is not coincidental that only Judaism claims public revelation.

Rav Simcha Zissel discusses another proof for the masorah, the historical record. Mark Twain expressed this point eloquently:

If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and had done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it.  

The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

From Rav Sa’adiah Gaon’s Philosophy we learn that Judaism values doubting, questioning and probing – if it is done with profound respect for Jewish history, and a preexisting faith in the validity of the masorah. The tension between intellectual inquiry and accepting the masorah is a cornerstone of Judaism. Every Jew also must understand that the presence of doubt and the drive for intellectual inquiry is an expected and necessary part of living a religiously engaged life. The uncertainty shouldn’t induce fear or concern, as it takes time to find answers.  Probe, study, and question, and in the dark moments of doubt, take comfort in the light of our masorah.