Is Commitment Rational?

Levinas on the Promethean Secret

It is well known that when the Israelite people were given the Torah, they said, “We will do and (then) we will understand” (na’aseh v’nishma). That is, according to conventional understanding, they affirmed their willingness to obey before understanding why they ought to.

For Levinas, commenting on a Midrash, the primacy of commitment before understandi…