It’s not arbitrary that our tradition uses the word אמונה, emunah, to describe faith. As I’ve often written, this word shares the root form with אומן, uman, a craftsman. Belief, as far as it is healthy, realistic and growthful, is a work in progress and it often involves deep struggle.
We would be less than human if tragedy, adversity and disaster, all common occurrences, didn’t bring us to seriously doubt whether or not there really is a transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient and beneficent God. But, and this is critical, we wouldn’t be Jewish if we then just let the matter drop. That is the צרכון, the intrinsic, inner-directed need embedded in every Jewish neshama, soul.
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I was very moved by this sentence: “Belief, as far as it is healthy, realistic and growthful, is a work in progress and it often involves deep struggle.” I was struggling a bit in a conversation about belief myself a few days ago, and this was very clarifying – of course belief is a work in progress! Thank you.
And, somewhat related is something I just heard on Rt.66—remember that TV show? A young artist attempts to define what is art, and she says that art comes from imagination, and that imagination is faith.