Is Judaism rational? This is a question that has been debated for centuries and continues to be contested today. In this week’s Torah portion the Jewish people are commanded not to take a mother bird along with her eggs. If the eggs are to be taken, the mother bird must be chased away first. Maimonides, one of the primary codifiers of Jewish Law, writes that while the Torah allows the eating of eggs from kosher animals, this commandment takes a very humane look at how this should be done. Taking eggs while the mother bird is present will cause the mother acute pain, so to prevent that, the eggs can only be taken when the mother bird is not in sight. Additionally, if this is the sensitivity that we should display when dealing with animals, how much more careful should we be to prevent causing grief to human beings. Maimonides is espousing an extremely rational view of Judaism, with this commandment being logical and based on an easily understood rationale.
Whether this is the correct way to view the Torah and define its commandments has been hotly debated. The view upheld by Maimonides and many other prominent Jewish theologians is that Judaism appeals to the human mind and can be assimilated into it. It may take a significant amount of time and extensive learning to comprehend the complexity and depth of Jewish laws but fundamentally, Judaism is a manual for living that makes sense. Maimonides book, the Guide for the Perplexed, is dedicated to explaining the rational state of Judaism. The advantage of this approach is self-evident. If a system is logical and easily internalised by those who seek to understand it, it can be appreciated and celebrated so much more and its followers will eagerly commit to observing to it and passing it on to future generations.
However, this view has been opposed by many prominent Torah scholars and thinkers throughout the generations who claim this approach is misleading at best and highly dangerous at worst. Many argued that if an understanding of Judaism is based solely on the logic of that person then laws will simply be neglected or ignored if they are not understood or do not appeal to the those who study them. Difficult questions can be posed which cannot be answered simply and those unable to answer them will simply walk away. If the prerequisite to Judaism is that it is rational then it can be abandoned if it does not conform to my sense of rationality.
And unfortunately, this did happen. When the age of the Enlightenment swept through Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, entire generations of Jews were lost when Judaism didn’t speak to their newfound and progressive minds. A prime example is the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, one of the founding fathers of the Jewish Enlightenment. Mendelssohn was personally an observant Jew but because he focused on rationality above all, his children ultimately abandoned their faith when it did not meet their sense of reason. Rationality is subjective to both people and generations. What is logical to me may not be logical to you and what is sensible in one generation may be immoral in the next. What was once seen as murder can later be viewed as the very expression of freedom and openness. Perspectives and cultures change. What speaks to one generation will be irrelevant to the next and a new explanation is needed.
So, is Judaism rational or not?
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson suggests that this debate does not have to be confined to these two possibilities. There is a potential third option which he calls truth. Is truth rational and logical or irrational and illogical? Calling it one or the other is compromising its very essence. Truth very often transcends logic and rationality. If something is true it’s all-encompassing and while the finite human mind may not be able to grasp its full magnitude it can appreciate there’s a vastness contained in it that cannot be distilled into easily defined terms. What Rabbi Schneerson is saying is that neither view may express the full truth of Judaism. Judaism is based on an ultimate truth with the understanding that the Torah is a divine manual for life that cannot be fully assimilated into a finite heart and brain. Both options above ultimately attempt to reduce an ocean into a drop of water.
The authenticity of Judaism should not be dependent on how much it is understood to the human mind because its way beyond that and this concept is the foundation on which Judaism is built. He points out as well that while foundations are important, in fact without foundations there is no building, we do not live in the foundations of a home. Our job is to internalise Judaism and integrate it into our very identity and personality. While it is the divine word, our human minds and hearts need to appreciate it. Contained in the Torah are layers and layers of significance that do speak to the human heart and mind.
After receiving the Torah, the Jewish people said naase - “we will do” followed by nishma - “we will hear”. First we will do. The Jewish people understood that the Torah is the word of God that is beyond anything that a human being can comprehend in its entirety. But, immediately following that, they countered with we will hear. We will listen, we will attempt to understand and engage with our Judaism and make it part of our life and our human experience.
If Judaism is not something that we can deeply connected with and appreciate on a very human level it is missing one of its most central components. Undoubtedly the foundation needs to be laid without which the home will fall, but as much as that is the case, the human lives we lead are in the home built above those foundations of truth.
