7
votes
Is Absurdism Compatible with Judaism?
Generally, the core tenant of absurdism is not just that humans struggle to find the meaning of the world, but that there is no meaning, that the world is absurd and undirected, Camus has said "...
- 618
4
votes
Love Hashem more than fellow Jew?
Let's review the Sources and see if we can come to a conclusion.
1-You must love God: "You shall love your God יהוה with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." [Deut....
- 18.6k
4
votes
Not inquiring about pre-creation - why?
The Midrash tells us that, before creating our world, God created many worlds and destroyed them, because He did not like them. [Genesis Rabbah 9:2]
But why would God not want us to know about these ...
- 18.6k
3
votes
Are people inherently good or bad according to Judaism
Let's begin with an definition of "good". G-d gave us the free will to chose for ourselves. The best thing to do is to chose G-d and His Torah, since Torah is called good. So "good ...
- 4,920
2
votes
Not inquiring about pre-creation - why?
Based on Raschar Hirsch commentary throughout the Torah (notably in Genesis 1, but also in other places, implied in 19 letters):
In order to conduct research, we need first of all specify the goals, ...
- 81
2
votes
Are people inherently good or bad according to Judaism
I'm familiar with three different approaches,
Raschar Hirsch (Bereshith 2) says that the human nature is neither good nor bad in itself, but rather blind - a structure of various forces and drives, ...
- 81
2
votes
Love Hashem more than fellow Jew?
"The greatest love one can show a Father is to do a kindness to His children."
-me
I would like to suggest that the question is based on a false dichotomy.
Hashem doesn't need anything. ...
- 9,145
2
votes
Love Hashem more than fellow Jew?
It is my personal opinion that God did not give us the Torah through Abraham because Abraham loved God more than Abraham loved Isaac. Moses was found worthy of giving the Torah because he was willing ...
- 10k
1
vote
How are the concepts redemption and salvation related in Judaism?
We know that ישועת ה' כהרף עין, that got me thinking that salvation (ישועה) is used when it's an immediate salvation, one minute in distress next minute salvation. Redemption (גאולה) on the other hand ...
- 285
1
vote
Man's Duty in this World
Man's duty and goal can be looked at from two vantage points: 1). From Hashem's view 2). From our own.
According to the Ramchal (Derech Hashem, Daat Tvunos, etc...) Hashem wanted to give and so he ...
- 471
1
vote
Hashem too holy to abide by us, yet closer to us than we can imagine - how to resolve?
This is a really thought provoking question
I think one of the best place which answers this question is Rabbi Nachman, in 64 https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan.64.1.1?vhe=Likutei_Moharan_-...
- 1,178
1
vote
Hashem too holy to abide by us, yet closer to us than we can imagine - how to resolve?
I think there are different contradictions that are at play...
But the main one you are asking about can be solved based off of the רמח׳׳ל if I understood you correctly.
Hashem and whether we are ...
- 471
1
vote
Is the idea of a "philosophical zombie" compatible with Jewish thought?
The Torah makes much about our Free Will, and our uniquely G-d-like nature and potential behavior is framed by many of our sources in terms of that Free Will.
Can a Philosophical Zombie have free will?...
- 9,145
1
vote
Are people inherently good or bad according to Judaism
As pointed out, this is hard to answer without definitions.
I wanted to highlight two points that had not been made yet:
After Hashem created everything, culminating in the creation of Adam, the Torah ...
- 9,461
1
vote
Accepted
Credit for mitzvot in vacuous situations
This is equivalent to asking about doing the mitzvot we can't do today, such as because we have no Temple or Sanhedrin.
The answer from Menachot 110a (see Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orach Chaim 1:9) is ...
- 3,256
1
vote
Details of the Baal Shem Tov and Baal HaTanya debate with misnagdim
There is in the writings of the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe written the whole story how the Baal HaTanya debated with Misnagdim.
To read online: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/81908/jewish/...
- 99
1
vote
How did Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel arrive at the conclusion that it would have been preferable had man not been created?
As mentioned in the first answer, the Maharsha explains that the reason why it would have been better if man wasn’t created, is because there are more negative commandments than positive ones
However, ...
- 723
1
vote
How did Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel arrive at the conclusion that it would have been preferable had man not been created?
If we're going to be careful with the words and their connotations, נוח means "comfortable". See dictionary here: https://www.morfix.co.il/en/%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%97
We can see that from ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible