Why We Believe In God - Parshat Vayishlach - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

Isaac Newton the famous English physicist had a friend who was a staunch atheist one day when this atheist came to visit Newton in his library at Cambridge University his eyes fell upon the most beautiful object sitting on Newton's desk it was a brass aary a mechanical model of the solar system that's beautiful said the atheist wait said Newton do you see the small lever on the base move it toward you and as the atheist moved this little lever the entire engine slowly came to life at its Center the orb of the sun started to revolve further out turning on brass cogs the earth and the planets began their revolutions around the Sun each planet accompanied by its own Moon all moving in wonderful Precision this is amazing this is so beautiful said the atheist who made it no one replied newon what do you mean no one no one it just sort of fell together very funny I want you to tell me who the maker of this amazing machine is Newton said this you insist has to have a maker but this how much more infinitely more beautiful and more complex that you insist has no maker you don't have to have invented the first law of motion to read this world like a book just as a book testifies to the existence of its writers so the world testifies to the existence of its Divine author yet however compelling is the evidence of design in the creation that's not the reason why the Jewish people believe in God we believe in God because the entire Jewish people had a firsthand experience of the Divine during The Exodus from Egypt and at seni and in the 40 Years of daily Miracles that followed ah you'll say well that was them but what about me the answer is is that parents don't lie to their children about things that it's important for the children to know parents don't lie about essential life information and if God did speak to the Jewish people at sin and miraculously guided us through the desert if he indeed gave us a Torah that tells us how to live our lives then certainly that qualifies as information that our forbears would deem essential to pass on to us tradition is infinitely more than the raps of a Russian Jewish milkman tradition the passing over from father to son of that encounter at seni is the lifeblood of Judaism now one of the ways we express that link is by referring to ourselves as the son or the daughter of so and so for example my name is Yakov Asha Ben David Yakov Asha the son of David my father's name was David Ben schm and his father's name was schm Ben Tan my name who I am is inextricably linked with where I came from I'm a link in a chain that spans the Millennia my very name says that at the end of para's vlak the Torah lists the kings of Edom if you look at this list you'll notice that not one of these Kings was hereditary not one every one of them founded and finished his own Dynasty Edam is descended from asov from Esau asov despised the birthright and sold it to Yakov to Jacob asov viewed heredity as disposable insignificant and he was prepared to sell it for a bowl of lentils aso's worldview is that there is nothing apart from Merit a meritocracy nothing else counts now don't get me wrong a meritocracy has much to recommend it but when you're building a belief system that will rely on a chain that spans the Millennia to despise Dynasty is to disqualify yourself from the job at hand the Eternal witnessing of God's interaction and interest in mankind [Music]