Machlokes ... Constriction

Some discussions following the shiur

"Why Jews Love to Argue"

The Danish physicist Neals Bohr famously said, “a triviality is a statement whose opposite is false. However, a great truth is a statement whose opposite may well be another great truth."

If we apply this to our own experience, we can be utterly committed, passionate and convinced of something that is true for us and when confronted with someone whose truth is different, even opposite, both can be true, both can coexist.

THE ABILITY TO HOLD FIRMLY TO OUR OWN POSITION AND SIMULTANEOUSLY HEAR AND RESPECT THE VIEW OF THE OTHER IS A GREAT GIFT AND THE ONLY REAL RESOLUTION TO CONFLICT, PERSONAL, NATIONAL OR GLOBAL -- HEARING THE STORY OF THE OTHER.

In Hebrew, the word emet (aleph, mem, bet) contains exactly the first, middle and final letters of the Hebrew alphabet, a balanced, three-legged stool, and symbolically spanning the entirety of spiritual and emotional experience, the beginning, middle and end of humanity. [rabbi]

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Maharal : Gemara Kiddushin Lamed, Amud Beis

The Gemara says, Even a Father and His son, or a Rebbe and his talmid, who are sitting together and learning, at first they become mutual enemies but if they persevere and stick to it they will emerge best of friends.

Interestingly, the difference between the words Oyev (enemy) and Ohev (love) is the letter Yud and Heh. The Yud in Kabbalah and Chassidus represents Chochmah while the Heh represents Binah. When two people with opposing minds sit down to learn one with the other the initial intellectual capacity of Chochmah kicks in causing discord and divisiveness. However at the end if they are patient and allow themselves to understand each other not only will they be able to tolerate each other but they will be best friends because Binah allows one to respect others as a result of their differences.

Why does the Gemara write Afilu (even) Av Ubeno? According to the Maharal, who says that argumentation in the context of learning is beautiful and a natural component of the makeup of a Jew, is geshmak: The only two relationships that demand fear and respect are that of a Father and Son, Rebbe and Talmid. If you were to see a Rebbe arguing with a Talmid or a father with a son you would probably think to yourself, my G-d how disrespectful! But according to the Maharal it is beautiful, The gemara says 'afilu av ubeno' because that is the beauty that a son can learn with his father and engage in machlokes, and guess what, it is not at all disrespectful. (Y Gordon)

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There is a Divine state in which all individuality merges into a seamless whole in the source, there is complete oneness, but in the projection of the Ein Sof there is room for endless expressions. No two minds or two souls are identical.

YET THE MOMENT THIS TRAIT IS DIRECTED TOWARD THE WORLD OF THE EGO, HERE THE DIVERSE PATHWAYS BECOME A SOURCE OF CONFLICT AND A POWER STRUGGLE [i.e., machlokes]. [YYJ]

In my estimation, what we are witnessing in Eretz Yisrael over the recent several weeks is the insistence of "my way, not your way" = seeing ONLY one's OWN narrow view of life.