SIMPLY SIMPLE
Simple is not the same as easy: simple can well be hard. The opposite of simple is not difficult; the opposite of simple is complex. Complex solutions are not necessarily difficult: you have various aspects and angles and considerations to consider and take into account and address which require numerous outlooks, perspectives and modi operandi purported by individuals of different backgrounds and expertise. Committees are in order. By the time all is taken into consideration we have lost the problem in a web of solution. And so we don’t need to do anything difficult.
Simple is straight-forward. This is what needs to be done and this is how we do it. Either “put up, shut up or get out of the way”. It’s easier and more convenient to get lost in a committee that appreciates the complexity.
The Baal Shem Tov liked simplicity. Simple peasant folk who simply liked G‑d although they were clueless in all matters of faith and religion and theology. They liked G‑d like a baby likes his father.
The Baal Shem Tov also appreciated faith, theology and religion. He treasured scholars who struggled with faith and intellect, mastering some of both — only to realize how much they now lacked. The Baal Shem Tov encouraged and admonished scholars who struggled with theological concepts to remain simple through the process, to still be a baby searching for their father.
The simple faith of a sophisticated man has more dimension and a rich texture. A faith that began simple before the intellect kicked in (baby wanting Daddy), held onto while the intellect kicked (man in search of G‑d) and emerged simple after the tension abated. A simplicity above complexity – a simplicity that permeates the complexity. Because to ignore the complexity is simply simplistic.
A simple person who is delighted with his simple faith is, well, simply simplistic. Once he recognizes his simplicity he implicitly rejects complexity – which makes the complexity all the more convincing.
So I dare say the Baal Shem Tov would have had no interest in a conscious simplism. I have heard stories of how his successors did not.
Simple faith is not easy. You have to address all of the complexities of faith, reason, life and death that your little brain can fathom. You have to exhaust all of your time, energy and resources in this endeavor. What you have left is, well, faith: unencumbered by intellectual roads not traveled. Towards this faith the Parsha directs us: Tomim thiye, which translates awkwardly and unconvincingly to “be wholesome” in your faith. Until we come up with a better word, we’ll call it simple faith. Quite simply.