After my weekly Judaism class, I came up with these two jewels of—what’s the opposite of wisdom?

My biggest problem with Orthodox Judaism: the myth of infallible rabbis. There is a belief in Orthodox Judaism that it is wrong to challenge a rabbi’s ruling on halacha (Jewish law). Once the rabbis (usually in a group) decide on the Jewish law, it is very difficult for the community to change that law. They believe that the law has been decided with utmost care, and that care must be respected. Almost counter intuitively, the closer that decision was made to the time of Moses (i.e., the further back in time), the more the decision is respected. This has to do with the Orthodox Jew’s belief that Moses was given the written Torah and the oral Torah at Mount Sinai. The Oral tradition provides the interpretation of the Torah. Therefore, the closer the decision is made to the time of Moses, the more accurate the interpretation of the laws. To me, this seems to go against the countervailing argument that Jewish philosophy and theology has benefited greatly from the outside influences, viz., the Greeks’ influence on Judaism’s philosophies and interpretations. Our understanding of the law should be stronger now than hundreds of years ago.

Thinking about this more, my problem in this area is part an authority problem, and part a rigidity problem. If the halacha was flexible and capable of changing as Judaism learns more about itself, I would be more willing to believe and accept it. It is clear, at least to me through the literature I’ve read, that our understanding about God and Judaism—or at the very least our ability to convey our understanding—as a whole seems to have improved from an intellectual if not only a spiritual sense.

And then there’s my second problem for my spiritual growth: how can I remain humble and be right at the same time? This may be the biggest thing holding me back from accepting Judaism. This is very closely related to the issue I have around my ego, and how I can give up my free will to either the divine or the rabbinical authorities.

Once again I demonstrate my weakness when it comes to organizing and sharing my thoughts. There’s more to these point, but I’m not able to covey it. I did want to get my cloudy thoughts out there so I can see how unformed and inexact they are. Another related truth: it’s very difficult to argue against three thousand years of systematic and intense Jewish thought. If nothing else, the system of Judaism is internally consistent.