“We all worship the same God.” While that aphorism bears a lovely sentiment that conveys only the best intentions, when we say it, we are minimizing the beautiful complexities of the different ways in which the world’s religions understand God. The last 250 years or so of the Enlightenment have seen a proliferation of theologies in Christianity and Judaism. And wonderfully, there’s been a great deal of engagement that allows philosophers from one religion to inspire those of another. While a survey of their ideas is far beyond the scope of this short kavanah, suffice it to say that some of the world’s greatest minds have been engaged in the task.
For Judaism, the first controversial thinker actually preceded the Enlightenment. Writing in the 12th century, Maimonides postulated that God is wholly other, separate from any physicality, and fully perfect; God is the very order that establishes the rules of the natural world and human existence. In God’s perfection, said the sage, there is no variability, so suffering and joy are not decreed by God as a consequence of human action; they are just a part of how we interact with that which is.
The modern philosopher Martin Buber suggested that God is between and among us—not necessarily a being, but an experience. God is in our love, our sacred connections, our relationships. When we truly seek to know other people not to further our gains, but to know them deeply, we also experience God.
Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan taught that God is a process that enables humanity to pursue that which is noble and good. Prayer is not directed at God so much as it is directed inward, toward ourselves. We pray to elevate our consciousness in ways that will compel us to aspire to be better people and work for the good of our world.
As we approach the High Holy Days, I hope that this brief and incomplete survey of the richness of Jewish ideas of God inspires you to open your hearts and minds to contemplate what the idea of God can mean to you. As you sit in services, recognize that we each create our own God-concept and its truth lies in the meaning we create for ourselves, informed by our tradition and crafted by our hearts.
—Rabbi Ron Stern