My wife doesn’t realize how so Orthodox Jewish her thinking is. Her number one complaint with me is that she just can’t understand how I can be a godless religious Jew. Meaning, that I am religiously Jewish, but non-theistically. For her, without the belief in the “god” part, why should Jewishness – and the desire to be engaged in a Jewish community – matter at all? This is an important question, and it deserves a proper answer!
We Jews have actually been debating this question for a lot longer than we’d like to admit. And I hope to be able to answer this question for her. Because, every year that passes since the years of Albert Einstein, we Jews are more and more evolving *past* theistic ethno-religious belief, and embracing a uniquely Jewish non-theistic ethno-religious belief. What do I mean by this?
It’s not a rejection of our ancestral national god that we are having, but a rejection of our imagined god’s authority in our lives. It is our scientifically enlightened recognition that we as a Jewish people are the reason for this god’s existence within this world. Meaning, that without us Jews, this ethno-religious god does not exist in this world (at least, not in any legitimate Jewish form). Yes, I’m talking about our YHWH Elohim god, here.
If there is a Creator god to this universe, this god is so beyond us, beyond our species’ ability to perceive, that no human can comprehend this Source to all that is existing. That god I can still believe in, without evidence, without question! For we humans are, by our inherent nature, inclined to believe in these kind of things. And there is nothing wrong with this!
But, this means, consequentially, that every people’s god, and their religion’s gods, are fundamentally human imagined. And, the authority and power that these gods have are *human endowed* upon them, given to them by the religious believers in this god/goddess. It’s too easy for humans to idolize a “god.” And Jews are, by our Torah’s instruction, forbidden to imagine the image of “YHWH Elohim, aka ‘G-d’.” Therefore, any presentation of “god” is a human imagination and, as such, is an idol – a false-god – that is not to be worshipped.
BUT, the consternation at hand is how can a religious Jew be non-theistic – also known, by definition, as an “atheistic Jew”? Why feel the need to be involved in Jewish communal life, if so?! Well, that is the reason that sixty percent of the Israeli population is “secular” (though most are still theistic believing), and why they are more and more embracing a non-theistic culture-based version of Judaism (which does not require a *belief* in a god to ritually participate in).
Even with questioning theism, all Jews by inherited nature find periods in their lives where they are wanting to connect with other Jews and to engage in communal lifecycle rituals. Further, Jews are not and have never been just a religion. Our people’s ethno-religion has been evolving from polytheism to post-monotheistic non-theism for over three millennia now, because *we* are the ones evolving it from generation to generation.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that at least twenty percent of us Jews are entirely non-theistic at this point in Jewish history, and that most Jews on this planet are “secular” though still clinging to the Maimonides’ Medieval Age created unimaginable god. And, since we are a people that evolves around an ever-evolving ethno-religion: *Is it really so surprising that many of us atheist Jews want to connect with theistic and non- theistic Jews*?!
After all, every Jew knows who we are. For many of us, it is still literally in our very blood! And we know that the very reason for our survival as Jews in this world is through individual Jews involving themselves and investing themselves in a Jewish community. Even if that community does not fully align with one’s personal/experiential perspective on life. (Since when have we Jews ever fully agreed on anything?! … Don’t worry, I’ll wait.) And even if these are just temporary touch-and-go investments into several communities, the desire to connect is still ingrained.
My wife is more theistic than me, in this there is no doubt! What’s interesting about this is that I personally know a Rabbi who happens to be theistic-questioning himself (aka, agnostic or atheistic). He, too, has a wife that is Orthodox Jewish in thinking. Meaning, if you’re not theistic believing and halacha observant – because “god” demands it – then how can you be truly a Jewish person?! (I can only imagine the conversations in his home, as a non-theistic Rabbi!) But, by his admitted words, he is welcome among all theistic Jewish camps and among non-theistic Jews alike. Why is this?!
What I have learned from him is, that it’s a diplomacy act. Transitions are hard, folks! And Jews around the world are struggling presently with a post-monotheistic transition. And, many of us Jews are *literally* raised thinking that confrontational discussions is the path to resolving this. The standard Talmudic approach! The act of drawing sectarian lines, and standing in staunch opposition to each others views. But, times are a changing, and collaborative networking is probably the smarter choice between Jewish sects these days!
Within this is why I long, by my very genetics, to be part of a thriving Jewish community, and to be doing my part in investing into this community for the future of Judaism. We are inherently a socialist folk, and this is our ingrained mechanism for survival. And it’s proven very effective for our survival as a people! We’s not religion, we’s people! I don’t know how to break this down more simplistically than this. Not even to my theistic-leaning wife.
As Orthodox Rabbi Mordecai Menahem Kaplan put it – and he’s right about this(!) – “Judaism is the result of natural human development. There is no such thing as divine intervention; Judaism is an evolving religious civilization…. The Torah was not inspired by God; it only comes from the social and historical development of Jewish people.”
Of course, Rabbi Kaplan got “excommunicated” from the Union of Orthodox rabbis for such controversial (thus, non-conformist) beliefs. But, this was their mistake, not his! … What did he do to *cling* in someway to Jewish community? Hello?! He started a whole new sect/”movement” of Jewish communities – Reconstructing Judaism.
The lesson here is: Jews are *not* easily understood! We are inheritors of a tradition that *we,* in the present generation, must define, and we are by (genetic?) nature inclined to do so! It’s in our communal blood. For the sake of our offspring, whether they embrace our Jewish inheritance or not. The “derech” must remain open for all Jews, yes? Why else would any Jew be driven to invest in Judaism’s future? We are always more than just a religion, and that is why.
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Update 25 June 2021: Another one of my perspectives on this. Call it “An Atheist’s Case For God,” if you wish!
Monotheistic religions propose a “priori” that “God” exists. A priori is a “theoretical deduction that is not based in sensory observation or demonstrable experience.” Atheists reject the “God”-figure priori of all theistic religions, for exactly the reason that there is no observable evidence for a formless “God” and all formed “God”s are human idols.
Some atheists, confused by secularist philosophies, reject all religious behaviors and beliefs, too, as a result (and this is just sad!). I propose that atheists who are anti-religion – even though only *some* religions have a “God”-figure (not all!) – are just as immature about “God,” whatever you define this to be, as most religious folk that believe in their (or their religion’s) imagined “God.” In other words:
In order to be an atheist, one must have in mind some imagined perception of “God” (whichever one you believe in, for humans believe in many different “God”s!), and it is *this* that an atheist refuses to believe in. For, without this image, others believing in a “God” (of some sort) and worshipping such just simply doesn’t matter to a mature atheist (there is no harm in simply believing in imaginary beings!).
This is why I appreciate Judaism (Judah-ism!). Our ethno-religion is about continuity of Jewish tradition for the sake of Jewish survival into the future. One does not have to believe in the actual existence of our ancestral YHWH god, in order to appreciate the art of talking in ancestral mythology. You can be kefira and devoutly religious, at the same time!
If there is indeed a “divine” creator Source to this reality that we all participate in, then modern Jews have it right that this “God” is undescribable and unknowable for humans. So, it is very mature of atheists who remain religious (non-theistically) to challenge the very theistic images of “God” within religions that have a “God”-image.
Correctly understood, kefira (a form of religious heresy) is a refusal to embrace a personal perception of “God” (whatever this is!). By doing so, we are combating the many immature notions of “God” (whatever this is!), and a denial of such “God” images is only a refusal to engage in idolatry in one’s life. Don’t take my word for it, study the teachings of Rav Kook!
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