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Kuzari Sheets 1-4 |
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Jewish Philosophy asks questions on the Tanach and Talmud. It asks questions like Why? How do we know? How can it be?
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לדעת � to know |
להאמין � to believe |
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Know through Senses Know Logically |
No basis � free choice |
If something is known, it is either right or wrong. However, if something is believed, it could be both right and wrong at the same time. You cannot be wrong in what you believe.
The Kuzari is a philosophical book by R� Yehudah HaLevi. The book tells the story of a Khazar King who was visited by g-d in dreams many times and was told, �Your intentions are good, but your actions aren�t.� At first the king tried to improve himself by being more religious but the dreams weren�t stopping. Then he decided to summon people from different religious backgrounds and convert to the one he thought was best. In the end the king chose Judaism and he and his whole country converted. The book is about the conversations of the religious people and the Khazar King.
At the time this book was written, the Jews were in bad conditions. Many Jews were being converted, and other followed false messiahs. This book was written to show all Jews that their religion was true, and therefore the original name of the book was �Book of Proof to Defend the Despised Religion.� He wanted Jews to be proud of their religion. He gave them hope in their despair. This book was not written to say that the other religions were wrong. This story shows that Judaism was the true religion because the Khazars who had free choice of religion chose to become Jewish.
There is a dispute concerning the accuracy of the book:
1. The entire story was true and the conversations were true. The name of the rabbi in the story was R� Yitzchak. R� Yehudah Halevi just translated the book from the Khazar language to Arabic.
2. The story really happened, however the conversations were just a result of Halevi�s imagination. He wrote them as a story to defend Judaism how he though they would have been.
3. The entire story was untrue. It was just a story made up by Halevi.
Proof has been found that showed that there really were a Khazar people who converted to Judaism. There is a letter from a later King Joseph who wrote a letter to someone in Constantinople describing the story. However, there is no proof that the actual conversation was recorded and therefore the second opinion is probably the correct one.
The Khazars were a Turkic people who settled in the area that today is part of Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, and Kazakhstan in the 5th century. They were farmers and fisherman. The king was known as a Kagan and the military leader was the Bek. The first time the Khazars came in contact with Jews was when they fled the Byzantine Empire because of religious persecution. The Khazars learned from them a little bit about the Jewish religion.
King Bulan had a dream that caused him to think about his religion. He asked about the three important religions, (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and in the end he chose Judaism and converted. King Ovadia was the king who succeeded King Bulan. He built Synagogues and yeshiva�s and he brought Jewish teachers to teach the Judaism. The Khazars wrote in Hebrew, they used Jewish names and had Jewish leaders.
The Arabs tried to capture the Khazar Kingdom, but were stopped. This prevented the spread Islam to Eastern Europe. They helped the Hungarians on their way to central Europe. The Khazars were a big influence on the Russian culture. The relationship between the Russians and the Khazars went bad when the Assyrian Muslims under Khazar rule murdered the Russians. Eventually, the Russians and the invading Turkic people led the destruction of the Khazar Kingdom.
IV Rabbi Yehudah Halevi (1075-1141)
R� Yehudah Halevi had three jobs: rabbi/philosopher, doctor, businessman. A legend is told about Halevi and R� Avraham ibn Ezra. Halevi had one daughter and wanted to marry her. He vowed to let her marry the first Jew he saw. The next morning Avraham ibn Ezra, a poor traveler, appeared. Halevi wanted to teach him Torah and make him a scholar. Ibn Ezra, in his modesty, did not reveal his true identity. Halevi was teaching Ibn Ezra a poem according to the Alphabet. Halevi forgot a stanza. Ibn Ezra then continued the poem, and made corrections. Amazed, Halevi gave his daughter to Ibn Ezra in marriage.
Halevi wrote many poems about Israel and compiled them in a book called Shirei Zion. We read some of these poems on Tishah Be�Av. Because of his love for Israel Halevi decided to make aliyah. It is unknown whether he ever made it to Israel, but it is sure that he made it to Alexandria. One legend states that Halevi arrived in Jerusalem and as he leaned down to kiss the ground, was trampled by a Muslim horseman.
The Philosopher is a follower of Plato and Aristotle. He believes God did not create the world rather the world was always in existence. He said that every person had parents. There were no first people. The differences in people are from their family and their environment. He says that God doesn�t want anything because he is complete. G-d doesn�t care about the individual person his prayers. G-d is only interested in the general laws that govern nature. He doesn�t care about the individual because it is always changing and is imperfect. He says that g-d is the reason for existence. Existence emanates from g-d the same way the light emanates from the sun. He believes that the whole world is governed by cycles like the moon and sun. G-d is the highest cause with no cause to him.
The Christian believes that g-d created the world. He believes that g-d cares about the individual person. He says that there was a time that g-d was with the Jews for a time, however there was a time that g-d left them. Then, god appeared in the image of man and the Jews denied him as the massiah. Because the Jews denied the massiah, the Jews became neglected and lost their power.
They believe g-d was a Trinity. According to the Christians, the father (Hashem), the son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost were the same thing.
√ God = Father = Son = Holy Ghost
x God = Father + Son + Holy Ghost
He says that the Christians job was to spread Christianity to the world and to make the cross known.
The Khazar King says that he cannot accept Christianity because it is against nature. It can�t be possible to be both the father and the son. It is also impossible for the Virgin Mary to have a child. He says that if he had grew up around Christianity, then he would be able to believe this. However, himself being an idol worshipper cannot understand it.
The Muslim says that he believes that god is one. They say that the Koran is the holy book and was written by god. Muhammad was the last prophet and whatever he says overrides all other prophets. They believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell.
The Khazar king doesn�t believe in Islam for two reasons:
1. The Muslims believe that the words of the Koran were so holy that they were written by god and therefore it was so great. He says that he doesn�t understand Arabic and therefore the book isn�t so special to him.
2. Why would god speak to Muhammad? He is only a human being and is disgusting in the eyes of g-d. He says that the stories in the Bible were somewhat believable because g-d spoke to many people at once and also showed many signs and miracles to them.
VII. The Jewish Scholar � החבר
The king says that he wasn�t going to ask the Jews, but because the Muslims and Christians base their beliefs on Judaism, he asked the scholar. The scholar starts by saying that he believed in g-d who freed the Jews from Egypt. The Khazar asks the scholar why he started with that rather than the creation. The scholar answers with an analogy. He says that if someone says that the king is great because his people are great, no one would believe him, however if you said that the king was great because he gave me presents, that is believable. The same way, if you say that g-d is great because he created the world, no one saw it and it could be argued. However, everyone saw the Exodus from Egypt and therefore that is more believable. It doesn�t matter that we didn�t see the Exodus because it is considered as good as we saw it because each generation passed it on to the next without stop � the story unchanged.
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