How Can I Rely on the Faith of the Rishonim If They Did Not Investigate It?

Every intelligent person plainly understands how much falsification and untruth this claim contains. Time and again it becomes evident that the words of heretics are deception, distortion, and fraud, intended to enable them to follow their corrupt path, filled with the pursuit of desires and the casting off of the yoke of Torah.

For besides the fact that we rely on the tradition transmitted from Rav to disciple, generation after generation, back to Moshe Rabbeinu and the Jewish people, who saw Hashem with their own eyes at the Exodus from Egypt and in all the miracles performed for them there, and in the wilderness for forty years, and at Ma’amad Har Sinai—when all Israel stood at a prophetic level and perceived that Hashem is the one and sole Almighty Ruler, without body or bodily form—these wonders could not have been fabricated. Millions of people experienced them, and the tradition has continued uninterruptedly from then until now. Testimony on such a scale exists for nothing else in the world. It is a simple principle that it is impossible to fabricate a history experienced by millions of people and transmitted throughout an entire nation, person to person, generation to generation, from father to son and from Rav to disciple. Many mitzvos observed by the entire nation commemorate this testimony: Pesach, Sukkos, Shavuos, tefillin, mezuzah, and many more, as do the punishments for one who fails to observe them. We therefore see that this testimony was transmitted from generation to generation with devotion, zeal, and great precision. The Rambam elaborated on this in Iggeres Teiman and Moreh Nevuchim (I:35); see also Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah ch. 8, Ramban, Hasagos on the Sefer HaMitzvos, omission of negative commandments no. 2, and many others. See at length in Shas HaMiddos, “Emunah,” in the Mussar section and in the De’os section, siman 4.

Furthermore, the great eagle, the Rambam—whose wisdom astonished the entire world, and who to this day guides and illuminates the world not only through his Torah but also through his great wisdom in other fields and in medicine, such that physicians even today rely on his remarkable wisdom—is included in the Steipler’s statement: “You may rely in your faith upon the Rif, his disciple the Rambam, and the other Geonim and Rishonim.” Yet the Rambam himself investigated and sought the foundations of faith, and wrote an entire work on this subject entitled Moreh Nevuchim. In his view (ibid. I:50; III:51; Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 1:7; Sefer HaMitzvos, positive commandment 1), knowledge of Hashem is a positive mitzvah: knowledge arising from understanding, not merely from tradition. Its purpose is to establish it in one’s heart, rather than merely uttering it with one’s lips. Through it, a person feels that he is not merely in the outer corridor of the King’s palace, but in the innermost chamber before the King, blessed be He. This is the meaning of, “You have been shown in order to know that Hashem, He is G-d; there is none else beside Him,” and, “Know this day and take it to your heart.” Therefore, since the Rambam investigated and clarified these matters, and even committed them to writing, one who relies upon him firmly and with all his strength fulfills his obligation also in clarifying faith properly—just as in any matter one relies upon someone thoroughly expert in that field. This is like a person boarding an airplane who relies wholeheartedly on the pilot’s expertise to guide and fly the aircraft safely across the sea to shore.

Thus, the claim itself is founded on falsehood—the very assumption that the Rishonim did not investigate. The Rambam himself investigated, and we rely on him with all our strength. It is true that there has been a great dispute from the time of the Rishonim through the latest Acharonim as to whether investigation is obligatory, preferable, or to be avoided because temimus is praiseworthy. But according to the Rambam and other Rishonim—and indeed this is the view of most Rishonim—there is an obligation to investigate through intellectual proofs. Therefore, there is no basis whatsoever for the false claim that the Rishonim did not investigate. This is also the view of Chovos HaLevavos (its introduction and beginning of Shaar HaYichud), Sefer HaYashar (eighth gate), attributed to Rabbeinu Tam, the Rokeach (Shaar HaChassidus, Shaar HaYichud), the Ra’avan (Ma’amar HaSeichel, mitzvah 2), Responsa Rashba (new responsa, letter 368; vol. 5, siman 55), Sefer HaChinuch (mitzvah 417), and Rabbeinu Bachya in Kad HaKemach (entry “Yichud Hashem,” s.v. “VeTzarich Atah Lada’as”). This also appears from the Radbaz at the beginning of his Metzudas David (mitzvah 3), as well as many other Rishonim, as my friend the gaon Rabbi Asi HaLevi shlita elaborated in his Sefer Shas HaMiddos (De’os section, siman 1, סעיף 14), where he also presents the dissenting views.

As for the main claim, that Chazal said, “Do not expound that which is beyond you,” from which he concluded that the faith of the Rishonim was simple and unquestioning—and then denied a fundamental principle—once again it is apparent how blind their eyes are to see and how deaf their ears are to hear. Had they gone to the Torah sages to inquire and receive da’as Torah, they would not have sunk into the depths, hewing broken cisterns. All this is because they draw and nourish their views from impure places full of falsehood and abomination. For the Gemara itself makes clear that when Chazal said, “Do not expound that which is beyond you,” they meant one who, after attaining knowledge of Hashem, wishes to investigate matters beyond human grasp—for example, what lies above the heavens. Regarding this they said, “Do not expound that which is beyond you.” The entire matter is already indicated by holy Rashi there, who writes: “That which is beyond you”—that which is separated and withheld from you, which the Holy One, blessed be He, did not wish to reveal to you. This is likewise explained there by Rabbeinu Chananel, and the Maharsha states it explicitly there. Similarly, the Mabit writes in Beis Elokim (Shaar HaYesodos ch. 1), as does the holy Shelah (Asarah Ma’amaros, first ma’amar).

This was well defined and this question was addressed by Rabbi Yerucham HaLevi of Mir in Da’as Chochmah U’Mussar (vol. 1, ma’amar 88), in the name of the chassid Ramchal in Da’as Tevunos. He writes: “Now that His absolute unity has been completely clarified to us from all this, you will see that none of His other attributes of perfection are clarified to us at all, for we lack the capacity to comprehend them. For example, we know that He is wise, but we have not grasped the limit of His wisdom; we know that He knows, but we have not grasped His knowledge. Therefore Chazal said: ‘You are wise, but not with a known wisdom; You understand, but not with a known understanding.’ Since we cannot comprehend these attributes, we are prohibited from investigating them, for concerning matters such as these it was said: ‘Do not expound that which is beyond you; do not investigate that which is concealed from you.’ His unity, however, is revealed and completely clarified to us. Consequently, not only is it clear to us, but we are obligated to bring this knowledge into our hearts, to implant it within our hearts with complete certainty and without any doubt whatsoever. This is what Moshe Rabbeinu a”h commanded us from the Almighty: ‘Know this day and take it to your heart.’”

At a deeper level, it appears that the meaning of “Do not expound that which is beyond you” concerns one who seeks to investigate the very essence of the Creator, blessed be He—matters that were not given to be expounded. This is, of course, after one has arrived at the truth of the Creator, blessed be He and exalted is His Name. It may be compared to someone who investigates a person at the end of the world: after he has clearly learned about that person, his power, and his stature, he wishes to determine his precise height, his clothing, his house, and the like. I likewise found this exposition in the holy Zohar (Parashas Bo) concerning the verse, “For you saw no image.”