How do Faith and Reason relate?
Since nothing can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, Judaism ultimately requires a leap of faith אמונה[36]. But this does not mean that it is indistinguishable from any other faith. There has to be a way in which we can distinguish our faith from adherents of other religions. Otherwise anything goes. As we explained elsewhere, Judaism has empirical roots in the Sinai experience. For a Jew, faith is a rational extension of what he knows to be true. Faith is what allows us to stretch our horizons into areas we cannot know for sure (which actually is most of our life). Without this faith, we would be very limited indeed. But that does not mean that you can believe what you want. Reason is what ensures that what we believe in is the most rational and empirically supported of all the alternatives. For example, when we say that we believe in G-d, what we mean is that G-d is the best explanation for the facts of the world as we see them[37]. Judaism values reason so highly that it is at th
