Year: 2016

Brisker Chakiras Present a False Dichotomy

The Chazon Ish had many , many criticisms of Brisk. Here is one on the “Chakira” (also known as “Two Dinim”):

Why not three or four?

There’s a spectrum or continuum of possible “Dinim”. If the method was any sort of search for truth, two options would not suffice. But of course it’s all about shooting the breeze, sorry, I meant “increasing love and enjoyment for Torah”.

Yeshayahu Leibowitz on ‘Jewish Values’

My own summary:

  • Judaism consists only of keeping Halacha. All other Jewish source-texts comprise either commentary of Halacha or encouragement to keep Halacha.
  • Sociology is meaningless from a Jewish religious perspective.
  • No other Jewish “worldview” or “value system” or “commitment” exists.

 

Jews: The One and the Many

Stars and Sand

When Abraham complained to God that he was childless, God promised that his children would be as numerous as the stars in the sky:

“God took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky, and count the stars if you can! So will be your descendants.’” (Gen. 15:5)

On another occasion, God promised Abraham that his children would be like “the sand on the seashore” (Gen. 22:17). Why are the Jewish people compared to both stars and grains of sand?

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From Rav Kook Torah, here.