The Faith of Israel

Faith is a natural trait that exists in every person who has the breath of life in him. This trait of faith is neither intellect nor emotion; rather, it is a more fundamental and deeper trait from which intellect and emotion branch out. Intellect and emotion can explain and express faith, but they cannot invent it, for it precedes them (Rav Kook).

Through faith a person relies on his senses: that what he sees truly exists, that what he hears truly makes a sound, and that what he touches is truly tangible. Beyond that, through the trait of faith a person relies on his family, trusting that it wants his good, and on his friends, trusting that they truly are his friends. Through people’s faith and trust in one another, they have succeeded in cooperating and building thriving human societies.

Above this, through faith a person believes that his life has meaning, and by its power he plans his future, with hope and confidence that he will succeed in improving his life for the better. Through it he believes that there are true, absolute values worth striving for, such as the value of truth and goodness. On a higher level, a person by his nature believes that there is a supreme and eternal power above all that is seen, by whose power all things exist, and by whose power all values possess a supreme and sacred worth. By its power, too, his personal life is bound up with eternity, and its value is greater than the aimless, fleeting routine of his life on earth. To give expression to this faith, all human societies created religions for themselves. However, together with the benefit they brought mankind, they also stumbled into corporealization of the Divine and idolatry, which caused great harm (as explained in the next chapter).

At the revelation at Mount Sinai, the tradition of faith that Israel had received from the Patriarchs was clarified for them, and it was revealed to them that the Lord is God, that it was He who revealed Himself to the Patriarchs, that He is all-powerful, and that He gives life to all and oversees all. On the other hand, it is impossible to describe Him in any form or image, and all that we can know of Him is only according to what has been revealed to us. That is to say, naturally, since a person believes that there is a supreme power, he tries to give it a form and an image, and thereby he corporealizes it and sins with idolatry. In the sublime revelation at Mount Sinai, together with the incomprehensible power of the revelation, it was revealed to the Jewish people that God has no form or image whatsoever, and that He is beyond any definition or image. Whatever the human heart can imagine about Him is but a negligible spark compared to what would be fitting to imagine, and even what would be fitting to imagine is nothing compared to what He truly is (Rav Kook).^¹ Therefore, the entire Torah explains the Divine revelation to us, while warning severely against the slightest trace of idolatry.

Faith includes within it love and awe. Usually these two traits are perceived as opposites, but in our relationship to God they complement one another. On the one hand, a person has an immense desire to draw close to God, for a person wants to draw close to whatever grants him life, pleasure and meaning – all the more so does he want to draw close to the Source of everything. On the other hand, there is immense awe before the splendor of His greatness, for if we are in awe of powerful created beings, all the more so is a person in awe of the Source of all powers. So it was at the revelation at Mount Sinai, when God commanded Moshe to warn the people: “Beware of going up the mountain or touching its edge; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death” (Shemot 19:12; and likewise ibid. 20-24), for it was expected that out of their great yearning for closeness to God, they would want to approach the mountain as closely as possible. However, as the revelation continued and intensified, awe grew stronger among the people, until they said to Moshe (ibid. 20:16-17): “You speak with us and we will listen, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moshe said to the people: Do not fear, for God has come in order to test (exalt) you, and in order that His awe may be upon your faces, so that you do not sin.”