How Judaism Can Recover Its Rationalist Legacy

In the Western popular imagination, the Middle Ages remain a benighted time of superstition, before scientific advancement began. But in Jewish history, they were a golden age of religious rationalism, when rabbis tried to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy and the most advanced secular knowledge of their day with biblical and talmudic teachings. Natan Slifkin argues that much of contemporary Orthodox thought, especially in ḥaredi circles, has lost touch with these strains of the tradition, drawing primarily on the mystical ideas of later centuries. Without denying the value of Jewish mysticism, Slifkin believes Jews have neglected rationalism at their own peril. He explains why in a discussion with Shmuel Rosner. (Audio, 30 minutes.)