Beyond Belief: Reflections on Jewish Faith, Reason, and Experience, is designed to help students take a closer look at how Jewish beliefs can help bring meaning to their lives and guide their choices.
How did the world get here? If the Universe has a Creator, does He run the world, or has He stepped into the background and left things up to physical and human nature? How does G-d communicate with us? What is a prophet? Are there any prophets living today? Who wrote the Torah? Where does the text we read today come from? Are we rewarded and punished for our behavior? What is the meaning of the Jewish concept of a Messiah? Is there an afterlife?
Maimonides, the pre-eminent Jewish thinker, systematically identified thirteen key beliefs that touch on all of the questions above, and that serve as the foundation of Judaism to this day. Taken together, they are a set of necessary and sufficient building blocks that allow us to construct a deep and nuanced understanding of what it means to live as a Jew.
In this course, students examine the logic and role each principle plays in shaping their world view. Students will also have the opportunity to grapple with ideas that sometimes seem remote, and to gain insight into the process by which these and other beliefs are shaped and expanded. Most importantly, this course will also address the inner struggle that many people feel when considering issues of faith.
Lesson One: Beyond Belief
Is faith blind? In the Jewish sense, faith is less an act of unquestioning belief than an act of faithfulness, integrity, and trust. Rambam's principles are the thirteen "big ideas" that form the basis of our powerful bond with G-d. In our first lesson, we examine the principle of G-d's omniscience, a worldview that contrasts starkly with the Greek belief that G-d created the world and then left it to its own devices. This principle lays the groundwork for a personal and intimate relationship with G-d.
