{"id":388,"date":"2012-04-16T17:09:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T17:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/04\/does-judaism-need-god-do-jews.html"},"modified":"2012-04-16T17:09:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T17:09:00","slug":"does-judaism-need-god-do-jews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/04\/does-judaism-need-god-do-jews.html","title":{"rendered":"Does Judaism Need God? Do Jews?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

New York\u2019s \u201cThe Jewish Week\u201d has an article about Jews and God<\/a> that presents a good short summary of some of the issues I write about frequently.\u00a0 Some of the statistics are fascinating, if not surprising:<\/p>\n

The data [from the Public Religion Research Institute\u2019s survey on American Jewish values, released this month] \u2026showed that, while about 70 percent of Jews define themselves through a religious movement \u2014 Reform, Conservative or Orthodox \u2014 the other 30 percent see Judaism as more of a cultural identity, calling themselves \u201cjust Jewish.\u201d And when asked whether Jews of any kind believed in God, 18 percent said they did not. (Forty percent said they believed in an \u201cimpersonal God,\u201d while 26 percent said they believed in a God they saw as \u201ca person with whom one can have a relationship.\u201d)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s a whopping 58% of American Jews who are not traditionally theistic.<\/p>\n

Some of the people interviewed for the article made the point that Judaism was about so much more than God:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe religion has a lot of meaning even without God,\u201d said Asher Lopatin, an Orthodox rabbi who leads the Anshe Sholom B\u2019nai Israel Congregation in Chicago. Lopatin, a Rhodes Scholar recently named one of Newsweek\u2019s \u201cTop 50 Rabbis in America,\u201d was not advocating for a Judaism without God. But he did think Judaism, even Orthodox Judaism, was getting along just fine without a strong emphasis on one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s an amazing acknowledgment of reality coming from an Orthodox rabbi.<\/p>\n

But, alas, there are others for whom the supernatural world is still the key to Judaism.\u00a0 It will shock no one that Rabbi David Wolpe, spokesman for all things God<\/a>, had this to say:<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout God playing a central role, Judaism will collapse,\u201d said David Wolpe, a Conservative rabbi who leads the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. (He is also a regular contributor to The Jewish Week and topped this year\u2019s Newsweek list.) He dismissed the idea of preserving religious rituals as merely valuable \u201ctraditions\u201d \u2014 a common description since \u201cFiddler on the Roof,\u201d if not Mordecai Kaplan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, traditions are hard to maintain unless there\u2019s an attempt to understand the traditions in a deep way, and that God is central to those traditions.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article goes on to point out that this is an idea prevalent among many younger rabbis, too.<\/p>\n

While I do recommend the article, I am once again disappointed by the fact that not a single humanistic rabbi or spokesperson was contacted about it.\u00a0 I am fully aware that we are a tiny movement, but it seems to me that if you\u2019re going to discuss atheism or humanism in a Jewish context, you would want to hear our point of view.\u00a0 I guess we\u2019ll just have to make good use of the comments section.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York\u2019s \u201cThe Jewish Week\u201d has an article about Jews and God that presents a good short summary of some of the issues I write about frequently.\u00a0 Some of the statistics are fascinating, if not surprising: The data [from the Public Religion Research Institute\u2019s survey on American Jewish values, released this month] \u2026showed that, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4,6,39],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-american-jews","tag-atheism","tag-secular-humanistic-judaism"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes Judaism Need God? 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