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Synagogue Sermon

September 6, 2007

The Akedah: Faith, Doubt, and Repentance (2007)

Vayera Rosh Hashanah Faith
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Faith and Doubt

The problem to which this paper is addressed is of momentous importance. How can we affirm our Jewish faith in a world so beset by doubt? How, in the encounter of halakhic Judaism with modern thought, can we preserve both our integrity and our identity? How can we be academically and philosophically honest and yet Jewishly firm? How can we emerge from the dialogue between the two worlds which we inhabit with re­newed conviction and stronger faith?The problem itself is based on two presuppositions. First is an assessment of the realities of our times. This is not a religious age. Nor is it an age of willful heresy. It is an era of confu­sion. But the confusion is not that of ignoramuses or of men who engage in trivialities; it is that of a generation which has suffered unprecedented agony as well as massive intellectual displacement. For many of our contemporaries, God is ir­relevant and secularism triumphant; there no longer are any questions. However, for many others, the w/7/-to-believe is alive, but not the commensurate flii/ity-to-believe. They are in­telligent and concerned, but they question the validity of Juda­ism, its meaningfulness and relevance to their own situations.Their doubts may concern specific dogmas or principles, such as: the existence of a personal God, revelation, the validity of tradition, moral problems in the Bible, literary criticism, his­torical conditioning, relativism, etc., although the first of these is the most crucial. But their doubt is usually a more general and fundamental one: a challenge to the very meaningfulness of life itself. The individual questions are often only symptoms of the terrible meaninglessness breaking into their affirmations and cutting the ground from under them. No wonder thatanxiety, existential anxiety, is the hallmark of our times. The anxiety caused by doubt and meaninglessness is, as Tillich has called it,[1] spiritual anxiety. Medieval Jewish thinkers knew this anxiety well, which is why they declared …
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Faith and Doubt, Third Edition - Draft

The problem to which this chapter is addressed is of momentous importance: How can we affirm our faith in a world beset by doubt? How, in the encounter of traditional belief with modern thought, can we preserve both our integrity and our identity? How can we be academically and philosophically honest and yet religiously firm? How can we emerge from the dialogue between the two worlds which we inhabit with renewed conviction and stronger faith? Troubling as this subject is for believers generally, it is doubly vexing for Orthodox Jews who are committed not only to an abstract faith, but to a way of life, a culture, a tradition, a people. Faith is not all a Jew needs, but without it everything else is in mortal peril. The issue of faith and doubt is thus, for the traditional Jew, fraught with awesome danger, demanding of him unmatched responsibility.The problem itself is based on two presuppositions. First is an assessment of the realities of our times. This is not a religious age; nor is it an age of willful heresy. It is an era of confusion. But the confusion is not that of ignoramuses or of men who engage in trivialities; it is that of a generation which has suffered unprecedented agony as well as a massive intellectual displacement. For many contemporary Jews and women, God is irrelevant, and secularism triumphant; there no longer are any questions. However, for many others, the will-to-believe is alive, but not the commensurate ability-to-believe.
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Synagogue Sermon

Putting a Bad Conscience to Good Use (1966)

The story of the Akeda, which we read this morning, is, together with the revelation at Sinai, the central event in Jewish history and religion. One of the most remarkable aspects of this episode is the one word by which Abraham accepts upon himself this historic trial and its mental agonies and spiritual sufferings. God called to him, “Abraham!” and, in magnificent simplicity, the response is forthcoming: Hinneni, “Behold, here I am,” or, “I am ready.”One of the commentators, R. Abraham b. Rambam – the only son of Maimonides – emphasizes the quality of this response by contrasting it to that of Adam. He writes, mah rav ha-hilluk, “How great the difference,” bein maamaro hinneni, u-maamar zikno Adam va-ira ki erom anokhi va-ahavei, “between Abraham, who answered the Divine call with the word hinneni, and Adam, who, when God called out to him, “Where art thou?” answered, “I saw that I was naked so I hid.”Now, this comparison is somewhat disturbing. The answer of Adam is, after all, the response of a human being pursued by God who demands an explanation for a terrible failure, whereas Abraham’s response is to a Divine call not necessarily connected with any human offense. Is this not, then, an individual comparison? Is not Abraham great enough in his own right and without seeking to enhance his reputation at the expense of his grandfather Adam?The answer I wish to offer is one which, I believe, not only justifies the comment of R. Abraham b. Rambam, but has the widest ramifications both for a proper understanding of the Bible and for our own lives. This answer is that both – Adam and Abraham – were, in a sense, being reprimanded!The story of the Akedah begins with the words va-yehi ahar ha-devarim ha-eleh, “and it came to pass after these things.” What things? asked the Rabbis. In their answer, they indicate that the words of the Bible imply some severe introspection. Ahar hirhurei devarim shehayu sham; the Akedah took place after deep meditation and self-analysis by…
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