The 13 Principles of Jewish Faith - Principle #8: Philosophy with an "F" - Rabbi Akiva Fox

[Music] what is the word taurah actually mean tour on this farm tell us rehearse deserts and other foreign cells terror comes from the word teaching direction Torah means you show us the direction the Torah is like we said many times not just a book not just the philosophy that's just a bunch of words not just two tablets the Torah is direction in life Hashem God's will for the world and for the people that live in it that includes me and you it is so divine and it is so special that it goes directly to each and every individual can find his place in the Torah the same volcano give us our portion the Torah second your Torah we are all there and what we r who we r who we should be what God wants from us and expects from us it's all there in the Torah in the guidance and the teaching it's all there but we have to decipher it we have to understand it it's definitely not just the storybooks sometimes when you read the Bible it sounds like or comes across as interesting stories there was Adam there was Eve there was a snake but it's not just stories fables tales every word in the Torah is powerfully divine every word in the Torah not only is an allegory not only does it represent loftier concepts but every word and every letter in the Torah is a key that opening it up will show you vast worlds so much there is such depth to it that this is our job our goal in life the Jewish mission is to find ourselves to find ourselves in the world arena and what we are supposed to accomplish what we're here for all it can be found in the Torah so let's let's focus on this a little bit rehearse says that when a person goes to a class listens to a lecture let's say he's brilliant and he understands everything but he takes notes he doesn't write down every word that the lecturer said he writes the highlight he writes the you know the summary the concise version of what the lecturer says and then when he goes over his notes he will remember that which all the information that he learned from that lecturer he now has it highlighted in a way that will help him remember everything that he discovered her understood through that lecture so if Hirsch compares in a certain sense to Torah connotes that God as if wrote down in respect to the greater idea of what God wanted meaning God and the Divine Will is Hashem and his Russell and his decision has directed for the world but we have sort of a a synopsis of it in the Torah but we cannot look at that synopsis and everything we can only look at the synopsis as representing much more much greater and much deeper so we need to delve into it and try to understand and try to comprehend the greater concepts and the greater ideas that are included in the Divine Will that are of course hinted to in the actual words but that is not all that is there so how do we do that how does the person decipher the codes that are in the total so before we discuss how to and who can let's try to understand who can't and what not to do I'm not very good with the English language but I do know that there are some rules in the English language that are not so easy to understand for example philosophy has a pee in it ph instead of f psychology has PS some letters are silent like ballet has a tea that is not pronounced so this is how it goes hola sofy you want to know how to spell it ph are not f even though it doesn't sound right even though if you tell a little kid to spell it is going to say file2 mora teacher you told me yesterday that P says pun not well new rule ph says let's say somebody comes along 2017 okay ladies and gentlemen listen the intellect of people is not up to the level of understanding philosophy with a pH so we're going to change your test because if you think about it it makes much more sense and people will have a much easier time and for those that are intellectually challenged they don't have such an easy time dealing with the hard letters and these and the spelling that they don't they don't understand so we're going to make it in a way that everybody it will be universally accepted so that everybody could connect with the spelling so therefore we suggest that philosophy will now be spelled with an F and up ph and the same to psychology and the same for ballet will have a tea the tea was going to remove it and put a white ballet ble why sounds good no they're very sensitive to the people and the needs they understand that people are intellectually challenged and they cannot relate to something that they'll understand so therefore we have to change everything and you know what it's very nice it's very sensitive it's very thoughtful of you but it's absolutely false and it will not happen and it cannot happen because just because you or people cannot relate or connect to something that is beyond them doesn't mean you can change the rules of the way the word is felt that's what philosophy is meaning philosophy is spelled with pH whether you like it or not whether all of a sudden you decided it doesn't make sense it doesn't feel good it's not relatable no no you cannot change the words you need to understand the rules of words so imagine let's shift over to the Torah people say okay listen the cholera iono it's very deep it's very you know it's very hypothetical very theoretical very philosophical it's very but we need to make it we need to bring it down we need to break it down to people that can't relate to it on that level so let's try to understand that the tour is actually telling us something different or let's try to change what the color says yes God wanted that for people in that generation but in our generation things have changed that is what we call pathetic it's absolutely false there is no truth to it there's no way that it can make sense and the reason is because the Torah like the word philosophy and the rules of how you spell we're given way back when that cannot be changed no matter how sensitive you are that cannot be changed because you say people are not worthy no the Torah is eternal its rules and its commands are eternal this is the Divine Will and that Divine Will was forever for eternity the Torah was given and God knew exactly what the generations what would produce so to say that let's just change a little bit let's just focus on different thing I don't think that that's what God wanted not God would know we cannot do that first of all we're not worthy of doing that and second of all if we understand what the Torah is we can understand what it can't be and the Torah cannot be wishy-washy we can't just change ideas or mess up a few little letters because people are not you know they're not ready for that yet they can't relate to it the novel the level the Torah is eternal the tour is defined if it's God's will in the world and complying with it and every single directive every single command and every single letter of it is just as eternal as God and that as everything in it will be forever and the Jewish people the Torah tree Jewish people will comply with every single letter forever because they realize this is the word of God [Music]