Every aspiring עבד ה' appreciates the significance of the adage “קנה לך חבר”, and the terribly painful loneliness of או חברותא או מתותא. For years, I have desired to form a chaburah of individuals whose attempt to guide their life at achieve both יראת שמים and קרבת אלוקים. As members of such a chaburah, I hoped that together we could develop profound thoughts concerning avodas Hashem, both its theoretical as well as its practical elements. We would assist each other in developing the unique ideas and approaches of each member.

Over the years and in different stages of my life, I was fortunate enough to meet such individuals. With current technology, we are attempting to form this chaburah, despite the geographical distance that may separate us. We would like to invite others with whom our ideas may resonate to join us by reading, commenting, and ultimately sharing your thoughts with us. קנה לך חבר, says the Arizal, means that your pen (קנה) should be your friend – as you write, your thoughts become clearer.

The exact parameters of this blog will be defined as we develop our ideas. All entries are guided by five principles:

a) יראת שמים

b) desire for קרבת אלוקים and becoming a better עבד ה'

c) strict adherence to Halacha, including הלכות לשון הרע

d) belief in גדלות האדם, both in oneself and all other people

e) intellectual rigor
Anyone who does not feel passionately about these five principles is asked not to comment, since any comment that does not meet the above-mentioned criteria will not be posted.

About the name of the blog. “השגה” represents the intellectual grasp of any given idea, while “הויה” represents the incorporation of that idea into the person’s weltanschauung. Our goal is to merely discuss theoretical ideas and then return to our daily lives. We want to transform the ideas of the Torah into a living Torah, a תורת חיים.

-BilvaviNer

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Development of Personal Thoughts:
Part 1 – Two Perspectives on Truth

One of the themes found in the writings of Rav Kook is the importance of developing one’s personal ideas. The Rambam speaks about the importance of a particular order of studying various branches of wisdom in order to grasp those ideas properly. The Rambam’s view of the truth is that truth is one. According to the Rambam, there is no such thing that each person has a potential to see some unique personal (objective) truth. Two individuals on the same level of understanding should grasp identical truth since there is one truth that can be grasped when the individual properly aligns his mind (through proper study) to the truth. Difference in understanding amongst the individuals is simply a product of a clearer and a less clear grasp of truth.
But there is another view in Judaism, the view that states that this creation is highly complex, that multiple truths can exist, sometimes seeming in a paradoxical manner. In this hashkafas hachayim, an individual possesses an ability to reveal a unique truth that only his intellect can grasp. Rav Kook subscribes to this view. From this perspective, the individual bears a great responsibility to develop his ideas because a failure to achieve this means that a certain angle of reality may forever remain unrevealed. It also means that without this development, the person’s true inner personality will remain unfulfilled.
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