Berel Leib Epstein: Why Be a Believer?

When David Bashevkin hosted a conversation between an observant Jew and a friend who had left religious life, he received an anonymous letter from Baltimore. Addressed to “Mr. Bashevkin” rather than “Rabbi,” it accused him of validating a heretic and endangering the community. That letter frames this episode’s central question: Can you discuss the reasons for faith without opening the door to unbelief? Dr. Berel Leib Epstein, a physicist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and author of Emuna and Physics: A Jewish Resolve, argues that you can—but only if the discussion is honest, deep, and aware of its own limitations.

The Danger and Necessity of Philosophical Tools

Epstein acknowledges that intellectual arguments for faith are inherently double-edged. Philosophy, he notes, can be used to support almost any position—the Gemara itself describes fifty ways to argue that a mouse is kosher, though it is not. The same tools that can build belief can also undermine it, depending on the user’s motives and self-awareness. A person who feels inadequate, resentful, or socially pressured may apply these tools in a way that leads away from Judaism, even while believing their reasoning is purely intellectual.