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Greece Defeated
Discuss (6)The Ancient Greeks couldn’t understand us Jews. They asked us to describe our G–d. We said He could not be described. They asked us to explain how He created a world out of nothing. We said it could not be explained. They told us that which could not be explained could not exist.
And so continued the debate between philosophy and Torah for many centuries. Step by step, men described and explained everything they saw, until there was no room left for miracles, for prophecy, for divine providence, for G-d.
It was then that the fountains of wisdom opened for humankind and we gazed into the mysteries of the atom, of energy fields, of black holes in space.
Suddenly, the universe became once again a wondrous place. Suddenly, we discovered that existence itself could not truly be described or explained. In truth, the greatest mystery is that anything exists at all.
Today, it is okay to believe in the supernatural, for the "Laws of Nature" have been deposed from their throne. There is no reason to deny free choice, for the iron chain of Cause and Effect has been loosened. Today, once again, scientists talk about the oneness of the cosmos and a Consciousness within it.
Today, if anyone should tell you that Science has all the answers, respond that yes, it does. Its answer is to stand in awe at the design of this universe in which we live.
Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. To order Rabbi Freeman’s book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here.
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Need one remind our (orthodox???) Jewish scientists, who still feel embarrassed about some ‘old-fashioned’ Torah truths,
Buffalo, NY
The "essence" of existing in a world that is both finite and infinite. One we can see, one we can not. One we think we understand, but one we will never understand.
Enjoy the beauty of the moment for this very moment is part of the fraction that makes up the whole.
Ft. Towson, OK, USA
Really, the topic is how science and a believe in G-d coincide with each other; or more specifically if they are antithetical to each other.
It's not which group of people defeated whom.
To imply otherwise implies that is why Torah was given to you.
It implies that Judaism is intrinsically antithetical to other people.
Add to this that there are many Jews who don't understand Judaism.
Only a small percentage of you even bother with it.
There is something downright self-defeating about all that, Mr. Freeman.
New Haven, Ct.
Rabbi Freeman -
I always greatly enjoy your essays and thoughts and once again you have delivered an interesting inspiring point of wisdom.
thank you
Thank you for helping me with my thoughts.
I used to think that G-d made everything, out of something or out of nothing, however He pleased. But now I think that nothingness has never existed, nor can it ever exist. To say that nothingness exists would be the same as saying that there is a somewhere, a something in which G-d is not.
I think G-d made everything out of Himself -- how can it be any other way?
PS. My favorite part of your daily thought was this: "Today, if anyone should tell you that Science has all the answers, respond that yes, it does. Its answer is to stand in awe at the design of this universe in which we live."