Friday 24 December 2010

Results of Poll on: Faith, Action or Knowledge

In our last poll, we inquired:

New Poll: Faith, Action or Knowledge

Everyone would agree that there are three ingredients in a Torah lifestyle - emuna (faith or dogma), ma'aseh (action) and limud (study or knowledge) -- or, as some would like to define it -- heart, action and mind. While all three of these are clearly important and necessary, which do you think is the focus of Torah?

1) Emunah / Faith / Dogma - In the end, it all comes down to belief. Its what you believe, what is in your heart, that is the ikkur, the essence of Torah.

2) Ma'aseh / Action - In the end, it all comes down to how you act. Its how you behave.that is the ikkur of Torah.

3) Limud / Study / knowledge - In the end, it all comes down to your mind. Study, the acquisition of knowledge, the development of the mind, that is the kkur of Torah.

4) One cannot make such a choice because all three are equally important.

5) It is different for each individual and thus the focus of one's Torah is and must be a personal choice.

Which do you choose?

Your Responses (total 5)
Choice 1 - 00% (0)
Choice 2 - 40% (2)
Choice 3 - 40% (2)
Choice 4 - 00% (0)
Choice 5 - 20% (1)


Comments

Rabbi Hecht
I find it most interesting that, albeit a small sample, no one chose emunah. This may be an reflection of our belief that we really see faith as but the starting point upon which we are suppose to build. There can be no doubt that at Sinai everyone knew that God spoke to the nation. Our challenge is to meet the standard that God thereby established for us. It seems in this regard it is equal as to whether the focus of this standard is action or study. There is of course the one other view that the choice as to which should be a person's focus is really dependent on the nature of this person -- and this view did get some support.

1 comment:

Rabbi Richard Wolpoe said...

The single largest category of Orthodox Jews in the USA circa 1950 was the "non-observant" Orthodox

it's interesting how this has gone out of style but the pre-dominant membership of Orthodox shuls etc. included those who were NOT Shabbat Observers.

EG Breuer only required that one not be intermarried and have a Brit Millah etc. I suspect MANY of Rav Hirsch's adherents believed in Torah far more than they practiced it. EG Few followed him into Austritt