A few weeks before my yearly pilgrimage to Israel, I learned that a few members of our congregation were planning to be in Italy, specifically in Sicily. So I decided to take a few days and meet up with them for dinner. We set the date for Thursday, March 17, in Palermo. I was looking forward to the dinner, but it was sandwiched between a sequence of events leading to it and back from it. As in many of life’s journeys, it was a sequence in which faith and reason were competing with each other.
Faith and reason are twin sisters. They are not identical twins, but they have many commonalities, and they love to hang out together. The twin sisters are ancient, having been here from the beginning, and they are still in our lives at all times and in every decision we make — from how we spend our mornings or to whom we will vote for President. For me, the faith-reason struggle started as soon as I landed in Rome, and went to collect the rental car for the drive to Palermo. I was asked to pay for extra insurance, which was double the price to insure the car. Everything has a time and place, and I didn’t think this was the time or place for that expenditure.
Traveling, especially for pleasure, is the desire and willingness to meet the unknown. We say Birkat HaDerkh — the Blessing of the Road — and we ask God to protect us from all evils, acknowledging that every journey holds unknowns. But the unknown is also the home of excitement and hope. We buy insurance for our houses, our cars, our children, our health, our retirement, and the list can go on… The insurance companies speak to our reason of course, but they also know we will never be able to insure our lives at every moment, everywhere. They also know there are times when the best insurance is faith. If you will, faith is insurance for the soul. Since I was already insured through the credit card, I was willing to risk the deductible and leave room for faith. After all, I wanted God to travel with me.
The way between Rome and Palermo includes some of the most beautiful places in the world, the best known being the Amalfi coast to the south of Naples. Depending on how fast you drive through the hundreds of dangerous twists and turns along this gorgeous strip of land, it takes about two hours to traverse. And again, there is a conflict between reason and faith. The drive through these mountains requires the utmost attention and eyes on the road. This is reasonable. But no less important is to lift the eyes once in a while to take in the beauty. Reason keeps us grounded and looking at the road; faith takes us up for the view, which makes it worth being grounded. Just as the body needs a home, the soul needs to hope. We need to accept the twin sisters that way. If we focus only on reason, we discriminate against faith. If we concentrate exclusively on faith, we leave no room for reason.
Recently, Europe experienced a series of terror attacks, and while I am writing this message, I am hearing the news about the most recent coordinated attacks in Brussels, where 34 people died — people simply on their way to work, on their way to school, or on the way to a vacation. If reason always wins, we will not travel or perhaps will not leave the house at
If we focus only on reason, we discriminate against faith. If we concentrate exclusively on faith, we leave no room for reason.
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all. The twin sisters, don’t have to compete against each other; they should accept that they complete each other. As we celebrate Purim, let us remember that this observance is about the unknown. The Rabbis tell us that the protagonist’s name, Esther, comes from the notion of hester — hiddenness. Esther is the only book of the Bible in which the name of God is hidden. To traverse Purim successfully is to understand that reason is important, and that we need to do our best to be ready for what might be worse. But at the end, we need to acknowledge and leave room for faith.
As we go through our lives on earth, our hands make reasonable decisions and actions, but then we have to leave the rest to the hidden hand in heaven to complete them. The mitzvah of Purim is Ad Delo Yadah (from the word Da’at) — until no knowledge — until one cannot distinguish between Haman and Mordechai or, in other words, two distinguishable entities. Purim is the only day we are encouraged not to be so reasonable. It is an opportunity to do the Tikkun — correction of the original sin. Sometime we must let go of the Tree of Knowledge (Etz haDa’at), even for just a moment, in order to experience God.
The dinner in Palermo was great. But whether you are on the way to dinner in Sicily or breakfast in Missouri, the important thing to consider is whether you used both faith and reason to navigate your way. As for me, after four weeks on a journey, I am ready to come back home and celebrate Purim together with all of you.
Safe journeys, and Purim Sameach!
—Rabbi Gadi Capela