The Limits of Our Understanding of Torah

In yesterday's post we examined the Ralbag's definition of Torah, as stated in the first paragraph of his Introduction to Torah. He defined Torah as "a regimen which brings those who practice it properly to true success - comprehending and knowing Hashem to the extent that is humanly possible."

As wonderful as this definition may be, it is not without pitfalls. A "regimen" is something that we expect to be able to understand. For example, an athlete who is put on a training regimen expects to be able to understand how the various parts of the regimen bring about the goal he seeks; a soldier in a military regimen expects to know exactly how the skills he is learning will help him to fulfill his duties.

The Ralbag was aware that we might have similar expectations of the Torah-regimen. That is why, immediately after defining Torah but before explaining it, the Ralbag cautions us to recognize the limits of our understanding.

Artwork: Enter the Infinite, by Terese Nielsen

Here is the second paragraph of the Ralbag's Introduction to Torah:

It is vital not to lose sight of the fact that it is impossible for us to completely apprehend the chochmah (wisdom) and chaninah (beneficence) which is manifest in the Torah’s existence. Rather, we have very little knowledge of this, and we are exceedingly ignorant – just as we have very little knowledge of the wisdom and beneficence which is manifest in the nature of all existing things; we apprehend very little of the chochmah in their design, as is evident to those anyone who has intensively studied the natural sciences, and who recognizes the gap between our theoretical models of the laws of the universe and their reality … It therefore follows from the fact that the Torah is divine – namely, that it is from Hashem, as is known to all people today – [that its nature will also be incompletely understood], even though it is the absolute truth.

It is easy to dismiss this paragraph, saying, "Of course we can't fully comprehend Torah! Isn't that obvious? Who goes around thinking that he can attain full mastery of Torah?" 

Such a dismissal betrays a misunderstanding of what the Ralbag is getting at. The Ralbag isn't merely informing us that our comprehension of Torah will be quantitatively lacking (although this is certainly true). Rather, he is calling our attention to an epistemological barrier which limits our knowledge of Torah in a qualitative way.

Ralbag compares the study of Torah to the study of science. He states that anyone who seriously undertakes the study of science is aware of "the gap between our theoretical models of the laws of the universe and their reality." The reality of the universe, as such, is unknowable to the human mind. The most we can do is construct theoretical models which approximate that reality. Our pursuit of scientific knowledge consists in the constant revision of these theoretical models, in a continually advancing but never-ending approach to Truth. 

The Ralbag wrote these words in the 14th century C.E., before the scientific revolution. He would be pleased to see that the leading scientific minds of the modern era still concur with his view: 

"I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." – Isaac Newton

“It is the aim of science to establish general rules which determine the reciprocal connection of objects and events in time and space... It is mainly a program, and faith in the possibility of its accomplishment in principle is only founded on partial successes. But hardly anyone could be found who would deny these partial successes and ascribe them to human self-deception. But whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made in this domain is moved by profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way of the understanding he achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man. This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word.” – Albert Einstein

"Each piece, or part, of the whole of nature is always merely an approximation to the complete truth, or the complete truth so far as we know it. In fact, everything we know is only some kind of approximation, because we know that we do not know all the laws as yet. Therefore, things must be learned only to be unlearned again or, more likely, to be corrected." – Richard Feynman

Rav Soloveitchik writes about this in Halakhic Man in his description of the scientific approach to knowledge:

This latter approach is that of mathematics and the mathematical, natural sciences, the crowning achievement of civilization. It is both a priori and ideal - i.e., to know means to construct an ideal, lawful, unified system whose necessity flows from its very nature, a system that does not require, as far as its validity and truth are concerned, precise parallelism with the correlative realm of concrete, qualitative phenomena. On the contrary, all that we have is an approximate accord. The concrete empirical triangle is not exactly identical with the ideal triangle of geometry, and the same holds true for all other mathematical constructs. There exists an ideal world and a concrete one, and between the two only an approximate parallelism prevails.

The Ralbag maintains that this is not only true of the study of the universe, but applies to the study of any product of Divine craftsmanship - including Torah. One mustn't erroneously conclude that since the Torah was given to us for our benefit, that it must be completely comprehensible to our lowly human minds. Chochmas Hashem (God's wisdom) is infinite, but chochmas adam (man's wisdom) is exceedingly limited.

Now we are in a position to appreciate the significance of this paragraph in the Ralbag's Introduction. All of our Torah knowledge consists of theoretical models which only approximate the true reality of Torah. Accordingly, we shouldn't view Torah as a static doctrine whose contents can be "mastered" then mentally shelved. To the contrary - our understanding of Torah should be a fluid, dynamic, and constantly evolving phenomenon, just like our scientific understanding of the universe. The best we can hope for is to move closer and closer to a true understanding of Torah by continually revising and refining our theoretical models.

Artwork: Enter the Infinite (sketch version), by Terese Nielsen

My Chumash rebbi suggested that this idea is part of the yesod (fundamental principle) of nevuas Moshe Rabbeinu (Mosaic prophecy). Moshe was the only member of the human race who truly understood Torah. Everyone who came after Moshe, no matter how brilliant of a chacham or how perfected a navi, will only ever be able to achieve an approximate understanding of Torah.

According to Rashi, this idea was expressed by "the wisest of men," Shlomo ha'Melech:

Surely I am a boor of a man and do not have human understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor known sacred knowledge. Who [but Moshe] ascended to heaven and descended? Who else gathered the wind in his palm? Who else tied the waters in a cloak? Who established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, i you know? Every word of God is refined; He is a shield to those who trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He test you and find that you deceived. (Mishlei 30:2-6)

My rebbi also mentioned that this is why, in his presentation of the history of Torah she'baal Peh in his Introduction to the Mishneh Torah, the Rambam only uses the verb M.S.R. ("transmit") once - to describe Moshe transmitting the Torah she'baal Peh to Yehoshua. The reason for this is that there was only one "true" instance of mesorah, since there was only one teacher who truly knew Torah.

To summarize: it is vital to bear in mind that our knowledge of Torah, like our knowledge of the universe, is inherently limited. Only by respecting that limitation will we be able to use the Torah-regimen to achieve the true success.