Faith in whom?

Every so often I receive a short piece from Avot Today Facebook group member Jonathan Frey. Here’s the latest:

We may have had some tough breaks in life, but at the end of the day Hashem has recreated us every morning in order for us to appreciate that very fact and give thanks to Him for that fact alone—if for nothing else.

 

We all have our individual challenges, but Hashem doesn't make it so hard that we can't triumph. After all, the challenges come from Him himself and are designed to enable you to grow in spirituality if you make the correct choices.

The challenges are in fact opportunities, and this is the attitude you need to have.

• Change your attitude and you will go far with His help.
• Work with Him not against Him.
• Carry out His will rather than your own.
• Strive to perfect yourself as a person and to help make the world a better place in the process.

 Remember importantly: Ba Chabakuk veHemidan al achas, veTsadik beEmunaso Yichye. This means, the prophet said, that all mitzvot are based on one overriding principle, i,e. that a righteous person lives by his emunah, his faith. Have complete total and utter Faith in Hashem and demonstrate it through your thoughts, speech and deeds. In return He will raise you up to spiritual levels and fulfilment more than you could dream of!

 This piece very much resonates with the ethos of Pirkei Avot. “Carry out His will rather than your own” is advice that comes straight from Rabban Gamliel ben Rebbi at Avot 2:4 and the lion’s share of the content of the fifth and sixth perakim is aimed at perfecting ourselves as human beings.

Jonathan cites the prophet Habakkuk on the importance of living by one’s faith, this being essentially faith in God. One might have thought that faith in God was so basic that it was bound to feature somewhere in Avot, but it does not. Avot has very little to say about emunah, and what it does say is not specifically about faith in God at all. We should not have faith in ourselves, Hillel teaches (2:5), till the day we die. A baraita (6:6) adds that emunat chachamim—faith in our Sages—is one of the 48 ways one can acquire Torah. And that’s it.

 So why does Avot keep off faith in God? One obvious reason is that belief in God is a mitzvah de’oraita—a Torah commandment—while Avot addresses middot, personal behaviour and character, not mitzvot (In his famous list of the 613 Torah commandments, Rambam places emunat Hashem, in the sense of knowing God, at number one). In other words, faith in God lies outside the tractate’s aims and objectives.

 Another reason may be that the mishnayot of Avot are actually neutral as to whether an individual has faith in God or not. Why? Because it addresses the way we behave towards others and indeed ourselves: these are externals. What matters is the ma’aseh, our actions, not our knowledge, belief set or frame of mind (see Avot 1:17). If this is so, a non-believer can still act in accordance with God’s will because what God wants is set out in a detailed set of rules that govern Jewish domestic life, commerce and dispute resolution. God is a divine legislator and the law is the law.

 While in the realm of speculation, it is also worth looking at Habakkuk’s one-liner: that a tzaddik, a righteous man, lives by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4). We always assume this we mean man’s faith in God. But the same words can equally mean God’s faith in man. It is only because God, having given us free will, has faith that we will justify His creating us by serving Him in an appropriate manner.  This is not as implausible as it seems. The Bereshit narrative of the Flood illustrates how Noach is kept alive on account of God’s faith in him—and, barring modern scientific developments and euthanasia, we have no control over whether we live or not. That is entirely up to Him (Avot 4:29).

 The idea of emunat Hashem being God’s faith in man rather than the other way round is not mine alone. I found this passage in R’ Lord Jonathan Sacks’ Arguments for the Sake of Heaven (first published as Traditional Alternatives), near the beginning of chapter 5:

Faith in the messianic age is, Maimonides ruled, one of the essentials of Jewish belief. “The Torah has already promised”, Maimonides further explained, “that ultimately, at the end of their exile, the people of Israel will return to God and immediately they will be redeemed”. The sages interpreted the biblical phrase “the God of faith” to mean “the God who had faith in the world He was about to create” (my italics).

 R' Sacks’ text lacks source references. If any reader can pinpoint which sages he indicates, and where their interpretation can be found, will they please let me know.

What can we conclude from all of this? It is difficult to know. Pascal’s Wager seems to apply here: a person has everything to gain by believing in God. If God exists, well and good. If not, he or she has lost nothing and, at least in terms of how they behave towards others, will have made a positive contribution to society as good friends, neighbours and citizens.

 Thoughts, anyone?