Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
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Do
you have to Believe in God to be Jewish?
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If
you take one look in the message board
called : I am not sure I believe in
G-d in my Judaism Today: Where Do I
Fit? area, you will see a huge array
of opinions from Jews regarding God.
There are some who seem to have a rock
solid belief --these folks tend to be
fairly vocal about their faith. My
observation is that often --not
always--these folks refer to God as
Hashem (the name.)
And
then there are others-usually more
timid--who have serious doubts
bordering on no belief in God. In my
research for my book, I found that
many (I would even venture the
unscientific opinion that most) Jews
have very serious questions about
God--especially when they consider the
Holocaust. However, these Jews are
often quiet. They seem intimidated or
embarrassed to talk about their
questions and doubts because as they
said to me:
"I
am not sure I believe in God,
therefore I am a __________. (fill in
the blank)
A.
"bad Jew"
B.
"hypocritical Jew"
C.
"inauthentic or phoney Jew"
D.
"second class Jew"
E.
All of the above.
This
week, I would like to respond a bit to
people with doubts about God My hope
is that through this response and in
my area in general, readers find that
they have permission to ask their
questions about God and Judaism in
general. Please don't feel embarrased
or timid. To ask is to be Jewish!
Rather than A-E above, think of
yourself as a "serious Jew!"
Before
saying anything further, I wanted to
first share some examples of postings
from the message board where folks
share some of their thoughts, doubts
and questions: (please remember some
of these postings are responses to
other people so grammatically they may
seem a little weird):
-----------------------
Hello...
I read your letter and have a question
that has always made me think.. Is
there really a God? You say that God
gave us the freedom to choose our
actions, and he would not interfere. I
agree on that until I think of all the
sick and starving children in the
world. What did they do to be born in
such a life? They can not choose any
action. They are just born and that is
all they have and die of hunger before
they can even live. I have a hard time
reasoning with this topic. I don't
understand what God's reasoning is and
why they have to bare such pain.
Thanks for listening.
------------------------------------
Did
HaShem make a deposit in a Swiss bank
account in your name?
That's
the kind of proof Woody Allan says he
requires....
All
I require is looking around me,
listening to Mozart, reading Borges,
watching my children being born and
grow, the death of my parents, Jewish
history....
---------------------------
Can
someone please help me come to terms
with a question that has given me much
trouble. I believe in G-d's existance
but, developing a personal
relationship with G-d has been very
difficult for me. I can't understand
why G-d would bother with me and my
relatively good life when there are so
many other people in the world who are
enduring so much suffering. What makes
me so important?
----------------------------
i'm
pretty sure that i believe in G-d but
i can't figure out why. can any 1 help
me? does any 1 else feel the same way?
----------------------------
In
response to these comments there are 2
main points I want to make about Jews
and God. My experience is that many
Jews do not completely reject the idea
of God--they just have a hard time
coming to terms with exactly what God
is. From a Jewish point of view, this
is not a problem. As I have written in
an earlier response of the week--we
are called the people Israel.
"Israel" means to struggle
with God! Within Jewish tradition
there is certainly the idea that one
God does exist. However, after that
you will have a hard time finding
consensus within Jewish tradtion--as
to WHO & WHAT is God.
In
spite of this, somewhere along the
line Jews have picked up the crazy
idea that "THE Jewish God"
is an old man with a long beard who
holds scales of justice in one hand
and puppet strings in the other. I
suspect this idea comes from the
constant use of the word
"he" in our texts and
prayers and also from the High
Holidays' emphasis on judgement as to
who will live and who will die.
Many
have told me they have a hard time
believing in this image of God. That
is fine--because there is no such
thing as "THE Jewish God!"
There is even a book out called
Finding God: Ten Jewish Responses. I
emphasize the word TEN! (By the way
the 10 responses are from credible
sources like rabbinic writings,
Biblical texts, the Rambam--one of the
greatest rabbis ever etc. You get the
idea.)
And
here is something I have thought of
that I offer you: A. Jews are
prohibited from making an image of
God. Some Jews even believe this
prohibits trying to describe God in
words. B. At the same time Judaism
holds that there is a God. Combine
these 2 ideas (A. & B. ) together
and they requires that each Jew must
come up with THEIR OWN image of God!
How 'bout them apples!
As
to my second point: what about a
person who says they have NO belief in
God...does that disqualify them from
being Jewish? I think our enemies have
answered that question for us. I don't
believe terrorists discriminate based
on faith when they are killing Jews.
The Nazis certainly did not ask Jews
whether they believed in God.
This
is because Judaism is more than a
faith. Judaism is way of life that
consists of 3 things--I call them ESP.
The P is peoplehood--this is what I
was referring to in the above
paragraph. S is spirituality which to
me relates to Jewish ideas about God.
Which
brings me to E--ethics. How we behave.
This perhaps is the most important
point relative to belief in God. The
Talmud quotes God as saying: "I
wish my children would forget about me
and keep my laws." Yes, Judaism
would like Jews to believe in
God...but far more important in
Judaism is behaviour. Whether you
"believe" or not--whether
you feel "moved to" or not
Judaism expect Jews to BEHAVE with
decency.
Judaism
says each of us should be a decent
human being (a mench in Yiddish,) in
this world, now, today. What will
happen after this world we can not
know with certainty just as we can not
know with certainty about God. But as
long as we behave ethically, our
tradition gives ample opportunity to
ask our questions about God. I hope
this response helps you to feel
comfortable asking your questions on
line and in life!
A FRIENDLY COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
only do I give you permissions to copy these Jewish Email
columns...I HOPE YOU WILL and that you share them with others!
All I ask is that you never charge anyone for them and that you
also include this little copyright notice. Thank You!
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