Suppose someone really truly wants to believe in Hashem, but is simply unable to. Even after much trying and learning Torah, he still is simply unable to believe in God. Would that person be considered a kofer? Is there anything that he can do to not be a kofer?
Answer
I'm going to assume that this 'inability to believe in God' comes from a conviction that God doesn't exist. The question is, should a person be faulted for disbelieving, if he thinks that believing in God is philosophically unjustified?
First off, I should mention the Rashash to Shabbos 31a, who writes that a person is only considered a heretic after fully analyzing every side of the issue, which I doubt most people have. Until then, they are merely 'non-believers', which isn't such a problem. I'll quote his words in case I'm misinterpreting them:
דכופר לא מיקרי אלא אחר החקירה בכל חלקי הסותר, אבל זה לא חקר ולא נוכח אלא שלא שלא היה מאמין
However, I'm not sure if this should be considered agreed upon by most poskim, as it seems to contradict R. Elchonon Wasserman in the first piece in Kovetz Maamarim as well as R. M.M. Shach to Hil Teshuvah 5:5 - see below
There are two consequences of being a disbeliever/heretic: (1) according to the Rambam (intro to Cheilek and Hilchos Teshuva ch. 4), at least, a heretic had no share in the World to Come, no matter how good of a person he may have been otherwise (2) regarding many (but not all) halachos, a heretic is treated as a non-Jew and other Jews are obligated to hate him and possibly even throw him into a pit to let him die (ibid).
Regarding (2), most contemporary poskim, most notably the Chazon Ish, have assumed that at least some, if not all, of those halakhos are no longer applicable today to a person who doesn't believe in God, because we'd attribute it to his upbringing or the inability to be properly philosophically convinced due to uniquely contemporary circumstances. See Chazon Ish Y.D. 1:6, 2:16, 2:18, as well as in 2:28 where he writes that this was also the opinion of the Chofetz Chaim. The Chazon Ish is actually not the first to pasken like this - I believe that it is the opinion of R. Yaakov Ettlinger in Shut Binyan Tzion Hachadashos 23 (though I'm not sure what to make of that title). See also R. Moshe Feinstein in Iggros Moshe O.C. 4:91:6, as well as many other later poskim who have accepted this opinion, though there will always be dissenters here and there.
There is an even earlier body of literature regarding (1). The Raavad to Hilchos Teshuva 3:7 assumes that if someone believes in heresy merely due to an honest mistake, he should not be considered a heretic. This position appears to be agreed upon by the Radvaz 4:187, as well as R. Yosef Albo in Sefer HaIkkarim 1:3 (though he writes that such a person still sinned).
However, there is considerable debate as to the position of the Rambam himself on this matter and whether the Raavad is correct. Abarbanel (Rosh Amana ch. 12) writes that one who doesn't believe in God would certainly not have access to Olam Haba, even if it's through no fault of his own, just as someone who drinks poison thinking it is wine would still die from the poison. There's an oft-quoted opinion of R. Chaim of Brisk that one who falls to apikores 'by accident' is still an apikores. While this isn't in R. Chaim's own writings, it's quoted by his son R. Velvel, by R. Moshe Shmeul Shapiro, by R. Yichiel Michel Feinstein, and comes up in other random places, though it's meaning and veracity are still being debated. R. Elchonon Wasserman (Kovetz Maamarim pg. 19) interprets this statement very differently: there's no such thing as being a heretic 'by accident', since the truth of God is so obvious that only a wicked person would deny it. (I personally have a lot of trouble accepting this though, especially regarding the other 12 principles besides belief in God).
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