Faith vs. truth

Or, emunah vs. emes. The two terms oftentimes translated as “faith” — as in “blind faith” — and truth — as in “absolute truth”. Well, guess what? Jewish faith is not blind. And no truth is absolute.

I went to a talk by Rabbi Akiva Tatz tonight. He told a story of a Japanese soldier who was left on a Philippine island during the war, and somehow remained there for 30 years after its end, waging war on the Philippians. When an officer from Japan finally arrived and told the soldier that he can go home, the soldier replied that he had his orders and was planning to carry them out until his death. The officer told the soldier that the war had been over for 30 years at that point and that what he was doing was illogical. He got in reply: “The role of a soldier is to carry out orders, not to think about their logic.”

The story ends with the officer bringing the soldier’s superior officer from the times of the war, who could give him orders to go home.

The story portrays what emunah is about (at least in this framework of thinking). It’s not about blind faith. It’s about the commitment. You’re walking through an empty plain in the night, rain and wind in your face. Only very rarely do you see the lightning that illuminates the plain for a split second. The rest of the time you find yourself walking in the darkness, committed to the image from the lightning flash.

And yet, says Rabbi Tatz, there is something tragic, something silly, something bothersome about that image of that Japanese soldier faithfully waging the war 30 years after its end. What was he lacking?

He had emunah — faithfulness, commitment, loyalty. He was lacking emes — truth, clarity and reason. Judaism is founded and based on emes. Knowing where our tradition comes from with utmost clarity. Being able to think critically about the foundations, about Hashem, evidence of His existence, evidence of the truth of our tradition. Not saying, like the rest of religions, that religion has nothing to do with reason, logic or knowledge. Our religion is founded on rational principles.

And at the same time that is married to the ability to carry out orders with absolute commitment, even when finding oneself in the darkness at the moment. Because once you know (know!) that Hashem exists, once you know that He gave you Torah at the Sinai, He owes you no further explanation — and any explanation that you do receive (as a favor and as a tool to make your service better¹) is only superficial. At the end of the day, it’s all about His Will that needs to be expressed in this world, no matter what.

So, day in and day out, you do it, keeping the image of the plane illuminated by a bolt of lighting in your mind, the image of the goal towards which you’re walking.

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¹ Which, on the one hand, should prevent you from being filled with arrogance about the fact that you know the explanations, and, on the other hand, should prevent others from saying that one should stop worrying about the “esoteric” knowledge, the “secrets”, the “explanations”. The secrets and explanations are here for a purpose. They must be utilized — but specifically for this purpose; namely, for illumination and improvement of one’s service of Hashem.

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I wish mazal tov to Elisheva and TRS who are getting married, with the help of Hashem, today. May they build together a home founded upon Torah and mitzvos, a vessel for Hashem’s Essence in this world. May theirs and all our efforts bring Mashiach speedily, already in the coming year of 5770, bring close the time when we will not have to rely on the memory of the revelation of Hashem, but will see His Essence clearly revealed in every piece of matter of this world.