Permit me dear readers to elaborate on the crucial issue of emunah that has engendered so much discussion recently on these pages. This is indeed a critical question: why would good Jews feel that they don’t truly believe in HaKadosh Baruch Hu?

It would seem that some of the letter-writers made a valid point when they argued that emunah is a matter of feeling something that is either present in a person’s heart or not and that its seeds are planted and cultivated in early childhood by one’s parents. To this I would add that plain logic compels a person to believe. Simple common sense recognizes that nothing gets made by itself. Although the Rishonim (the Chovos HaLevavos and others) brought various analogies to prove the point logically I will choose a modern illustration I once read by a non-Jewish physicist who wrote that anyone who claims the world was formed spontaneously might as well be saying that the Encyclopedia Britannica was formed by an explosion in a print shop.

In that case if the logic of emunah is so compelling then why doesn’t it convince people in our own camp who were raised on Torah and yirah? Why is it not obvious to them? Didn’t their parents and everyone in the community around them implant this conviction in their hearts? What happened to them on their way to adulthood to real life? Perhaps some answers might be found in the following.

***

Professor Aharon Katzir Hy”d was a world-renowned Israeli physicist. He was killed in an attack on Ben Gurion Airport by Japanese terrorists in the 1970s. Before his tragic death an extensive interview with him appeared in an Israeli newspaper. One of the things he spoke about was an experience he had while lying ill in the hospital. His roommate it seems was a distinguished rabbi. As is natural between two people sharing a common experience a friendship developed between them. The rabbi at one point asked the physicist to explain the major concepts of modern physics to him in general outline — Einstein’s theory of relativity the theory of the expanding universe and so on. The professor took up the challenge and began a lecture for the elderly rabbi about the size of the universe and the laws governing it. As he was describing the infinite expanse of the universe with its myriad galaxies spreading out ever more distant from one another he suddenly stopped. A disturbing thought had struck him: perhaps he was spoiling the innocent faith of this rabbi who believed that somewhere up there some kind of G‑d was sitting on a throne watching us and running the whole system. And here he was telling him about the universe’s incredible vastness and endless expansion.

But he looked at the rabbi and saw his face glowing with joy. The rabbi smiled at him and said “What you don’t understand my friend is that the more you enlarge my concept of the universe the greater my G‑d the G‑d of Israel grows. Where do I feel the Creator’s existence? In my heart! So the more I realize how vast the universe is the greater the Divinity that resides in my heart. The concept of Divinity is a spiritual concept — the Life of all worlds — not something that can be grasped in terms of physical space.”

Professor Katzir went on to tell his interviewer that this was a huge revelation for him. “Suddenly I saw that science and faith speak the same language.”

I’ll admit I was shocked even insulted when I read that. What? This distinguished professor really thought that a believing Jew is a primitive creature who thinks G‑d sits up in some corner beyond the galaxies supervising things? As if we were on the level of idolaters chalilah?

Some time after that I went to a bar mitzvah celebration of a cousin a chareidi researcher at the Weitzman Institute in Rechovot. Among the guests was my cousin’s colleague Professor Katzir who came over to congratulate the baal hasimchah. After he left I told my cousin about my surprised reaction to the ideas expressed by such an intelligent man in the interview I’d read.

“You have to understand” my cousin said. “Professor Katzir is one of the greatest scientists in the world. One of the greatest in the world! But when it comes to belief in G‑d he’s locked into the concept of faith he picked up in his childhood. It never developed beyond that the way his scientific knowledge developed. On the subject of emunah he’s still like a little child.”

***

This I believe is exactly what we are seeing in our own community.

Of course emunah is instilled in us from day one. As the Chazon Ish said in his penetrating work Emunah UVitachon “The middah of emunah is a subtle inclination stemming from the tenderness of the soul.” Of course common sense compels it. So then what happens to make a person lose it along the way? Nothing! A person matures growing more sophisticated in every way but his concept of Divinity remains unchanged as innocent and childish as it was when he was five. Great mussar teachers have written that many of us go on learning Chumash and understanding it the same way we did when we were in cheder — and that is a catastrophe. Many people’s emunah is similarly childish and does not speak to the heart of an adult. It remains abstract following a person around like a cloud but doesn’t give rise to any experience. It is like a tender shoot that won’t grow if it isn’t watered and tended. It will wilt and dry up.

***

We have a fine educational system but we don’t systematically water and cultivate the tender shoot of childish emunah. We don’t take a methodical approach to feeding that subtle inclination with experiences. We give our pupil the best of everything in the world of Torah learning but fail to cultivate that natural faith. Emunah is left to chance in the hope that it will turn out all right. And yet we know that among some of our pupils it doesn’t turn out all right.

One educator asked me “So what do you want me to do? Believe me I do talk to them about emunah.”

“Don’t talk to them!” I replied. “Show them! Words won’t help here; experiences are what’s needed. From an early age bring them into living contact with the world and its wonders. Take them to the planetarium where they can see the vastness of the universe get them excited from an early age and at every age give them suitable experiences and then teach them the prayer Vayevarech David and they’ll know what David HaMelech meant when he said ‘You have made the heavens the heavens of heaven and all their hosts the earth and all that is upon it and You give life to them all.’ Take them to the zoo and teach them about the incredible wisdom underlying every animal’s characteristics. Study such books as Rav Avigdor Miller’s Sing You Righteous and other such works.

“Don’t give them another boring frontal style lecture. Give them constant activity that lets them experience the world and perceive the wonderful wisdom that is evident on all sides. Do this while they’re at an age when they are still capable of wonder and they’ll feel the Creator’s closeness as a matter of course. Remember the Rambam says this is an obligation! Isn’t it just as important for the growth of a child’s mind as another shiur in Mishnah Berurah? A person needs experiences; otherwise he’s not really living. And if we don’t provide a child with the direct experience of recognizing his Creator which the Chazon Ish says is the greatest of all experiences bringing unparalleled joy then he will look for experiences elsewhere.”

***

Perhaps I got a little bit carried away when I continued to my friend “Let me tell you about an experience of G‑d recognition I had recently.”

The Malbim once announced to his family that early the next morning they should get dressed up in their holiday clothes because an important guest would be coming to visit. Although it seemed like an odd request of course they did as he told them. They got up before dawn full of suspense wondering who the visitor would be. When they were dressed and ready their eminent father took them outside to greet… the sunrise. The Malbim’s aim was to implant a sense of elevation in their hearts taking them beyond the everyday occurrence of the rising and setting of the sun and opening their minds to the wonder of it so that every day they should be excited at the coming of this guest with its life-giving powers. But we’ve grown used to it; a sunrise excites no feeling in our hearts.

The Malbim however knew his own knowledge was limited. In his commentary on the prayer Ashrei he explains the pasuk “Dor ledor yeshabach ma’aseicha ” as meaning that every generation with its increased scientific knowledge deepens the praise of the Creator’s deeds beyond what previous generations could fathom. In this way the capacity for wonder is maintained as a vibrant power of the human soul.

Now here is what happened to me:

I’m currently reading a book about the amazing creation we call air. Entitled An Ocean of Air by Gabrielle Walker it begins by describing an unusual event that occurred on August 16 1960 at seven o’clock in the morning. Research test pilot Joe Kittinger was hovering over New Mexico at a height of 32 kilometers in an open gondola which was slowly rotating under a huge helium balloon.

I won’t elaborate here on that stirring voyage and the fresh knowledge it supplied to the scientific world or on how the navigator made it back to solid ground. The fascinating part is what he reported about what was going on up there. The sun that mighty source of energy is not as friendly to us as we might think. In addition to the light and warmth that make life on this earth possible the sun is also showering us with lethal x-rays. This deadly radiation however never reaches us; it is absorbed by molecules of air 80 kilometers above us.

Kittinger who gives a colorful description of life in the upper atmosphere was subject to an even more violent attack by what is known as solar winds — jets of electrically-charged particles that move toward our earth at a speed of more than a million kilometers per hour and an intensity that could disintegrate our atmosphere and turn planet earth into a comet’s tail.

But in order for such a scenario to take place the sun would have to penetrate our most protective shield — earth’s magnetic field. The presence of this field is hardly felt. But at levels high over our heads its effects are stretched out like a bow over thousands of kilometers and the sun’s energy is forced to split around it like water around a ship’s prow. Thus the arcs of earth’s magnetic field deflect the solar winds and redirect them out of the danger zone forming an almost impenetrable barrier.

***

I purposely cited this passage from the book’s introduction at length so that the reader should have a chance to feel what I felt. After reading it I went out to the street. The sky overhead was blue and clear and the sun gently warmed me radiating nothing perceptible but a wonderful calm. My thoughts wandered to the phenomena taking place tens of kilometers above me the storms and tongues of fire threatening our world and the invisible magnetic field protecting all living creatures on earth at every moment. Frankly it was moving. I could feel the love of the Creator guarding His creations. When I davened that morning and said “…Who renews every day constantly the acts of Creation… Who illuminates the world and those who dwell upon it with mercy…” how could I not feel that mercy with all my heart? A phenomenon of  Creation that I’d learned about in a science book had made my tefillah more relevant.

Now here is part two.

After a person feels moved realizing through direct experience the inescapable truth that there is a Creator behind it all after he perceives the love that is evident throughout Creation his daily prayer becomes a reminder of that experience and the words become revitalized. Thus if he pays attention to what he does his emunah and  perception of Hashem’s loving hashgachah are strengthened from day to day.

The fact however is that most of us have never dealt intensively with this halachah in the Rambam. Only for brief moments or perhaps never have we felt the hand of Divine hashgachah. We haven’t made a practice of enjoying the world’s beauty.

The word emunah in lashon kodesh is related to imun meaning practice. One must exercise it regularly to keep in practice. This is achieved through direct experience because “you shall know that Hashem He is G‑d” really is common sense. But without “repeating it to your heart ” this basic feeling will wither and die.

This isn’t a matter that can be left to chance. It is something that has to be cultivated by developing the sense of wonder.

We haven’t yet spoken about the other path — Torah. We’ll talk about that next time.