"Judaism is a complex structure...Judaism revolves around three sacred entities: God, Torah, Israel. The Jew never stands alone before God; the Torah and Israel are always with him. God as an isolated concept may be exceedingly hidden, vague, and general. In Jewish experience, the relation between God and man is established as a concrete and genuine situation in finding an answer..."
--Abraham Joshua Heschel, No Time for Neutrality, p. 191
Why/How/What is God?
A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism
Adopted at the 1999 Pitsburgh Convention
Central Conference of American Rabbis
May 1999-Sivan 5759
(To read the whole thing: https://www.ccarnet.org/rabbinic-voice/platforms/article-statement-principles-reform-judaism/)
This “Statement of Principles” affirms the central tenets of Judaism – God, Torah and Israel – even as it acknowledges the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices. It also invites all Reform Jews to engage in a dialogue with the sources of our tradition, responding out of our knowledge, our experience and our faith. Thus we hope to transform our lives through (kedushah), holiness.
God
- We affirm the reality and oneness of God, even as we may differ in our understanding of the Divine presence.
- We affirm that the Jewish people is bound to God by an eternal (b’rit), covenant, as reflected in our varied understandings of Creation, Revelation and Redemption.
- We affirm that every human being is created (b’tzelem Elohim), in the image of God, and that therefore every human life is sacred.
- We regard with reverence all of God’s creation and recognize our human responsibility for its preservation and protection.
- We encounter God’s presence in moments of awe and wonder, in acts of justice and compassion, in loving relationships and in the experiences of everyday life.
- We respond to God daily: through public and private prayer, through study and through the performance of other (mitzvot), sacred obligations — (bein adam la Makom), to God, and (bein adam la-chaveiro), to other human beings.
- We strive for a faith that fortifies us through the vicissitudes of our lives — illness and healing, transgression and repentance, bereavement and consolation, despair and hope.
- We continue to have faith that, in spite of the unspeakable evils committed against our people and the sufferings endured by others, the partnership of God and humanity will ultimately prevail.
- We trust in our tradition’s promise that, although God created us as finite beings, the spirit within us is eternal.
In all these ways and more, God gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
What/Why is God?
(A Buberian Theology & An AKW Relational Rabbinate)
Martin Buber (1878-1965) was a Jewish philosopher and theologian, who emphasized a unique and dynamic relationship with God in his theology. Renowned for his work on existentialism and dialogical philosophy, Buber's influential writings, including "I and Thou," explored the dynamics of how individuals relate to both God and to each other. His profound influence led to many amazing discoveries (including the writing of my senior thesis!).
One of my favorite Martin Buber stories is told at the very beginning of his biography:
“An apocryphal story relates that when Martin Buber walked the streets of Jerusalem, children would run after him screaming Elohim, Elohim (God, God).
He would slowly turn around, gently stroke his silken white beard, smile,
and obligingly say, ‘Yes!’”
(Mendes-Flohr, Martin Buber: A life of faith and dissent, p. 1)
1. God as Conversational Partner
Buber, who was known for his relational, dialectical, and educational philosophies, believed that God was the ultimate "Thou" in an "I-Thou" dialogue. In order to enter into conversation with God, we needed to recognize God's instructions and demands, but we also needed to choose to "enter into a direct relationship...the relationship is at once being chose and choosing, passive and active." (Buber, I and Thou, p. 124-125) These conversations can occur via personal dialogue or religious prayer. Buber also asserts that God can act as an exemplar for our own dialectical efforts with humanity, explaining that “the relation to a human being is the proper metaphor for the relation to God—as genuine address is here accorded a genuine answer.” (Buber, I and Thou, p. 151)
2. God as Catalyst for Ethical Action
God turns the relationship with the divine into a source of inspiration for both ethical action and moral conduct (how we want to be in relationship with God influences how we want to be in relationship with the world). God's demands and instruction here galvanizes us to engage in ethical behaviors. It has been said that "Buber's God is neither mere comforting presence, nor rigid authoritarian, but makes 'demands' and offers 'instruction,' though always in the context of conversation.' Our relationship with this deeply mystical yet always approachable Deity for Buber is not an end in itself, but is a spur to ethical action...Ethical action is always a religious act." (Astrow, Jewish values, empathy, and the doctor-patient relationship, p. 420)
3. God as Community Unifier
Within a communal context, God serves as a unifier--we are empowered to create a collective effort towards a common goal: to aim to come to God through our very human actions. Guided by the divine pursuit of shared objectives, "Buber's idea of community requires a common goal and the involvement of all as distinct individuals." (Blenkinsop, Martin Buber: Educating for relationship., p. 291) For Buber, this also is a reminder that we are reliant on our relationships for progress, and that we must be present in any communal effort: “...the I is indispensable for any relationship, including the highest which always presupposes an I and You. What has to be given up is not the I but that false drive for self-affirmation.” (Buber, I and Thou, p. 126)
4. God as Presence in Real-World Awareness
Buber asserted that God both acted as and symbolized "the immediacy of the real world," which became the focal point for teachers and students who were immersed in their surroundings. Buber posited that "the teacher in the classroom is immersed in the real world, what Buber might call ‘God’s immediacy’, and knows that awareness only occurs when students open themselves to one another and to the world around.” (Blenkinsop, Martin Buber: Educating for relationship, p. 291). This emphasized that our awareness [and relationships!] grow when we are willing to open ourselves to one another and to the world around us, with God as a guiding force in an ongoing spiritual journey.
5. God as Encounters in Neighborly Love
God acts as the exemplar for our relationship with humanity, positing that when we truly see and have love for our neighbor, that we might genuinely meet God. While we might struggle to understand how love for humanity and love for the divine might intersect, Buber wrote "An inner religious development of the highest significance corresponds to that tendency, the striving to bridge the gulf between love of God and love of man…the true meaning of love of one’s neighbor is not that it is a command from God which we are to fulfill, but that through it and in it we meet God.” (Buber, The Silent Question, p. 212).
One of Buber's defining works, The Way of Man According to the Teachings of Hasidism also tried to explain that we, as humans, embody the divine within us (and therefore within all of our relationships): “But also in man, in every man, is a force divine…The task of man, of every man according to hasidic teaching, is to affirm for God’s sake the world and himself and by this very means to transform both.” (Kauffman, BUBER: The Way of Man according to the Teachings of Hasidism. In Religion from Tolstoy to Camus, p. 426
6. God as Dynamic Presence in Relationships
In the universe of "I-Thou" relationships, we must continuously choose to acknowledge ourselves and each other for who we are: “The You confronts me. But I enter into a direct relationship to it. Thus the relationship is at once being chosen and choosing, passive and active.”(Buber, I and Thou, p. 124-125).
Both elements of the relational dyad are created b'tzelem Elohim and therefore has a holy component--and it is up to us and our relationships that we are able to move the world closer and further to a holy benchmark. Buber asserts, “I do not consider the individual to be either the starting-point or the goal of the human world. But I consider the human person to be the irremovable central place of the struggle between the world’s movement away from God and its movement towards God.” (Buber & Smith, Between Man and Man, p. 70).
Furthermore, God plays up the dynamics that we, as humans, can never be "perfect" for that is not how God created us--rather, like the rest of the world, we each have our high and low moments and should find goodness in both, “for if God ‘forms the light and creates darkness’, man is able to love both—to love light in itself, and darkness towards the light.” (ibid p. 94)
7. God as Essence in Religious Connection
From a religious context, everything is wrapped up in the relationship between humanity and the divine. Buber clarifies that religion is primarily about the human connection to God, emphasizing the personal and relational aspects of spirituality: “But religion is for all that only a matter of the human relation to God, not of God Himself.” (Buber & Agassi, Martin Buber on psychology and psychotherapy, p. 47-48). The focus is on (a) harrowing the everyday individual experiences--“...when you consecrate life you encounter the living God.” (Buber, I and Thou, p. 128)--and engaging in personal connections with the divine: “In prayer man pours himself out…acts on God, albeit without exacting anything from God.” (p. 130-131)
Quick Buber Bibliography!
- Astrow, A. B. (2015). Jewish values, empathy, and the doctor-patient relationship. Society, 52(5), 418–423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-015-9924-0
- Blenkinsop, S. (2005). Martin Buber: Educating for relationship. Ethics, Place & Environment, 8(3), 285–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668790500348232
- Buber, M. (1967). The Silent Question. In On Judaism (pp. 202–213). essay, Schocken Books.
- Buber, M. (1971). I and thou; a new translation by Walter Kaufmann. Touchstone.
- Buber, M., & Agassi, J. B. (1999). Martin Buber on psychology and psychotherapy essays, letters, and dialogue. Syracuse Univ. Press.
- Buber, M., & Smith, R. G. (2014). Between man and man. Martino.
- Kaufmann, W. (1961). BUBER: The Way of Man according to the Teachings of Hasidism. In Religion from Tolstoy to Camus (pp. 425–441). essay, Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York.
- Mendes-Flohr, P. (2019). Martin Buber: A life of faith and dissent. Yale University Press.
Why is God?
Theodicy is a theological attempt to utilize God's omniscience (all-knowingness) and omnipotence (all-powerfulness) in a way that responds to the problem of evil and suffering that appears in the world. How can people suffer and how can evil exist if God is benevolent and in charge?
*A Note* The following is based on a personal theology of suffering and disorientation that I wrote as an intern at New York Presbyterian Hospital, practicing Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) for an assignment that required me to write a personal theology of suffering and disorientation. I summarize my first two points, and then directly quote how I think they synthesize into a working theodicy (for me).
How People Suffer (in at least two ways)
1. Being Alone
In the creation of our world, God strung together each day and category in growing relationship with one another, deeming an intermittent "goodness." The first time we get a "lo tov" (hey--that's not good!), it's when we hear that it is not good for humanity to face life along. Suffering and disorientation can arise when people find themselves alone, whether they feel a lack of belonging, an issue fitting in, or one who defies societal labels. It is difficult for us to take our own measures solely on our own, we generally define ourselves by our cultural milieu.
2. Broken Shards
In Lurianic Kabbalah (a 16th century school of mysticism named for Isaac Luria), there is a belief that God was the first one to "break" (my words, he uses the idea of tzimtzum or to contract) in order to make space for the rest of the world. Divine light were put in vessels and these vessels--through the contraction) began to experience shevirah--a brokenness of shattered and scattered light." We too regularly deal with self-contraction and encountering broken shards out in the world and within ourselves.
Finding a Common Path: B’tzelem Elohim [Direct Quote from Theology]
In some ways this might be a very strange theodicy: that we suffer because God suffers. That is to say, if we believe that God evolves (and I can say that for my own theology, I do believe that God evolves), then this means that I also believe that God can be broken—for the only way to grow is to first break. Whether it’s minor tears or broken shards, the way that we get to growth is through allowing ourselves to break. This is—according to Lurianic Kabbalah—the way that the world grew: God constricted and contracted and broke in order to make space for a new world to be created.
Contracting and breaking can be a lonely endeavor—indeed, we first must internally be willing to break (to acknowledge the break) in order to see how we grow once we’ve broken through. The way that I see these two arenas connecting (loneliness and gathering the broken pieces) is through another line from Genesis (Gen 1:26):
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ
And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness.
This quote has been shared to show that everyone has beautiful divinity in their humanness: we are all human and we are all divine—but what does that mean? I take it to mean the following: that we all share in the image and likeness of God through our experience and truly, connecting across similarities, through our suffering. The word tzelem does mean image—but the word tzel—means shadow. Generally when this term is used in Jewish tradition it is shortened to the idea that “everyone is created b’tzelem Elohim”—that we are all created in God’s image. But what if—we were all created in God’s darkness? What if—the reason that we might all be able to be in relation with one another deals with the dark part of life—the suffering part? The troubling part? The difficult part?
What if that darkness is lit up as we gather the broken shards of ourselves and of the world—those broken shards of light that cut us as we absorb them but also—for a brief moment—shed light on the darkness and suffering that exist in all of us—the shadow work of God? If that’s the case, then suffering is in itself both a tohu uvavohu (a problematic blend of confusion and chaos, of disorientation and difficulty) and its own mix of shevirah (brokenness) and tikkun (repair)? If we suffer because God suffers, then we find ourselves on a holy common path: one that is lit through shards of broken light and holiness on the sidelines—pieces that we may pick up whenever we pick ourselves up after a rough ride down the road.
Where is God?
"“Where is the dwelling of God?” This was the question with which the Rabbi of Kotzk surprised a number of learned men who happened to be visiting him. They laughed at him: “What a thing to ask! Is not the whole world full of his glory?” Then he answered his own question: “God dwells wherever man lets him in.” This is the ultimate purpose: to let God in. But we can let him in only where we really stand, where we live, where we live a true life."
--Martin Buber, The Way of Man, "The Sixth Hasidic Tale"