The Power of Emunah: Rabbi Shalom Arush on Trust, Soul, and the Creator

In a special interview conducted by journalist Tzvi Yehezkeli with Rabbi Shalom Arush, published on the Orot Channel, the rabbi was asked: “What is emunah (faith)?”

He began by stating: “There is no such thing as a person who has no emunah. There is no such reality. Every person has an internal power called emunah.”

Emunah Comes From Trust

Rabbi Arush explained that the word emunah is derived from the word emun — trust. 

“If I didn’t have trust in you, and you didn’t have trust in me, we wouldn’t be sitting here talking. Is that logic? No. That’s emunah.
Emunah is not intellect. Where intellect ends — that’s where emunah begins.”

When the Mind Can No Longer Grasp

Rabbi Arush continued with an example: “Right now I understand there is a table here. Do I need to ‘believe’ that? Emunah begins where the intellect can no longer grasp. So you’ll ask: ‘If my mind can’t grasp it, how will I know what to believe?’ The answer is that within emunah itself there is very straight, clear thinking — senses through which you can feel and perceive.”

Journalist Zvi Yehezkeli and Rabbi Shalom Arush – talking faith (Credit: Screen capture Ynet)

Struggling to Believe in the Soul?

What if a person still struggles to believe in the existence of the soul? Rabbi Arush responds with a smile: “Someone who doesn’t believe is invited to go to a cemetery. There is no soul there — the soul has left the body.”

He adds: “When someone comes and says, ‘Prove to me that emunah exists,’ I say: it’s very simple. Look — I move my finger. 
Explain to me how the finger moves. There is one explanation: that there is a Creator of the world.”

Life-Force as Proof of the Creator

Rabbi Arush clarifies: “This life-force — only the Creator can give it.
This vitality is something spiritual and has no explanation within this physical world. That is what ‘Creator of the world’ means. Your soul — that is the Creator.”