THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

A story tells that the rabbi Levi-Yitzhak from Berdichev was confronted by an atheist philosopher who rattled off a list of arguments against the existence of God thinking that the rabbi would take up the intellectual challenge, which he could have easily done. But the rabbi did it differently than the philosopher expected. He simply looked him directly in the eye and said gently, “And what if, after all, it were true that God exists? Tell me, and what if it were true?”

By the grace of God that became an existential moment for the philosopher. He was shaken. These words troubled him more than all the arguments he had heard. He came to feel for the first time how vulnerable and accountable he was before the living God. There was no more time for playing intellectual games. His whole world was turned on end and he was opened to the truth and was persuaded and became a believer.