Discussion Guide for Finding God By Rifat Sonsino and Daniel B. Syme Discussion Guide by Eric Eisenkramer

Introduction

At some point in our lives many of us seek to understand the fundamental nature of our existence. We begin to ask questions-hard questions-to try to understand ourselves and our world. Why am I here? Is there a God out there? What does God want from me? Why is there evil in the world? In Finding God, Rifat Sonsino and Daniel B. Syme present us with many distinct views on God and our relationship to the Divine. Some of these views you may already know, and some might surprise you.

As you read through each chapter, try to approach each thinker with the following two questions in mind: What is this thinker trying to teach me about God and the world? What do I find meaningful in this thinker's approach or ideas? This way you not only will learn about the ideas of others but also begin to discover your own feelings and beliefs. As long as there have been Jews, we have struggled to understand who God is and what God wants from us. And throughout our history, many Jews have come up with powerful ideas. At the end of Finding God, you may not have solved all of the theological problems of Judaism, but you will discover that it is a sacred process to explore your own beliefs and the beliefs of others.

1. Explore and discuss your reasons for reading this book. Did an event in your life make you feel like you wanted to understand God better? Are you on a spiritual journey to understand yourself and your life? Why is the search for God and meaning important to you?

2. In the introduction, Sonsino and Syme state that most Jews tend not to talk about God (page 3). God is central to Judaism but thinking about God (i.e. theology) is not. Why do we have a hard time talking about God? What can we hope to gain by exploring our ideas about God? How can theology and the search for God help us in our lives?

3. According to the authors, many Jews feel ambivalent or uncomfortable when talking about God because their view of God comes only from the Torah and Rabbinic literature (page 3). At its most extreme, this is the male God with the white beard who rewards and punishes us according to our deeds. What elements of "the God you were raised with" are difficult for you? How did these ideas about God make it hard to accept or understand God?

1. Why was Moses so concerned with knowing God's name when he encountered God at the Burning Bush (page 7)? In the Garden of Eden, Adam names all of the animals in search for a mate for himself (Genesis 2:18-20). Do you see any similarities between the use of names in the Garden of Eden and with Moses? In what way does our assigning of names help shape our reality? In your view, does God need a name?

2. The authors state that the biblical view of God developed over time. At first the Israelites believed in God as the most superior among many other gods and later they realized that God alone existed as the only divine being (pages 8-9). Does it surprise you that the biblical view of God changed? How do our ideas about God remain the same or change depending on when and where we live? Might our life experience also change the way we see God?

3. In the biblical view, God creates and sustains the world (pages 13-14). Discuss your views on the creation story in the Bible verses modern science and evolution. Does the story of Genesis conflict with scientific theories on the origin of the universe? If not a literal depiction of creation, what else can Genesis teach us about our beginnings? What does it mean for God to sustain the world? Does God play a part in making the laws of nature work or is God not involved in the daily functioning of the world at all?

4. As described in the Bible, God chose us from among all the nations to spread the word of God. In response, we entered into a covenant with God where we agree to believe in God and follow God's commandments (pages 16-19). What is the nature of our relationship with God as the Jewish people? Did God choose us for a special place among humanity? How can we avoid the implication of superiority that comes with chosenness? Discuss your view of the obligations we must fulfill in our covenant with God. Does God want us to perform ritual commandments like keeping kosher or does God want us to be ethical and help others?

1. The Rabbis introduced many new names for God beyond those of the Bible. Compare the biblical names of God (pages 10-11) to the rabbinic names (page 28). What do they teach us about God? How do the rabbis and the Bible understand God differently as reflected in the names of God? Which of the names of God resonate with you? Which seem outdated or difficult to accept and why? What new names would you create for God today? What kind of God would they describe?

2. Review the Rabbis' understanding of angels (pages 29-30). In what ways do they depict angels as divine yet separate from God and inferior to God? Are angels the Rabbis' way of explaining parts of the world that science explains today, like the movement of heavenly bodies and the seas? Or do angels exist, helping the sick and keeping individuals from danger?

3. Compare the relationship of the Jewish people and God as described in the Bible and by the Rabbis. (For the biblical view, see pages 16-19; for the Rabbis, see pages 32-34).

   What role does love play in this relationship? Why are we the chosen people, according to the Bible and the Rabbis? How do the responsibilities of Israel toward the covenant differ in each case? In your view, who presents a better view of the relationship between God and Israel?

4. The Rabbis thought that God is totally different than us and beyond our knowledge. Yet they also described God as taking a personal interest in the affairs of humanity (pages 34-36). How can God be both far away, beyond our knowledge, and yet close at the same time? Do you understand God as close or distant? If God is near, does God really get involved in the everyday aspects of the world by blessing bridegrooms and visiting the sick, like the Rabbis said (page 35)? If God is far away and not involved in this world, does God care about how we act?

5. There is a tendency to think of Judaism as monolithic-that we have always believed the same things from the time of Abraham and that our religion has not changed in thousands of years. Yet as Sonsino and Syme point out, ideas about God as well as other ideas, like that of an afterlife, change over time )pages 38-39). How could the Rabbis change elements of Jewish belief, yet keep the tradition intact? Do we have the right today to change Judaism to make it fit our beliefs? How do we balance changing our tradition and yet remaining within it?

1. Philo tries to harmonize Greek philosophy with Judaism by taking important ideas of the Greek culture and discussing them in a Jewish context. For example he applies the idea of wisdom to the story of Abraham and Isaac to show that wisdom does not come only from schooling (page 44). How do we today try to combine American ideals and our Jewish tradition? What American ideals, such as democracy and equality, have made it into our understanding of Judaism? How has American culture influenced our Judaism-for example, in the importance of Chanukah, which occurs near Christmas?

2. Compare Philo's notion that God is One (page 45) with that of the Bible (page 10) and the Rabbis (pages 27-28). How does Philo change our understanding of how God is One? When we say the Sh'ma affirming God's unity, do we mean that God is one in the sense of the Bible, the Rabbis, Philo, or all of them?

3. Sonsino and Syme state that Philo was one of the first Jewish thinkers to try to prove that God exists (page 46). Why do you think Philo tried to authenticate God's existence while the Rabbis and the Bible accepted God as a fact? Do we today still search for proof that God exists? Should we?

4. Review Philo's two proofs that God exists: God as the universal mind and the teleological argument (pages 46-47). The teleological argument states that by seeing the order of the universe, we know that it must have a Creator, God. If the teleological argument is true, should scientists, who study and discover more about the order of nature every day, believe more strongly in God? Why, then, does science at times seem to promote an antireligious point of view?

1. Maimonides teaches that God has no body but is rather "a pure intellect, whose major activity is thinking thoughts" (page 56). In the Bible, God is not made of flesh and blood but does have human qualities like compassion and even jealousy (pages 20-21). Compare the God of Maimonides with the God of the Bible. Can Maimonides' God act in the world and help people? Should we pray to his God? What theological reasons are there for having a God without a body? Which concept of God, the biblical view or that of Maimonides, do you find more believable?

2. Like Philo before him, Maimonides constructs a proof for God, which the authors call the "cosmological argument". (page 57) Read the quote of Maimonides that describes his argument and try to construct your own chain of reasoning, moving from one cause to another, that would eventually lead to God. For example your argument might begin by asking what is the cause of the ocean waves and continue from there. What do you think of Maimonides' proof of God?

3. Examine Maimonides' view on miracles (pages 60-61). What do you think of his explanation? How does Maimonides' view reflect a rational or logical approach to the miracles of the Torah? Think about the following argument advanced by Maimonides: not eating pork and shellfish was commanded by the Torah because it is really healthier for humans. Does this explanation resemble Maimonides' way of approaching miracles? Overall, do you find meaningful the approach of explaining the Bible rationally?

4. Maimonides teaches that as a general rule a person should try to live his or her life by aiming at the "happy medium" in all aspects (pages 65-66). How does Maimonides counsel us that we can find this balance in our lives? Maimonides offers a beautiful reading from the Mishneh Torah on the ideal conduct for a person (page 66). Which areas of life does Maimonides cover, and which does he neglect? What would you add to his list?

1. Up until now, we have encountered two general approaches to understanding God. The Bible and the Rabbis took God's existence for granted, while Philo and Maimonides offered proofs for God using rationalism and logic. In this chapter, the mystics teach that we can meet God through our hearts and our intuition (page 67). Do you take God's existence for granted? Can we find God by way of our head or our heart, our intellect or our emotions? Are there other approaches that we have thus far neglected in our search?

2. Today we see a resurgence of spirituality and the desire to create a less intellectual and more heartfelt Judaism. More Jews study Kabbalah than in the past, and some even explore Eastern spiritual traditions. The Rabbis spoke out against mysticism in their time (pages 67-69). Should we too keep our distance from mysticism? Can these mystical ideas lead people away from mainstream Judaism, as the Rabbis feared? Or should we continue to explore spirituality in order to enhance our Judaism?

3. The mystics taught that we can find God by way of meditation, prayer, and contemplation (page 73). Have you ever had a prayer experience that brought you closer to God? Have you ever tried Jewish meditation or simply spent some quite time alone and felt God's presence? Should we change the way we pray in synagogue to allow more mystical moments of contemplation? Should our meditation and prayer occur only in private or also with other Jews?

4. In Reform Jewish practice, tikkun olam means "repairing the world" by helping others, whether that be working at a soup kitchen or donating money to a woman's shelter. However, Isaac Luria created the mystical idea of tikkun olam long before the Reform movement. Compare Luria's belief in tikkun olam with our present-day use of the term (page 76). Does Luria believe we should fix the world by way of ethics, or does ritual play an important role? By helping others, can we actually "mend the entire universe" in a physical or spiritual sense? How can our ritual and ethical religious acts make a difference in this world?

1. Examine the biographies of all of the thinkers presented so far: Philo, Maimonides, Luria, and Spinoza. Which of them would you consider religious in the sense of following the commandments of the Torah and living according to Jewish tradition and custom? Do any of these philosophers instead seem more intellectual, focusing on questions of God and truth? Should our search for God require a religious component, or can we simply think about God without trying to engage the Divine in our lives? As we continue to examine other philosophers in Finding God, think about the role of religion and tradition in their lives and how they balance their theological beliefs with a Jewish life.

2. The rabbis of Amsterdam excommunicated Spinoza for doubting that Moses wrote the Torah and for believing that Adam was not the first man, among other ideas (pages 78-79). Yet today, many Jews agree with Spinoza that Moses did not necessarily write the entire Torah, and surely evolution shows that we cannot accept the Adam and Eve story literally. Should we remain open to new ideas in understanding God and Judaism, even radical ideas like Spinoza taught, because they may end up being right? Yet how can we maintain the chain of Jewish tradition if doubt of even "sacred" beliefs such as whether Moses wrote the Torah go from heresy to acceptance?

3. In his philosophy, Spinoza claims that God and the universe are the same substance, that we humans have no free will to make decisions, and that the human mind lives forever, even after the body dies (pages 81, 83 and 85). Why do these views appear wrong to us today? What makes us accept some of Spinoza's beliefs today (like Adam not being the first man) and reject others? Does how we look upon the world at a given time change the way in which we understand God? How does our scientific secular society of today shape the way in which we describe the Divine?

1. Review Martin Buber's description of the "I-It" relationship (pages 88-89). List a few examples of I-It interactions in your life with other people, animals, and objects. How do you feel when you have an I-It relationship with another person? In what ways does our use of the earth and its natural resources constitute an I-It relationship? Do you agree with Buber that I-It relationships are not necessarily bad? How can our objectification and judgment of other people harm them?

2. Examine Buber's paradigm of the "I-Thou" relationship (pages 89-90). Buber gives a beautiful example of an I-Thou connection he felt with his horse as a child. Describe a few examples of I-Thou relationships in your life. What made these interactions different from the ways in which you normally deal with other people or things? Should we strive for an I-Thou bond with everyone and everything?

3. Buber states that we can meet God by fostering I-Thou relationships with others. Yet we cannot find God by objectifying God, proving God's existence, or defining God, all of which represent ways of treating God like an "It" (pages 90-91). Do you feel that you come close to God in your loving relationships with others? Compare Buber's path of finding God with those of the other philosophers we have read. How does Buber differ from Philo, Maimonides, and Spinoza, who try to objectively understand God? Would you consider Buber a mystic, like Luria?

4. Buber proposes two views on evil in the world. The first states that our misuse of human freedom leads to evil, thus placing the blame solely on us and not God. However, Buber later teaches that during times of "radical evil" like the Holocaust, God actually withdraws from humanity (pages 94-95). Which of these views do you find more helpful in explaining evil in the world? Why would God withdraw from the world at the exact times we need God most, like the Holocaust?

1. Review the seven points of classical theism as described by Sonsino and Syme (pages 96-97). Which of these ideas about God resonate with your beliefs? Which seem difficult to understand or accept? Do you consider yourself a classical theist, or does some other thinker we have read more closely match your beliefs about God?

2. In this chapter, Sonsino and Syme describe the problem of theodicy: trying to justify God in light of evil in the world (pages 98-99). Discuss the three main propositions that come into conflict regarding evil: that God is good, that evil is real, and that God is all-powerful. Why can these three ideas not all be true at once? Which of these three must we alter if we are to understand why evil exists?

3. Steinberg suggests that we can solve the problem of evil by saying that God is not all-powerful and so cannot stop evil from occurring (pages 101-102). What are some of the theological implications of the idea of a limited God? Many people believe that God does not act in our world, neither helping people nor preventing bad things. Does the idea of a limited God support this idea of God's inaction? Should we still worship and believe in a God who is good but who does not necessarily have the power to act in the world?

4. Discuss Steinberg's teaching that we need to work together with God to fix the world (page 104). Can humanity by itself fix all of the problems we see around us? Does the Holocaust create doubt over our ability to overcome evil within human nature and evil in the world? Can God, even a limited God, help us deal with the problems of life?

1. According to Kaplan, Judaism today should not just be about religion but also what he called Jewish civilization, all of the other parts of our Jewish identity and culture like our history, literature, language, social organizations, folk customs, and so forth (pages 108-109). How did Kaplan's idea of a Jewish civilization lead him to establish the first Jewish camps and Jewish community centers? In your view, how important is being religious to being Jewish? What other elements of Judaism are important for you as a Jew? Do you like certain Jewish expressions of speech or Jewish foods? What parts of our Jewish history, like the Holocaust or founding of the State of Israel, are important to you?

2. Kaplan describes a God who is not an independent being but rather a power or force in the universe. We connect to God when we overcome our basic physical needs and try to act ethically (pages 109-114). How does Kaplan's view of God as a power or process compare with the ideas of the Bible and the Rabbis? Did Luria and Buber see God as a separate being? In your view, is it easier to conceive of God as a force in the universe rather than a separate being who can act in the world?

3. Kaplan's views on God seem to directly contradict the Bible and the Rabbis. The Torah speaks of a God who exists separately from this world, who can hear our prayers and even help us. Kaplan's God is a force inside of us and within the universe that helps us become better people but certainly cannot heal our wounds or split the Red Sea. Has Kaplan strayed too far from the original idea of God in the Bible? If Kaplan's idea of God makes sense to us, should we adopt it and leave behind the theology of the Torah? How much can our ideas about God change and still be considered Jewish and a part of our tradition?

4. Examine Kaplan's views on prayer (pages 115-116). According to Kaplan, does God hear and respond to our prayers? Is prayer for God or for us? Do you agree with Kaplan's view that by expressing our hopes and desires we help make them happen even though God does not directly respond to them? When you pray, is it more important that God hear you or that you express yourself?

1. Fromm defines religion as a fundamental human need consisting of two aspects: a perspective on the world and an object of worship (pages 121-122). Do you agree with Fromm that religion is a basic need? In your opinion, how is the Jewish worldview distinctive? Fromm claims that many people in society today elevate and worship other ideas or objects instead of God (page 122). What forms of modern idolatry exist today, such as the worship of money, power, or political leaders?

2. According to Fromm, God is the idea or image we have in our mind of the highest self that a human can become. God is not an independent being but rather an ideal we hold in our minds (pages 124-126). How is Fromm both a non-theist and a humanist? Compare Fromm and Kaplan (pages 110-114) in their understanding of God. In what ways do they both break with the classic theism of the Bible and the Rabbis?

3. What makes Fromm's approach to God Jewish? If we believe in Fromm's God, who is really the highest human ideals like goodness and justice, what difference does it make if we are Jewish or any other religion? Like Fromm, Kaplan did not believe in God as a separate being who can command us. Yet Kaplan taught that we are Jewish because Judaism is not just about religion but also about our culture, our language, and our everyday customs. Does Fromm provide any reason why we could not be ethical people and just ignore Judaism?

Chapter 11: The Depth Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel

1. Heschel lived a deeply religious life and at the same time pursued many of the important social causes of his day including civil rights and protests against the Vietnam War (pages 130-131). Some of our earlier thinkers like Fromm and Kaplan encourage us to help others but do not place such a heavy emphasis on living a strict religious life. How can we be both religious and socially conscious at the same time? Does the biblical concept of a commanding God encourage us to help others? Can a God like Kaplan conceives, a God who is the force that helps us become better people, effectively motivate us to social action?

2. Heschel teaches that we come to believe in God and find our religion by intuition as opposed to intellect. "It is the sense of awe and the sublime that generates the idea of God in us. Rather than trying to deduce the reality of God from our observations, the certainty of the existence of God comes to us as an immediate apprehension as a result of our sense of radical amazement and awe before all existence" (pages 135-136). In what ways does this quote describe your personal journey toward God? When in your life have you felt awe and amazement and knew that God must be a part of it? Compare Heschel's path to God with the mystical approach of Luria (chapter 5). Is Heschel's approach to God a modern reformulation of mysticism?

3. Create an imaginary debate between Heschel and Kaplan regarding the nature of God (see pages 110-114 for Kaplan and pages 135-138 for Heschel). Assign one person or group the role of each thinker and have them debate the following questions: Does God live and act in this world? Can God know us? Does God feel emotions? What is hard to accept about Kaplan's or Heschel's view of God? What are the strengths of each position?

4. Heschel describes two fundamental aspects of prayer: we pray as a response to the awe we feel at being a part of God's world (page 138-139). As previously discussed, Kaplan writes that we pray for ourselves and to try to make ourselves into better people, but we do not expect a response from God (page 115-116). Which of these two views seems closer to your feelings about prayer? Why do you pray? In your conception of God, does God want to be praised, and will God respond to your prayer?

1. The God of the Bible and the Rabbis is the authority who demands that we live Jewish lives and fulfill the commandments of the Torah. Reines suggests that today we have individual freedom to choose what aspects of Judaism we accept and bring into our lives (pages 143-145). Which of the thinkers we studied up to now describe a God who would fit Reines' criteria? Does Judaism need authority figure like God or will Jews simply choose on their own to be Jewish? If God is not this authority, what could inspire us to live Jewish lives?

2. Reines claims that Judaism is not one religion stretching from the time of Abraham until now but rather a series of distinct faiths, each with its own way of looking at the world (pages 147-148). How similar is our Judaism today to the Judaism of the Bible or of the Rabbis? Should we consider ourselves a separate religion from the Jews of the Torah, as separate as Christians from Buddhists? Are our differences with past "Judaisms" more like comparing Reform and Orthodox Judaism today?

3. Review Reines's concept of God called Hylotheism (pages 150-151). Does Reines believe in a supernatural God who acts in the world or a limited God whom we must help fix the problems of our society? Compare Reines's concept of God with those of Steinberg (101-104) and Kaplan (110-114). In what ways does Reines go further than Steinberg or Kaplan in limiting God's ability to act in the world and communicate with humans? Do you agree with Reines that "God has no relationship to humanity and there is no infallible or verbal revelation"(page 150)? If God does not communicate with us in any way, how do we know what God wants of us?

1. In response to the evil of the Holocaust, Fackenheim believed that we should maintain Judaism and Jewish identity so as not to give Hitler a "posthumous victory" (page 154). Does this view of the Holocaust solve the problem of theodicy: how a good and all-powerful God can allow evil to exist in the world? In dealing with evil in the world, should we look more to theological explanations that define God's role in bad events or to coping strategies that will give us hope and comfort?

2. What do you think about Falk's view that we should change the traditional blessing formula baruch atah Adonai, since the male gender of these words imposes a patriarchal view of God (page 158). If our views of God no longer reflect the views of the Bible or the Rabbis, should we change our liturgy to accord with our beliefs? What do you think of Falk's alternative blessings, which begin "Let us bless the source of life," and the new names for God, such as "the source of life" (pages 158-159). When we revise our liturgy, should we change the English, the Hebrew, or both?

3. Gittelsohn writes that God created the laws of nature but chooses not to violate them, and thus miracles are not possible (page 161). Compare Gittelsohn's view with that of Kaplan (pages 114-115). Why do you think they both negate the possibility of miracles? Gittelsohn also suggests that God acts in the world by sustaining the processes of nature (pages 161-162). Do you think God is involved in keeping the world running smoothly, in the rotation of the earth around the sun, and in the regular changes of the seasons? Or did God simply create the world and then let it function on its own?

4. Beyond simply changing the liturgy as Falk suggested, Plaskow feels that we should make use of new images of God that reflect our modern view of the world. Plaskow suggests metaphors that describe God in a partnership with humans, like "lover," "friend," or "companion" and those that view God as a sustaining power in the universe, such as "source," "place," and "tree of life" (pages 163-165). Do you agree with Plaskow that many of the images we use for God, like "king" and "Lord," reflect ideals we no longer accept? Do her images seem more in touch with our modern sensibilities? What other images of God would you add to her list? Does the language we use to describe God influence our understanding of God?

Finding Your Place

In this final section, Sonsino and Syme offer two excellent suggestions that can help us summarize and apply what we have learned in Finding God. Either alone or with another person, write out your responses to the eight questions on page 170. After completing them, you will have begun your own theology! These are hard questions, and so expect to struggle with them, but any answer that you believe is not wrong. As you write out your personal Jewish theology, feel free to refer to the chart of all of the thinkers in the appendix if you wish to incorporate any of their ideas.

This brings us to the second suggestion offered by Sonsino and Syme. Read through the appendix carefully and see if one particular thinker or a few ideas of several different philosophers reflect your beliefs. As suggested, circle the beliefs you agree with, or make notes in the margins to alter a belief if necessary. Then you will know which thinkers you connect with most powerfully and whom you can study further. After beginning your own theology and examining the appendix of thinkers, you are ready to look at the final questions below.

1. Review the five conclusions about Jewish theology as described by the authors (pages 169-170). Do any of these conclusions surprise you? Can Jewish theology change and adapt to meet our modern needs and our new ideas about the world? What kind of role do we have in continuing the search for God?

2. After reading this book and seeing the diversity of approaches to understanding God, how have your views about God changed? Have you found an understanding of God that satisfies you even if it may differ drastically from the God of the Bible or the Rabbis? Do you feel included in Judaism in a spiritual sense? What will be your next step in your journey to find God?

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