Chakira, Emunah, Emunah Peshuta and TS Eliot

Reb Yitzchok, posted some interesting thoughts, at

http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2005/02/27/emunah-peshutah-response-to-a-reader/

along with a quote from TS Eliot, to which I add an additional line mentioned by one of the other people commenting on his post:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

I think this poem does help in understanding the approach of the Rambam to the issue of Chakirah vs Emunah. This approach is based on my father z"l explanation.

It is important to understand that there is a fundamental difference between "Emunah" and "Emunah Peshuta". It is the opinion of the Rambam that there is a requirement on every Jew to "know" that there is HaShem. What does it mean to "know"? That is the aspect of Chakira - to explore using the intellectual capabilities that HaShem has given us. How do we know that we have reached the correct answer? In a purely scientific environment, the question is close to meaningless, and basically is that if we have done the best we can, that is all one can do. That is not the approach of Yahadus. Because, in addition to the requirement of "knowing" that there is HaShem, there is also the requirement to "believe" / to have Emunah that there is HaShem. How do these two co-exist?

The answer is that once we have completed our intellectual exercise, we have done our best to determine what the truth is, we then compare that to what our Ikrei Emunah are. If our intellectual analysis has come up with an structure that is consistent with the Ikrei Emunah, then we can feel confident that MAYBE we have reached some portion of the ultimate TRUTH. However, if after all our work, we find that the structure in some way cannot co-exist with the Ikrei Emunah, then we need to go back to the beginning and start again.

This aspect of Emunah, then is both a difficult state and requires an Emunah that is exceptionally strong. It must be strong enough to stand against what was our best attempts to create a rational structure of what is reality and truth and be able to demolish it, if needed.

Emunah Peshuta, on the other hand, is the almost dialecticly opposite approach. It says, basically, that since you are going to end up here anyhow, why bother to leave. Just stay within the daled amos of your Emunah and do not try to understand and rationalize. For some people, actually I think for the overwhelming majority, that is what they want and are able to handle. It is only for the few, who are willing to take the challenge of going out and trying to "know" HaShem, but willing to bound that exercise in knowledge by their Emunah.

If we look at the lines of the poem:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

The first line clearly lays upon us the requirement - We shall not cease from exploration.
The second two lines bound the exploration - And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started.
The last line explains why take this path rather than the path of Emunah Peshuta that kept us at the place that we started the whole time - And know the place for the first time.

The level of knowledge and understanding of the place after we have completed the exploration, is much deeper and more complex. It is to truly know it “for the first time”. This is why to expend the effort in the first place, and not be satisfied with Emunah Peshuta.

Sambor Un-Rebbi