BRIDGING the SPECTRUM of ORTHODOX JEWISH SCHOL.4RSHIP Bume 7 1979
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BRIDGING THE SPECTRUM OF ORTHODOX JEWISH SCHOL.4RSHIP buME 7 1979 A PUBLICATION OF THE STUDENT ORGANIZATION OF YESHIVA RABBI ISAAC ELCHANAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY SHEON KAROL PESACH LICHTENBERG , Editors-in-Chief JOSE ROSENFELD Executive Editor MARK FENSTER Associate Editor DAVID KOPPEL Managing Editor DANIEL KA TSMAN Copy Editor Staff MORDECHAI BERKOWITZ, MARC DELMAN, DANIEL EPSTEIN, LARRY FINSON, ROBERT GREENBERG, STUART KAPLAN, ZVI LOEWY, ZACHARY NOVOSELLER, ORIE SHAPIRO, JERRY STEIN, JACK STRAUS, JOEL WOOLF We would like to thank Arden Kaisman, Shlomo Mostofsky, CONTENTS and Isaac Soibelman, officers of SOY, for their support in the production of this edition of Gesher. · DEDICATION .......................... Dr. Norman Lamm , PREFACE ...................................... The Editors 5 Special thanks to Rabbi Shalom Carmy, whose advice and in Articles spiration were indispensable in every aspect of the journal. THE MIRACLE: PROBLEM AND RATIONALE . Eliezer Berkovits 7 TRINITARIAN AND MULTIPLICITY POLEMICS IN THE BIBLICAL COMMENTARIES OF RASHI, RASHBAM, AND BEKHOR SHOR ............ : .......... ·...... Ephraim Kanarfogel 15 The views expressed in this journal are those of the individual THE ESCHA TOLOGICAL VISION OF RABBI ABRAHAM authors only and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the IBN EZRA . Daniel Levy 38 editors-in-chief and staff of Gesher, or the administration, stu- dent body, and faculty of Yeshiva University. ORTHODOX JUDAISM AND THE HOLOCAUST . Irving Greenberg 55 THE NAPOLEONIC SANHEDRIN . Michael D. Sherman 83 '- THE COURAGE TO SUFFER: ISAIAH 53 AND ITS CONTEXT ............. Shalom Carmy 102 © 1979, Gesher RASHl'S COMMENTARY ON JOB: SOME PRELIMINARY OBSER VATIONS TOWARDS THE PREPARATION OF A CRITICAL EDITION . .. .. Moshe Sokolow 125 HALACHA AND THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE . Andrew L. Kane 135 MIDRASH HALAKHAH AT QUMRAN? UQ TEMPLE 64:6-13 AND DEUTERONOMY 21:22-23 . • . Moshe J. Bernstein 145 TORAHINTHEMESSIANICAGE ....... Bryna Jocheved Levy 167 THE ISLAMIC SOURCES OF MAIMONIDES' POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY .............................. Irving Rotter 182 PREFACE Gesher, rejuvenated three years ago, enters a new phase. With financial · stability and academic respect achieved, the groundwork is complete. We have, therefore, devoted time and energy in the attempt to upgrade further the quality of .the jouroal and, by so doing, to ensure its c.ontinuity. Our effort has been conducted on a dual front. We have striven to engender a growing confidence in the journal's academic strength which is, we trust, reflected in the articles contributed by the faculty, and, of course, in the guest con tributions of Ors. Berkovits and Greenberg, whose articles we are honored to publish. At the same time it has been our policy to raise the number of (as well as the standard of) student arti cles, for the student presence is one of the unique aspects of Gesher ..The manifest ability of our students to publish articles such as are found here, furthers the distinctive scholarship which has been the hallmark of this journal, while the interplay of traditional Judaic and "secular" forms of knowledge, found in the work of both the faculty and students, bears testimony to the ultimate validity of the "Torah uMadah" experiment. Like the frogs of D. J. Opperman's "Paddas", the writers· represented in this publication continue "die onvoltooide groot gesprek", the ongoing dialogue with and concerning God. We do not necessarily agree with all of the theses argued in these pages but we laud the process of "toesang en teensange", the dialectical movement which culminates in hosannas to Him. Gesher is close to financial self-sufficiency, but it requires you, our readers and contributors, to ensure the "lang nagwaak", the eternal watch maintained by the writer and ~cholar who protects our nation by interpreting and enriching its ~eritage. We are, therefore, confident that the journal will receive the continued critical acclaim and financial support it deserves. Printed in the United States of America THE EDITORS Sheon Karol Pesach Lichtenberg PHOTOCOMPOSITION BY EMPIRE PRESS 5 550 EMPIRE BLVD. • BROOKLYN, N. Y. • (212) 756-1473 Eliezer Berkovits Eliezer Berkovits is one of the most distinguished figures in World Jewry who, for many years, occupied the position of Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois. Among his many scholarly contribu tions was an article in the 1976 edition of Gesher. THE MIRACLE: PROBLEM AND RATIONALE 1. Maimonides, discussing the question of the creation of the world, maintains that while he cannot prove creation, he nevertheless is able to prove that it is impossible to prove that the world was not created. Similarly, we may say that, as far as the phenomenon of miracles is concerned, it is possible to prove. today that it is impossible to prove their impossibility. Usually, it is argued that miracles are impossible because they are contrary to the laws of nature. This, of course, is no argu ment. Part of the definition of the miracle is that something oc curred contrary to the normal, natural course of even ts. The argument against the miracle implies the conviction that nothing contrary to the laws of nature may occur in our world. On what is such a conviction based? Occasionally it is said: Well, such things just do not happen; we have never had any experience of them. This is not a valid argument either. For this, too, is part of the definition of the miracle, i.e., that ~iracles occur on extremely rare occasions, in specific situa tions, primarily to exceptional people. The only criticism that deserves serious consideration is the logical one, based on the intrinsic power of the laws of na~re. There is a philosophical interpretation of these laws behind such criticism. Accordingly, whatever happens in nature happens of necessity. Everything that exists is the necessary effect of causes that preceded it and they, in their 7 GESHER: Bridging the Spectrum of Orthodox Jewish Scholarship The Miracle: Problem and Rationale turn, were again the necessary results of preceding necessary civilizations, have no scientific foundation. For all so-called causes, and so on ad infinitum. This chain of cause and effect, scientific predictions are based on the twofold assumption of cause and effect, is indestructible. The logic behind this argu the uniformity and uniform continuity of all Nature. In other ment is based on the all-encompassing law of causation that is words, it is the assumption of "that which has been is what assumed to be responsible for the necessary connection shall be . there is nothing new under the sun." However, between cause and effect. there is no scientific basis for this assumption either. The uni Today, however, the objective scientific validity of the law formity of all Nature and, especially, its unifrom continuity of causation itself has become extremely questionable. In fact, are simply not observable. The statistical laws do not help here all physics and chemistry may now be taught without any either. All statistics are based on past observation. There is no reference to the principle of causation. Statistics have replaced scientific experimenting with the future. Strictly speaking, all causality. The father of the contemporary philosophy of that science may state is: Such is the· statistical frequency of science was the English empiricist philosopher David Hume. things happening in the past. All predictions are" prophecies". He proved already in the 18th century that there was no scien Assuming that things will continue to occur tomorrow as they tific proof whatever for the necessary connection between what occurred yesterday, we can say what may be expected with a is called "cause and effect". What we observe is the fact that certain measure of statistical certainty. Of course, the predic upon event A usually follows event B. If necessary connection tions did work in the past. On what basis are we to assume that was observable, we might be able to observe it even in a single the future will be like the past? The mathematician and sequence of events A and B. But we "establish" the necessity in .philosopher Whitehead answered the question by observing the sequence only after it had been observed on numerous oc that all "scientific predictions are unscientific." They represent casions. Yet, innumerable repetition of the sequence does not an act of faith on the part of the scientist. The assumption of contain more than what was observable the first time it came to the uniform continuity is an inheritance from the monotheistic our notice. Hume concludes that what is known as the law of interpretation according to which the world is the uniform causality is in reality a psychological "law", that he calls "a creatidn of the One Creator, who maintains his creation by his propensity of human nature". When the sequence A/B has will. been observed on numerous occasions there develops in the To sum up this part of our discussion we wish to refer to human psyche a kind of conditioning to expect event B one more insight of Hume. He distinguishes between "relations whenever event A appears. of ideas" and "matters of fact". Necessary connection exists There is no need here to show how philosophers after only in the relation between ideas, for instance, in mathematics Hume, including the great Immanuel Kant, struggled to deal or geometry. Only regarding them does it make sense to say with the revolutionary idea of Hume. Bertrand Russel, in his A ~hat_"ought" to be. Matters of fact are what they are; they ex History of Western Philosophical Thought, sums it all up by ist without an "ought". We might say then: there is no reason stating: "So far as the physical sciences are concerned, Hume is rhatsoever why, for instance, water should flow from a higher wholly'(R's italics) right; such propositions as" A causes B" are ~vel to_ a l_o~er one and not vice versa.