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Kuzari Sheets 5-6 |
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Contents: |
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The Khazar king calls the Jew back to find out more about Judaism. The king says that your words are weak whereas they used to be interesting. He says that he liked the fact that a religion should be based on experience (Taam) rather than logic (Higayon), however he didn�t like the fact that only the Jews received the Torah and that they are a special nation (Am Segulah).
II. Essential Differences vs. Accidental Differences
The Scholar explains that there are 5 different levels in the world.
5. Navi
4. Humans
3. Living Things
2. Plants
1. Inanimate objects
Each of these levels are separated because of essential differences. Pridah Atzmit. Differences within a level are accidental Pridah Mikrit. The difference between short and tall is Mikrit and the difference between animal and man is Atzmit. (People can talk and understand complex concepts and animals can�t)
The Scholar doesn�t agree with the King that Great Sages are on a higher level than human beings but that there intelligence is and accidental difference.
A Navi is on a higher level than all other humans essentially. Moshe was able to go 40 days without food on Mt. Sinai. Prophets can talk to god about the future.
III. Truth in the Torah
The Scholar says that in the Torah, there is a historical chronology dating back 4,500 years from the time of Adam. The King challenges him saying maybe what Moshe wrote in the Torah is wrong! The Scholar answers that in the desert Bnei Israel complained about many things, however they all agreed on the age of the world and their ancestry. From this we can learn that the chronology is indeed true. The nation believed what Moshe said because they heard god speak to him and they knew he was special.
The Torah states that the creation of language occurred in the Garden of Eden when Adam named all of the animals. He says that until Dor HaHaflagah everyone spoke the same language. After they tried to build the Babylonian Tower, god dispersed the people and their languages became different.
The scholar proved this by saying:
1. Laguage isn�t eternal, it had a beginning.
2. Language could be made by Agreement (everyone agreed on a name for something) or Nature (the name reflect the nature of the object)
3. Language wasn�t created by Nature (not all names reflect the nature of the object)
4. Language wasn�t created by agreement of a group (they wouldn�t agree) Therefore it must have been created by one man.
5. No one would accept the names given unless they were given by the first person.
The scholar says that since the decimal system and the weekly calendar are used all over, that is a sign that they are from Adam. However, one could argue otherwise. These things are very natural. A man would count by 10�s because he has 10 fingers. A person would use weeks because they are approximately a quarter of a lunar month.
The Scholar explains why the Jews are better than all other nations. He says that from the beginning one person in each generation was holy from Adam ~ Seth � ~ Jacob. From Jacob the holiness went to all 12 tribes and then to the entire nation. These people are called Segulah or Elohiim or Lev and have Inyan Elohi. Everyone else is called Klipah. What separates the two groups is that Segulah can get prophecies and Klipah can�t.
The scholar explains this with a mashal
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Mashal |
Nimshal |
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Something Impure Mizuf |
Everyone believes in Astrology |
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Slowly changes to� |
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Purified gold |
Moshe taught them about God |
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Coin after Coin it becomes purer |
Generation after Generation they believed |
V. Challenges from Other Nations
The King says that in India, there are buildings that are said to be created 10,000 years ago way before creation according to the Torah. The scholar says that the Indians aren�t a reliable source because they aren�t civilized. They don�t have one book or idea in which everyone believes. They are unreliable and worship idols, talismans, and witchcraft. The only book that comes close is Book of Nabataean Agriculture. But in this book they speak of Adams teacher Janbushar and this is impossible.
The king then asks why the world isn�t considered eternal like the Greek Philosophers. The scholar says that their ideas aren�t original. They are traceable to the sons of Noah. Then he says that using logic, one can�t support creation or eternity. Enternity is that there was always at least one partical in existence and everything came from that. Creation means that there was something out of nothing and that something became the universe. Why then did Aristotle believe in eternity? Because he didn�t have a book of accepted traditions (Mefursamot & Mekubalot) like the torah.
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