The God Upgrade

For people who don't believe that God can intervene in our lives, and why Judaism is still important.

"Judaism has so much to teach us about how we treat ourselves, each other, and our planet…. Of course, you can learn these values elsewhere. But as a people, Jews have thousands of years of experience turning this kind of stuff over and over. [We’ve] had millions of users working to debug the system. Rather than look to other sources for guidance, let us turn to our own people’s past to discover what it has to say about our present and our future."
—from the Introduction

For some people, the biggest stumbling block in religion is God—even for an ordained rabbi who admits her rational mind “can’t buy into a God in the sky who writes down our deeds and rewards and punishes us accordingly.” But not being sold on an intervening God shouldn’t bar you from living a vibrant and fulfilling Jewish life. The God concept has seen many upgrades over the centuries and it is these reinterpretations that have kept Judaism relevant.

In this provocative look at the ways in which God concepts have evolved and been upgraded through the centuries, Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold examines how our changing ideas of God have shaped every aspect of Judaism. With enthusiasm and humor, she shows that by aligning our understanding of God with modern sensibilities, Judaism can be made more meaningful, accessible and fully compatible with twenty-first-century life.

For people who don't believe that God can intervene in our lives, and why Judaism is still important.

"Judaism has so much to teach us about how we treat ourselves, each other, and our planet…. Of course, you can learn these values elsewhere. But as a people, Jews have thousands of years of experience turning this kind of stuff over and over. [We’ve] had millions of users working to debug the system. Rather than look to other sources for guidance, let us turn to our own people’s past to discover what it has to say about our present and our future."
—from the Introduction

For some people, the biggest stumbling block in religion is God—even for an ordained rabbi who admits her rational mind “can’t buy into a God in the sky who writes down our deeds and rewards and punishes us accordingly.” But not being sold on an intervening God shouldn’t bar you from living a vibrant and fulfilling Jewish life. The God concept has seen many upgrades over the centuries and it is these reinterpretations that have kept Judaism relevant.

In this provocative look at the ways in which God concepts have evolved and been upgraded through the centuries, Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold examines how our changing ideas of God have shaped every aspect of Judaism. With enthusiasm and humor, she shows that by aligning our understanding of God with modern sensibilities, Judaism can be made more meaningful, accessible and fully compatible with twenty-first-century life.

Foreword xiii
Introduction: Running God System 1.0 in a 2.0 World xv

Part I
THE ISSUES WITH GOD 1.0
Chapter 1
Looking for Lightning 3

Chapter 2
They Taught You That in Sunday School? 8

Chapter 3
God Envy 14

Part II
UPGRADES THROUGH THE CENTURIES
Chapter 4
God 1.0—When the World Was Flat, God Had It Easy 23

Chapter 5
God 1.1—Therapist with Superpowers 26

Chapter 6
God 1.2—On the Farm with God 31

Chapter 7
God 1.3—Discovery of the Afterlife 34

Chapter 8
God 1.4—Arguing with God 40

Chapter 9
God 1.5—Maimonides on What God Is Not 43

Chapter 10
God 1.6—Spinoza's Spin on God 50

Part III
TWENTIETH-CENTURY UPGRADES
Chapter 11
God 1.7—Rabbi Harold Kushner on When Bad Things Happen to Good People 61

Chapter 12
God 1.75—Rabbi Harold Schulweis Says God Is in the Grammar 66

Chapter 13
God 1.8—Rabbi Martin Buber’s I-Thou 68

Chapter 14
God 1.9—Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Praying with Our Feet 73

Part IV
GOD 2.0—GOD IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Chapter 15
God and the Big Bang 77

Chapter 16
Finding God on a Mesa 81

Chapter 17
According to What Authority? 89

Part V
JUDAISM 2.0—A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF GOD ENABLES A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF JUDAISM
Chapter 18
Why Do I Feel Attached to Judaism Even Though I Never Go to Synagogue? 95

Chapter 19
Who Wrote the Torah? 102

Chapter 20
Does God Hear Our Prayers? 108

Chapter 21
My Life Is Already Overbooked. Why Should I Make Time for Judaism? 115

Chapter 22
What Happens When We Die? 123

Chapter 23
Judaism 2.0—The Upgrade 126

Acknowledgments 131
Appendix: 36 Large and Small Ways to Make Judaism
Relevant and Meaningful in Your Life, Especially If You
Don’t Believe There Is a God Up in the Sky Who Can
Come Down Here and Fix Things! 133
Notes 139
Bibliography 141