Rabbi Guy Matalon - The Kuzari - Part 1: Introduction

let's get started with what we're going to learn today so our class i don't know if you noticed shifted from the rambam to rabbi udahalevi and um rabiu da levi lived in spain and he was born in northern spain then went to southern spain you might say wow rabbi you know your geography no it's not that it's important to know because northern spain was christian and southern spain was muslim no the jews were spreading both but while he was in southern spain the christians kept or were successful in conquering more and more cities in spain through an endeavor called reconquista the reconquest with the conquistadores and that generated a reaction from the muslims which brought fighters from north africa who came to spain in order to expel the christians and this is we're talking in the um late 11th century right so this is a about one generation or you know a little bit more uh after before they're on them okay the rambam is 11 35 this is we're talking about 1170s eleven eighties and judah levy was in the south then he and his friends colleagues mentors you whatever name you want to use had to flee and went up north and he was north in the north and then levy decided to move to eretz israel he went to egypt he was in egypt for a while moving from two cities alexander to another city and then eventually we think because we don't really know he made it to israel and then maybe then went to damascus we're not sure there is uh one source it says that he was killed in the old city by someone so we don't really know how he ended his life i'd like to believe that he ended it in the best way that he thought he wanted to end it i just don't know he wrote the kusari as what i would consider a systematic presentation of judaism the book has a very very long name which is not in the hebrew the book is not called the kuzeri the original the arabic is i don't remember it i'll bring it in tomorrow but it is it's something the book in defense of this excuse me the despised faith okay so he wrote the book in arabic because most of the jews at the time that were around spoke arabic and so he wrote in arabic it was translated later into hebrew by rabbi yuda ibn tibon who also translated in other books from arabic to hebrew and this book became one of the most famous books from the middle ages outside of gemara and homicide commentaries the book is based on an incident and the incident is important to some extent to know uh however if you didn't know it i don't know that necessarily that would make the book incomprehensible to you but i will tell you what the book is sort of based about in the 800s there was a kingdom in the caucasus somewhere where you know the russian asia is and there was a kingdom of people called the khazars k-h-a-z-a-r khazar and it appears from letters that we have from different periods that are earlier than uh judah levy that survived in all sorts of places that their king converted to judaism and so there was a jewish kingdom in the world for a few years 100 years i'm not sure exactly when that ended either but probably when the slavs when the russians conquered that area but for a period there was a jewish kingdom and there was correspondence between the king or his court with the spanish court okay those letters were written by one of them probably most imminent diplomat in jewish history his name is khazdaproot you can wikipedia him there's a good article on him so haz daiminger was a physician by trade but he was a diplomat for the khalif in spain in seville abdul rahman i think it's the third and he corresponded with this with this king okay so yura levy takes this sort of incident this event in history and uses it as a backdrop to writing his book so his book is not a recording of conversations that took place it is him writing whatever he wants but he is writing it in a way of a dialogue between two people and the dialogue begins with the beginning i was asked i was asked says judah levy about all of the responses to those who are against our religion the philosophers the christians all the other groups right they all are making giving jews a difficult time questioning their faith saying why do you believe in this why do you believe in that why do you do this why do you do that aren't you wrong don't you know this don't you know that he says i remembered what the king of the khazars learned about judaism about 400 years ago right so that would put it in the 600s for the 11th century and here's what happened the king had a repeated dream and here's what happened in his dream an angel appeared to him and said to him as follows your intent your intention is good god understands that your intention is good but your actions are bad this dream repeated itself and so he's getting a message in his dream that his intention is good but his actions are bad he was an even better idol worshiper he strove to worship himself and to offer more sacrifices and do all of the religion that he was in he did it even with more intent he was more careful and what do you think happened another dream what another dream and what did the dream say your intentions are good and your actions are even worse their actions are bad do you blame the guy would you blame him daniel i mean yeah you would why his intentions are good but his actions are bad if you intend to do something it's not your intentions that matters what you do it's what you do really did you ever get a gift i ever had a gift yeah and did you ever hear it's the thought that counts i've heard it but i i don't really right i mean you get a tie you get you get it for you know when i was a kid i hated to get getting half when you get a gift that's when you're a kid and you get close as a gift i wasn't happy you say well you know they thought about you so they buy you something that's nice you should be happy why couldn't they just buy me what i wanted oh what do you want i don't know well he's he's trying to sell the high power he's just getting getting the wrong address yeah but he doesn't know any better i guess you could blame him for doing the same actions harder no but he thought maybe what he was doing that in the beginning he would just give money and they would sacrifice himself the priest would so now he said no i'll do the sacrifice myself and it still comes back he tries this how would you like that like instant answer from above like you do something and you hear like so do it again you do it again do it again what do you want that's the guy so he says so the more he strove the more work he put in to get a better and better actions the angel would appear at night and said nope your intent is good but your actions are bad and this caused them to investigate beliefs and other religions and in the end he converted to judaism that's what he says why because the arguments of the rabbi answered all his questions and then he says and i decided to write the arguments of both sides as they came down came down in a sense not written but naflu happened and those who know no vamas and you know the smart people will understand what i'm trying to do okay so then he says the following when the king saw in his dream that his intention is good but his actions are not then he invited a philosopher is there any problem with this i mean as a professional philosopher i don't think so but as a rabbi yes when you have a dream when an angel comes to you and tells you your intention is good but your actions are bad you don't call a philosopher you call your local neighborhood orthodox rabbi right and you say rabbi i have this dream my intention is good but my actions are bad check my mezuzah rabbi checked my villain that was well you're not wearing yamako okay fix that let's see how that goes for a while he calls a philosopher makes any sense it's like in the morning it's not like the 12 o'clock class here things make sense over there it's this is sort of more straightforward he invites the philosopher and he says the following he says philosopher philosopher oh philosopher what he says to him tell me about your tell me about your belief tell me about your religion the philosopher's telling him no the king is asking the philosopher the king says to the philosopher i had this dream right this is what happened in my dream tell me about your religion what you see a problem in that why you're correct for modern philosophy you're not correct in medieval philosophy and you'll see why you'll see why you see a way of thought means it has no conclusions but in medieval philosophy they had conclusions so here's what they say says the philosopher the creator has no will so he says so imagine the king says okay i have had this dream this angel is coming to me and tells me that my intentions are you know good but my actions bad so the philosopher says dude listen i don't know what you're talking about why because the creator of the universe has no will he doesn't hate he's above that with all desires and all intentions he doesn't have intentions why because intentions point to a lack right when you have an intention when you want something it means you're missing something that's why you want it and the reason you want is because you don't have it if you had it you don't want it so if god won something that's what he says to the king so the king's like but but i have this dream ah dream stream take your medications you'll be fine that's essentially the added to the philosopher he goes on he says that is we become complete only when we feel fulfill our intentions our needs god doesn't have a need does god need anything does god need you no does he want you no so get out right the philosopher is pointing out that the basic assumptions of the king that god is trying to communicate to him that god wants him to do something different than he's doing saying god is not like that what about my dream dreams for me i don't know what you're talking about eat a light meal at dinner i don't know right people have they say that when they eat heavy they have dreams so eat a like meal you get this so this is remember yuda levy is writing to us to us and what is he showing us the arguments the jews had to face in spain so they were philosophers in spain and would argue against jews the jews say oh god wants me to dive in no he doesn't god doesn't want anything god rip the guy so he's like oh and now what do i do big problem isn't it because it makes sense doesn't it i'm looking at the clock to see should i give you the answer or should i just let it hang till tomorrow we have plenty of time what i can't imagine i don't know you'd be surprised so he says god is more remote more superior than the philosophers than knowing individual entities god does not know particulars why because particulars change and god doesn't change god's knowledge doesn't change and in the knowledge of god there is no change he knows the world with you and he knows the world without you right that's a change because you're going to be here for 120 years and then you're not so that's a change in his knowledge which means you are affecting god can you affect god god's perfect it's above this he does not know you that's what says that's what the philosopher says to the guy he doesn't know you let alone your intentions and your actions let alone hear your prayers it's getting worse isn't it he doesn't know any of this stuff he doesn't see your actions or your movements and if the philosophers we the philosophers use we say that god created you we only mean it in a metaphorical way because he caused the whole universe but not that he had an intention to create you it's completely opposite to judaism because in judaism we teach that god wanted to create you you're not a mistake even if your parents tell you you are a mistake you're not that's supposed to be funny it was it's hilarious all the people at home are like why is the guy banging on the table i don't know i'm trying something new god did not intend to create you he didn't create human beings why because the world is eternal but they're not denying god no but the world was never created the universe was always here but then they just say that god created the universe he's that's a metaphor he's the cause of the universe right so but cause doesn't mean create he's the reason for the universe no is it cause of reason there are four types of causes according to aristotle what is gray no there aren't fifty shades of green they're not i tried what what i know of two that's right right the gray that my suit was before went to the dry cleaners and now the yeah what don't talk to me about dry cleaners i i don't understand this so arizona talks about there are four types of of causes we're gonna get into it later on in the book so there's no reason to get into this but you you can have you can be a cause without being directly connected to the entity that is to say your parents caused you right okay there was a sperm and an egg right and a womb that's how that happens right so in the same way that your parents are your approximate cause right they are the immediate cause they're the ones that made you they provided the genes the book but god is the remote cause right so there he's talking about in terms of remote god caused the universe it is the sustaining force of the universe do you say when the causality requires out of nothing right because you say cause means there was nothing and then there was something right it caused something to happen but the principle in nature is nothing comes out of nothing right which means there has been something right so something always no sorry no god is not a something right take a lap this is just poor thinking to say god is something so everything came out of god matter matter yeah right right yeah molecules energy whatever it is so energy takes space right god doesn't right so god cannot be something according to the philosopher that we're learning we are what you don't like okay good good wait till what you want to see what the rabbi does with him i'm i'm i'm really excited because a rabbi tears him apart i'm sure he does but you have to get do you have to wait for it you hate waiting instant gratification instant yeah okay i'm uh that's true that's true that's true we should probably for tomorrow have the arabic to read the arabic word just in case this is going to be on public cable access they're going to be like and they're like some muslim guy arabic jews what are they saying honey come here you won't believe this jews from israel are speaking and they're talking about our religion i agree you should know all languages why not but just know hebrew well work on hebrew so he says the universe is eternal and a person only comes from another person you came from your parents who came from their parents who came from their parents so then you would say well where the first human came they would laugh and you would say what first human where was he born was there a womb for him he was born out of mother earth they'd be like are you kidding me you believe this that's what the philosopher is saying all human beings come from all from human beings all chickens come from chickens where did the egg come from from a chicken where did that chicken come from an egg where did that egg come from chicken well can that go forever yes universe was always like this it was always like this science doesn't allow that but back then 500 years ago that was possible to theoretically think that today it's not so simple to say okay but you can entertain the idea of yeah we're just we're just continuing as and god caused all this but but there was nothing once nope it was always something okay now so he says in a human being is a combination of forms and and uh and humors and different morals that he receives from his father and his mother and other his and other family members and he is affected by the air the atmosphere by the land by the foods by the water right by the environment this is one of the early sources one of the earlier sources that the environment affects who we are environmental factors including you would love this the spheres and the stars all of them affect us but all of it goes back to the first cause but not because it was intended by god not at all he simply emanated this from himself and then there was a second cause and then a third cause and a fourth cause and then there were lots of other causes until you have this chain of causes until you get to yourself that's how it works and he says that that's how you have to understand the universe is eternal was always here god operates by necessity not by will and god emanates or emanated the universe or the first second cause which emanated the second cause and he says and that's it and some people are more perfected than other people but that's all has to do that's how it happened the philosopher is the epitome of human society because he became perfected with his moral scientific and artistic qualities that is to say practical qualities he can build stuff he can analyze stuff he could draw uh blueprints right those sort of things he can study the universe in science and he's a he's a very good human being he's got morals and he's not missing anything from his perfection but the way that a human being becomes perfected we're all born with it with the potentiality to be perfect how do we reach that perfection what do you think he would say it's very simple what where does knowledge come from do you get knowledge learning that's what he says learning through learning you achieve higher and higher level of perfection that's it and the most perfect human being philosopher is able to connect listen to this this is philosophy in the 12th century 11th century the philosopher can connect with the species of the divine world so there are two realms there's the physical realm and metaphysical realm physical realm is the earth metaphysical is above the earth okay so the philosopher the perfected human being is able to transcend the physical the earthly world and connect to a light that is called active intellect okay and the person that is sitting in front of you is one of the few experts in the world on the active intellect if you google me on amazon i wrote a book on this so we're not going to get into it because if i teach the book of course no because there's no really no no why because we are going to learn enough about the active intellect as he talks about that you'll see what what is what this is um but it is uh sort of uh an amazing idea that uh was in philosophy uh for a few hundred years for a few close to let's say a thousand years more than a thousand years about probably 1500 years and then disappeared i'm bringing it back baby bringing it back making him come back get the t-shirt so he says that the human the this perfected human being the philosopher is able to connect to this light that is called the active intellect and the human intellect and the intellect the active intellect become one and there is transfer of information it's almost like it's very interesting um that our mind is like a modem and we connect to the server which is the active intellect and we download the information from the active intellect that's how it really works but in order to hook up to connect to the active intellect you have to reach a certain level of physical perfection that is to be healthy to be you know moral perfection and intellectual perfection right so once you have the code right to sign in to connect then you can do it and then you your intellect receives information they used to call truths absolute truths that's the only thing that this the the active intellect has it sounds bizarre doesn't it it's like what are they talking about but when we get into it and i'll go through what the active intellect is in terms of why the philosophers came up with it it is in order to explain a very very interesting anomaly which is how do we know what we know where do our ideas come from where does it come from that's easy the midrash tells us god taught us but like you know you're sitting and all of a sudden an idea pops in your head like oh where did that come from how does that work how does that work like you learn uh you know a theorem in geometry or you know that like uh the interior the sum of interior angles of a right triangle is 180. how do you know that how do you know that the whole cannot be greater than the sum of the parts some people say what but if you listen to the words how can people know danny that time flies like an arrow with fruit flies like a banana what right isn't that good so he receives knowledge into his brain into his mind i shouldn't say brain that's a separate issue and that's the idea and he says that the human mind really becomes a tool like a plato for the for the active intellect to shape so it is able to send universal truths into our mind and those abstract concepts are in our mind and we can know them okay that's how he explains them imagine the king who's asking himself i had a dream and this guy is talking about connecting to the mothership with my mind with my what what is the king trying to what is the philosopher trying to explain to him that his dream doesn't hold any water correct philosopher says the mechanism of how your mind works is as follows and what you're telling me is it doesn't make any sense it's all in your imagination call bellevue order table for two bellevue is the mental hospital in new york so new york you say bellevue table for two that's what the philosopher is telling the king all right let's stop here leave it for mencha we'll continue you