Download Belief and Knowledge

The Way of G-d
Class #2
Defining faith, belief and knowledge.
by Rabbi Moshe Zeldman
© 2007 JewishPathways.com
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Every Jew must believe and know that there is a
first existence1, primal and eternal, which brought
all things into existence and continues to sustain
them. This is G-d.
As the Ramchal stated in his introduction, he was very selective in his
choice of words in composing this work. Every idea or phrase that
seems repetitive is actually adding new information, usually an
important nuance.
Questions We’ll Explore
• The Ramchal is basically stating that "a Jew must believe in G-d who
is infinite." So why did he state this in such a complicated way?
• Why only introduce us to the name “G-d” at the end of the
paragraph?
• Why say that we "must" (tzarich in Hebrew) believe and know? If
we're discussing the mitzvah of belief in G-d, wouldn't it have made
more sense to say that every Jew is "obligated" (chayav) to believe
and know?
• What is the difference between believing and knowing? Once I know
there's a problem with the brakes on my car, it sounds superfluous to
say that I believe there's something wrong with them. Isn't belief just
a subset of knowledge?
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The phrase "first existence" (matzui rishon in Hebrew) is borrowed from the Maimonides' Mishneh
Torah. While other translations render the phrase as "First Being," it is important to understand the
context of the Ramchal's opening. His intent is to present infinite existence as a logical necessity,
and only then to tell us that this infinite existence is a "Being." Calling infinite existence a "Being" is
prematurely giving it a personality and a divinity (especially with a capital B!). It is only a later
development in the chapter that we begin to identify what we can actually say about such an
existence.
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• How can we possibly know with any kind of certainty that G-d exists,
much less that G-d is "primal and eternal, which created and
continuously sustains everything"?
The Logic of an Infinite Existence
These questions all revolve around one central idea: Infinite existence
is logically necessary. The idea of the world existing without having
been created by an infinite being is logically impossible. The Ramchal
doesn't say that we are obligated to believe because that would be
presuming that I already believe, in which case I don't need the
obligation! How can G-d command one to believe? If a person already
accepts G-d's existence, the commandment is superfluous. If one
doesn't accept G-d's existence, then there can be no commandment
since one doesn’t acknowledge the existence of a commander.
The Ramchal's approach is that one can know that G-d exists through
logical premises and deductions. He says so explicitly in 1:1:2.
Without any a priori belief system, one can arrive at the knowledge
that there is an infinite being that created and continues to sustain all
of finite existence. In other words, I must believe it for the same
reason that I must believe that the earth is round. It’s not simply an
“obligation” to believe; I believe it because it makes sense.
What is the difference between believing and knowing? The Hebrew
word emunah is often translated as belief or faith. Let's try to nail
down some important definitions:
Faith
Webster's Dictionary defines faith as "the assent of the mind to the
truth of what is declared by another." In other words, a decision to
accept something as true, even if it does not necessarily have any
rational basis.
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If a total stranger approached me and said, "Listen, I'm really stuck. I
left my wallet at home this morning. Can you loan me $100? I'll give
you my phone number and will pay you back tonight. I promise." I
have no evidence that this guy is telling the truth, or that he's giving
me his real phone number. If I give him the money, it's because I
have faith that he's trustworthy. (I wouldn't recommend it!)
Religions often talk about taking a "leap of faith" to accept their
claims. Judaism categorically doesn't, as we will see in the words of
the Ramchal. In fact, the word "faith" doesn't even exist in the Hebrew
language. Although the Hebrew word emunah is often translated as
faith, it would be more accurate to translate it as "belief." Let's see the
distinction between these two words.
Belief
Webster’s defines belief as "the assent of the mind to the truth of a
proposition or alleged fact, on the ground of evidence" (emphasis
added). In other words, I can believe something if there is a rational
reason to believe it. If the guy who wanted to borrow money was my
neighbor, there is good reason to think that he's trustworthy. 1) He's
borrowed things before and returned them. 2) If tomorrow he denies
that I ever lent him the money, he's going to look and feel pretty
stupid. It's hard to think he'd do that just to make $100. So I’ll lend
my neighbor the money, even though I can't say with absolute
certainty that he'll pay me back.
Belief is always in degrees. I have strong evidence that the state of
Iowa exists, even though I've never been there. I've met people from
there. It's occasionally in the news. Imagine if someone claimed that
Iowa is a fictional state invented by a conspiracy of mapmakers, and
that the people who claim to be from Iowa are all part of this grand
conspiracy. I'd be willing to bet lots of money that Iowa exists and that
the conspiracy theory is wrong. On the other hand, I don’t have such a
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strong belief that stock X is going to rise 20% over the next six
months. My stockbroker may have some evidence, but it's not strong
enough to get me to invest all my savings in it.
Knowledge
Webster's defines knowledge as "the clear and certain perception of
that which exists, or of truth and fact." I can only know something
when I'm very certain – at least as certain as I can be about anything.
I know that my father is trustworthy. If my father's a millionaire and
we're in a shop that doesn't take credit cards, and he asks me to lend
him $100, I know he'll pay me back2.
When the Ramchal says that one must believe and know, what does
he mean? He must mean that emunah, the conviction that G-d exists,
is a gradual process that starts with belief and slowly moves toward
knowledge. It's not all or nothing. A person shouldn’t say to himself,
Since I don't know with certainty that G-d exists, I can't believe in
Him. Rather, a person should look at the evidence for G-d's existence
and see if it's more likely to be true than not. If a person is 70%
convinced that G-d exists, the Ramchal would call him a believer. That
believer's job is then to work out their questions and difficulties and
come to a point where the conviction goes from belief to knowledge.
The Ramchal is telling us that this degree of clarity regarding G-d's
existence is achievable.
Integrated Knowledge
The Hebrew word for knowledge, (da'at) also carries a deeper
connotation. The first time that the Torah uses this word is in the
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Can we really even be certain of anything? Aren't all of our conclusions subject to possibly being
wrong? Especially when dealing with deep and abstract topics, and certainly where there's a
plethora of opinions and centuries of controversy! See the Deeper Insights at the end of this essay:
"Torah and Epistemology.”
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Garden of Eden, where it says that Adam "knew" his wife (Genesis,
4:1). In that context, knowing is a euphemism for their intimate
relationship. Why is it described as "knowledge"?
True knowledge means to form an intimate connection. Just as an
intimate connection can exist between husband and wife, it can apply
to ideas as well. For example, I can "know" that a fire is hot and can
burn me, but it's only when I stick my finger into the fire that I truly
know that fire burns. Until that point, my knowledge was theoretical
and abstract. Even when we witness someone else burning their hand,
we can feel their pain because we emotionally connect to our own
knowledge and experience with fire burning.
Is the Ramchal then saying that we can know G-d? Can we probe the
mind of an infinite Being? Can we feel and see G-d in the same the
way that we can sense physical objects?
That’s obviously impossible. How can our physical senses of sight and
touch perceive something non-physical? How can a finite being directly
perceive the infinite?
Rather, the Ramchal’s point is that one can “know,” in an integrated
real sense, that such a being exists. It means being so intellectually
clear on the reality of G-d’s existence that it affects your very being.
You live with it as a reality. That integration comes, rewardingly, at the
end of a long process of asking all the difficult questions:
• How do I know for sure that there is a G-d?
• How do I know G-d is infinite?
• How did G-d create something so finite like physicality?
• Why did G-d create me?
These are the questions the Ramchal will answer to bring us to the
level of da’at, knowledge.
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"This is G-d"
As we see from this first paragraph, the Ramchal only introduces us to
the name "G-d" at the end of the first sentence. Why?
Because "G-d" is just the label for that first infinite existence. Had the
Ramchal said, "Every Jew must believe in G-d, who is primal, eternal,
etc..,” he would essentially be asking you to take a leap of faith. It
would be like saying, "You have an obligation to believe in G-d. Now
let me tell you what it is you're believing in." Instead, his tone is, "You
should believe and know that there is a first infinite cause to creation
(because it’s logical). We call that infinite cause G-d."
The Ramchal is saying that knowledge of G-d’s existence is reachable.
One only needs the patience to sort through and clarify the many
questions surrounding the idea of an infinite being. The Ramchal will
dedicate the rest of Chapter 1 to giving us a true understanding of
what infinite is, and what it isn’t.
Believing and Knowing
When the Ramchal says that every Jew must "believe and know" that
there is an infinite being, he is touching on an age-old controversy
among the earlier Jewish sages. There were those who were strongly
in favor of using logical proofs to demonstrate G-d's existence, like
Bahya Ibn Paquda in Duties of the Heart (see chapter, "The Gate of Gd's Unity").
Others were strongly opposed – for example, the argument of the
philosopher to the king, in the Kuzari, by Rabbi Yehuda HaLevy.
Maimonides, in his overview of the 613 mitzvot, Sefer HaMitzvot
(Positive Mitzvah #1), says that the mitzvah of emunah is "to believe
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that there is a first cause." On the other hand, in Mishneh Torah,
Maimonides' classic halachic work, he says, "The foundation of all
foundations and the pillar of all wisdom is to know that there is a first
cause." The Ramchal brings both opinions, presumably for the reasons
stated in the commentary above.
Rabbi Kaplan's Switch-Around
An interesting curiosity is that Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, in his original
English translation of Derech Hashem for Feldheim publishers, altered
the translation of the first line of the book. Instead of saying, "Every
Jew must believe and know that there exists a first Being," his
translation reads: "Every Jew must know and believe that there exists
a first Being."
I don’t know what Rabbi Kaplan had in mind, but it was almost
certainly not an oversight. One possibility is that he's hinting at this
deeper understanding of "knowing" that G-d exists. We can imagine
that a person can know something to be true and yet not live with the
implications of it at all. A person can "know" that they have a bad
habit to overcome, yet they're not even trying to do anything about it.
Why?
Rabbi Kaplan might say it's because you don't really believe in what
you know. The knowledge is so theoretical and intellectual, so
removed from the heart, that it won't affect a person's actions. In
which case, by switching the order of the words, Rabbi Kaplan may be
saying that you have to first know that G-d exists (intellectually,
logically), and then once you know it, you have to allow it to guide
your actions and decisions, to live with it as a reality – i.e. believe it.
The Torah itself describes this process of starting with the head and
then moving to the heart. Deuteronomy 4:39 states: "And you shall
know today and bring it into your hearts, that G-d is the supreme
Being in heaven and on the earth beneath, there is no other."
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Torah and Epistemology
Among secular European philosophers in the 1700s, a new idea
emerged led by David Hume and John Locke called Epistemology, the
philosophy of knowledge. They picked up on an interesting question
posed centuries earlier by Rene Descartes: At what point can a person
say with absolute certainty that they know something?
After all, haven't we all been in situations where we were sure that
something was true, only to find out that it was a subtle fault in our
logic, or that our minds or senses were playing tricks on us. More
fundamentally, haven't we all had dreams that seemed very real? So
how do we know we're not just dreaming right now?! When I reach
logical conclusions about important things in my life, how seriously can
I take them? Maybe I've fooled myself? Maybe I'm really in some sort
of a matrix? Maybe this is all just a dream. How do we really know
anything?
The Torah would look at such notions and ask a different question: Do
you honestly believe that all pursuit of knowledge is futile? Will you
never listen to a doctor's advice because you're not absolutely certain
that he's right, or not certain that you're not just dreaming that you
urgently need medicine? Would an epistemologist get married? Pay
bills? Cross the street? Eat food? If not, then I can't imagine that the
philosophy that denies all knowledge would last very long. All the
epistemologists would die out pretty quickly!
Let’s dig a little deeper into the psychology of the epistemologist.
When do people start entertaining questions like, "How can I really be
sure of anything?" When they're stuck with a proposal that logically
locks them into an uncomfortable position. A man who has been
happily married to a woman he loves for 30 years doesn’t know, with
absolute certainty, that she won't poison his dinner one night. But no
matter how serious of an epistemologist he is, he'll go home that night
and eat dinner without the slightest hesitation.
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On the other hand, if this same person has lived as an atheist and
then reads a book that convincingly demonstrates to him that there's a
G-d, he'll be stuck. His first recourse is to find some logical flaw in the
argument. If that fails, then the philosophical quandary, "But how can
I really be sure of anything?" can relieve him of having to take the
arguments seriously.
The Torah can't expect from a person any more than they really
expect of themselves – to take life's questions seriously, to dig for
rational answers, and to be honest with ourselves when we discover
them. So the Torah's answer to epistemology is: Be consistent. Use
the same type of decision-making process for determining G-d's
existence as you would any other critical question in life – marriage,
career, health. Weigh out the options and do what makes the most
sense. Don't intellectually paralyze yourself by demanding to be
"100% convinced." Reality doesn’t work that way.
• Why does the Ramchal say that one must believe and know that G-d
exists?
• Why does the Ramchal end his first statement with "This being is Gd," rather than begin with "One must believe and know that there is a
G-d, defined as..."?
• How can Judaism command belief? Aren’t you either a believer or
you're not?!
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