It seems, Judaism today is searching for it's foundation-many voices can be heard that we need clear "mission statement", or general formulation of our most fundamental principles.
Certain confusion when it comes to the "big picture" of Judaism can in fact be seen as something POSITIVE. Simple AWARENESS of that lack of clarity and the urge to SEE THE BIG PICTURE are very healthy signs of the new soul-searching and quest for intellectual honesty, that are so important and even critical for our spiritual health!
Now, more to the point- coming across some of the discussions on the topic (both in English and in Russian), I've got surprised to see that these discussions fail to quote the most OBVIOUS SOURCE- which is TOTALLY RELIABLE, and seems to indicate the CORE idea, or maybe even single UNIFYING PRINCIPLE of our tradition- that of EMUNAH (Faith)-
This is direct quotation from the Talmud (Makkot 24a)
"Habbakuk came and erected them (all of the mitzvot) on one- "Tzaddik shall live by his Faith" ( Habbakuk 2:4)
It seems to reveal to us the MOST IMPORTANT KEY TO JUDAISM...and yet, to my knowledge, so few had spoken about it...Rav Nachman of Breslav was the one who dedicated his whole life to this teaching- and it seems, his writings and ideas are experiencing real Revival these days- another clear sign, that this is very much in tune with the need of our generation and resonates with our Zeitgeist ("Spirit of the time").
BUT WHAT IS FAITH? AND HOW ARE WE TO APPROACH IT PRACTICALLY?
R. Nachman doesn't address this question directly, maybe because it seemed to obvious, or possibly, such "logical", theoretical approach to the very foundation of religious Life would seem very unnatural and foreign to his style...
Yet it seems, we DO need to come to some very PRACTICAL, and SIMPLE UNDERSTANDING of FAITH...The word is so heavily used in our texts and is so familiar to many of us, it seems it simply LOST it's FRESHNESS, and every time something happens we can hear "You should have faith"... which sometimes means- don't bother thinking, at other occasions- be like everyone else , or- just do it!
But surely, we are not expected to abandon our HIGHEST IDEAL, and simply follow this uninspiring mediocrity!
WE NEED TO LIVE OUR FAITH<>
It seems strange that this most basic axiom of Judaism needs to be reiterated- it can only mean one thing- OUR MOST IMPORTANT CHALLENGE IS TO REESTABLISH this FAITH, discovering even deeper meaning in our Life, and in Faith itself!
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One important idea to be added- take a look at the book "Jewish Self", that describes the process of spiritual quest and coming to our true Identity through cleansing of the Exiles- each exile in Jewish history represents a higher, more sofisticated and subtle level of "False Self', that has to be recognized. Previos exile, Greece, stands for Reason. We overcome that by recognizing that True knowledge of G-d is beyond human reason. Finally, comes Rome- and Rome is presenting us with a challenge of ABYSS- of spiritual void and emptiness- so typical of our times...And only great EMUNAH- that becomes REAL foundation of Life- can possibly become the bridge across the abyss!
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