Review by Rabbi Stephen M. Wylen
A God We Can Believe In, eds. Richard Agler and Rifat Sonsino
Reformers of Judaism have always been concerned for social justice. The first ordained rabbis in America were refugees from the Revolution of 1848. Back in those early days of Reform, reformers were equally interested in updating the ideology of Judaism according to the principles of the Enlightenment – Science and Reason. That side of Reform seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent decades, replaced by a neo-Romanticism that embraces tradition for its own sake. The early Reformers rewrote or deleted prayers that were not consistent with truth as we understand it in the modern age. References to angels, the Messiah, Resurrection, were ruthlessly and without apology scrubbed from the siddur. The idea was, we will say what we believe when we pray. Every new Reform siddur since that early era has come more and more to resemble the traditional words, our inheritance from the Byzantine Era when God was perceived as the Emperor, to be assuaged and won over with relentless flattery in the hope of favor. The dominant view in contemporary Reform seems to be, “We have received a wise tradition and we must struggle to make it work for us.”
The counter-revolution to restore the original vision of Reform Judaism is past due, and here it is, in the form of this collection of essays, A God We Can Believe In. The premise of this work is that a primary reason Reform Jews stay away from worship services is that they are turned off by the unscientific image of a theistic Deity they find there – a God who, though we know better, listens to our prayers and responds with favor to righteous requests. The writers within these pages believe that Jews will be drawn back to the synagogue if we represent God according to our actual beliefs, a Natural Deity, not a Supernatural Deity.
The primary co-conspirators in presenting this thesis are Rabbis Richard Agler and Rifat Sonsino. Disclaimer time; I consider them both to be friends. They are amongst the most learned of our colleagues from the perspective of scholarship, and they also proved themselves adept as pastors and congregational leaders during distinguished careers. They have assembled a group of like-minded colleagues, many of them members of NAORRR, to contribute thought pieces to this volume on the subject of the Natural Deity.
Who are the influences? Mordecai Kaplan, of course. Maimonides. Harold Schulweis is often mentioned. Abraham Joshua Heschel, a lot. One can see why believers in the religion of science would like Heschel’s starting point in individual human wonder at the amazing cosmos. This is also the starting point of science. I think our respondents tend to underplay the ultimate theism of Heschel. That theism may also be why Martin Buber is relatively absent from this volume.
The writers are relentlessly positive. They write about what they and we should believe in, not against what we should not believe in. This is one of the most attractive aspects of the collective work. As one would expect from an anthology, the essays are uneven in style and, frankly, interest. Some were not written originally for this volume but for another purpose. Sometimes they meander from the theme. Still, there is a cumulative effect in demonstrating that so many intelligent Jews, learned people who care passionately for their Judaism, worship a God of nature who does not provide individual providence and is immune to our pleas to overturn the laws of nature. The writers themselves are evidence that a natural Deity can still inspire passion.
You can read some of the essays; you can read them all. I read them all. Some are philosophical, some more personal. I was especially drawn to a few. Anson Laytner writes movingly about the effect of second and third generation PTSD from the Holocaust on the a- theism of American Jews. I have observed this in my own rabbinate but have never seen it referenced as a prime mover in Jewish life, which it clearly is. I was also touched by Rachel Greengrass’ admission that, despite being a chemical engineer and a believer in a natural God, she has prayed for what she wanted and received it. I saw myself in her. I was a budding entomologist who got sidetracked by Jewish studies. I have prayed for a computer and, once, for a crisp green Granny Smith apple, and received them. I like to joke that even though I don’t believe that God answers prayers, God ignores me and answers them anyway. And there’s the rub – we have rational minds, but can we ever overcome our human tendencies?
Before I set out to write a book I ask two questions – is there a good idea here, and is there an audience just waiting to hear that idea expressed? The answer to the first question is a resounding “yes.” About the second question, I am not so sure. Are there large numbers of Jews out there just waiting to be lured by a God who neither listens nor speaks? I have met renegades from Orthodoxy, turned off by justifications for the Shoah and other human suffering, who would love this message to enable them to stay Jewish. I have met many more Jews who became Christians or allowed their spouse to raise the children Christian because they are so enamored of the personal relationship with your friend, Jesus. There are many Jews nowadays who like to pray to Mrs. Shekinah. This represents a turn away from a naturalistic Deity towards a new, neo- pagan mythology. I would like to scream at some of these people that in “real” Kabbalah, it is absolutely prohibited to pray to emanations. And on this subject, I wish some of our writers would have explored more deeply why contemporary Reformers insist on gender purity but not on theological purity. Is there a relationship?
Maimonides refers to the classic trio of Praise, Petition and Thanks when he writes about prayer in the Mishneh Torah. In the Moreh, written for the elite few, Maimonides admits that all worship is purely praise. The wise praise God because God is praiseworthy, without thought of reward. There have never been many people who are drawn to this message.
The editors openly address this work to the twenty or thirty Reform rabbis who will someday authorize the next Reform siddur and mahzor. That will not make this book a best seller, but perhaps it would be sufficient if all liberal rabbis and Jewish intellectual influencers would buy a copy and think about what this book is saying. If we believe that Truth and Religion have anything in common, we must take this book seriously.
July 2022
Written for Ohr L’NAORRR, the Newsletter of the National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis