Reason, Rationality, and the Challenge of Religion

As a young man, Jeffrey Bloom read an essay by the philosopher Leo Strauss that, for him, opened up the possibility of religious faith, paving the way for him eventually to become an Orthodox Jew. Yet the same problems of belief, doubt, and certainty continue to preoccupy him today, and led him to seek essays on these subjects from a number of rabbis, scholars, and theologians—recently published as Strauss, Spinoza & Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith. He discusses the book’s themes from a personal angle in conversation with Dovid Bashevkin. (Audio, 94 minutes.)