The scientific approach… and, as in all fields of science, it does not matter whether one does or does not understand the scientific findings. Indeed, in most exact sciences, the facts and actual phenomena are first ascertained, and then a scientific explanation is sought.
The one and only factor which has preserved our Jewish people throughout the ages, under all kinds of circumstances, has been the fulfillment of the mitzvos in day-to-day life… and they have been observed in the same way throughout the ages, without change. [In short from last week}
A further proof that this is the ‘secret’ of Jewish survival, if further proof is necessary, is the fact that there have always been deviationists; the Torah itself relates that immediately after the Torah was given at Sinai, there were the Golden Calf worshippers, and similarly throughout the period of the Shoftim, Nevi’im and Kings, as well as in the post-Biblical period of the Second Beis Hamikdash, and later. These deviationists attempted to steer another course, away from traditional Judaism, but they could never take root within the Jewish people. Either these deviationists eventually realized their mistake and returned to the fold of observance of Torah and mitzvos, or they were completely assimilated among the nations of the world, without having anything further to do with the Jewish people, least of all with Jewish survival…