Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch on Emunah
A Mishpacha article makes some good points with some good gaslighting
I don’t know if you get the Ami and Mishpacha, but in between the five hundred plus pages of ads for fancy lacetop sheitels, luxury vacations, and debt-reduction services, they both had an interview with R Moshe Hillel Hirsch. (New PR blitz?) The following sidebar appeared in Mishpacha. The same point appeared in the similar interview with in Ami (not available online), so clearly it’s a message he wants to spread and I am happy to help him do it further.
Rav Moshe Hillel on Emunah
When we ask Rav Moshe Hillel for a few words of chizuk in emunah, he smiles and says, “Emunah needs to be spoken about privately in the right places.”
Rav Moshe Hillel — as well as Rav Dov — are opposed to the recent trend in some yeshivos to delve into questions and answers on the subject of emunah.
A few years ago, at one of Slabodka’s camps, the talmidim asked Rav Moshe Hillel why emunah isn’t taught in yeshivos, much the way it is at a kiruv seminar.
Rav Moshe Hillel answered that there actually was an attempt to introduce such a “curriculum” into the yeshivah, but that he and Rav Dov were among its main opponents.
“The proofs about emunah aren’t an exact science, it’s the understandings of the seichel hayashar — and the problem is that not everyone merits seichel hayashar,” he said.
“There was once a bochur in an American yeshivah who had a lot of problems in emunah. When did those problem start? When one of the kiruv organizations came to the yeshivah where he was learning in America and gave a lesson in emunah, asking questions and bringing proof. That bochur said to me, ‘I refuted every proof he brought!’ That’s how he felt.
“And the truth is that this bochur was young, with distorted thoughts that weren’t so smart, and that is why he found ‘refutations’ for everything the lecturer said. But because of that, he got into very problematic issues with emunah.
“That’s the reason why one must not teach these things in public. Organizations like Arachim for baalei teshuvah are something else entirely, because people who have no emunah can certainly be helped by this. But for someone who has emunah, at the age of being a bochur, it can be a great danger.
“So what should a person do if problems in emunah come up for him? The rule is, and I heard this from the Steipler as well, that he has to distract himself and continue, plain and simple! And it’s tried and true. You distract yourself. And after a short time, you see it’s all nonsense, all the doubts are nonsense.
“In cases where it doesn’t help,” the Rosh Yeshivah notes, “one can speak about it on a one-on-one basis. There are places for it, but it’s only regarding individuals and not in public.”
A few points:
First, I largely agree with R Moshe Hillel here that the proofs are a danger to people’s Emunah. Exposing Bochrim to questions certainly can cause issues in Emunah.
Second, I also largely agree that distracting oneself is a good method to avoid dealing with the implications of the questions. After a while, the doubts do go away (hopefully).
However, here is what I take issue with: The bochur wasn’t having “distorted thoughts”. That is just gaslighting! The reason why the bochur was able to refute the proofs is because the proofs and claims are terrible1!
Why I believe the Torah is True:
The only decent post on the proofs for that I ever found. I had to write it myself.
And of course the bochur will have questions in Emuna! If he is required to believe all the classic insane Chareidi beliefs, such as that the world is 6000 years old and all species descend from Noach’s teivah after a worldwide flood, Chazal knew everything ever, there is no point to goyim except to serve us, and the most important thing a person can do all day is a learn a book (but only some blatt of some masechtas of course, never tanach nor machshava), then you better have good answers to his Emunah questions (and there are none because those beliefs aren’t even true in yiddishkeit). OF COURSE you have to dismiss his questions as distorted. It’s all you can do - and distracting oneself is by far the best option of several poor ones.
If I were a godol though2, I would make it mandatory belief that the world is millions of years old and Bereishis and the mabul are not literal. We never seem to have any issues with teaching that lo sevashel gedi bechelev imo means basar bechalav, because that is the expected interpretation. We even do it for modern day apologetics (such teaching everyone that women have less mitzvos because they are closer to Hashem, something which has no basis in classical sources). I have many Modox friends, and while many of them had questions due to feminism and other moral issues, none even seemed to think of going otd due to bereishis. They know its not meant to be literal and it never bothered them. Contrast that to the sheltered chareidi, whose mind and faith get blown when he realizes the big bang is indeed actually not a theory but a fact. If he was taught it wasn’t literal, I suspect we’d have a lot less emunah shailos from that area.
But there’s more to this Emunah sidebar than typical chareidish beliefs. Here’s some background: Not many people know this, but R Moshe Hillel Hirsch has a younger brother who was even more brilliant than him in learning. R Moshe was the older brother who watched football on TV3 while his younger brother shteiged. My grandfather zt”l was a close friend of the family. When this brother grew older, he went to college and had many questions and eventually went OTD. His name is Eli Hirsch and he even has a Wikipedia page. He also has some pretty terrible fiction (and less importantly some 70 philosophy articles).4
Point is, this is the reason why R Moshe Hillel Hirsch has a long standing hatred of college. But it also explains how he knows the proofs and arguing over it are terrible and why he hates them so much. And that the best way to deal with them is to ignore them is to keep learning. It’s largely autobiographical. (I think R Moshe Hillel’s gaslighting is largely performative, so he can say his main point - don’t discuss proofs).
Addendum:
This is an additional unrelated thing from the interview that was absolutely wild:
This past October 7, the State of Israel marked one year since the massacre. But for the chareidi public in Eretz Yisrael, who follow the Jewish calendar, the massacre happened on Simchas Torah; the secular date didn’t have special significance. In the shadow of this oblivion, a number of askanim organized a gathering regarding the draft law precisely on October 7, at which Rav Moshe Hillel was slated to speak (emphasis mine -Ash). A moment before he arrived, one of his family members pointed out the date, and the patent inappropriateness of the timing.
It was too late to cancel the event, but Rav Moshe Hillel decided to address the giant elephant in the room head on. Veering from his planned address, he asked forgiveness for the poor timing, explained what was behind the unfortunate mistake, and commiserated with the nationwide anguish.
While R Moshe Hillel dealt with this admirably, the fact that an official self-appointed “askan” can make such a mistake and no one noticed says a lot about the chareidi state of askanus in Eretz Yisrael. It’s a level of incompetence and cluelessness that is simply breathtaking. (I guess they’re the guys who couldn’t make it in kollel?)
Hey, of course there’s better proofs and claims than the ones I linked to. But I want to promote myself. For a good kefiradig overview see here.
I probably should learn more.
Important life lesson: Don’t be the younger brother shteiging, be the older brother watching TV.
R Moshe Hillel isn't the only Godol with an otd sibling. So did R Don Segal, and when his brother Yisrael Segal passed away, he didn't sit Shiva like Halacha requires by a mumar lehachis.
Corrected the age order of the Hirsch brothers. Didn't want to resend the email, but pinning this because I know the original version has that error.
The proofs are good enough for those who have never seriously thought about the questions.