The God Upgrade: Finding Your 21st-Century Spirituality in Judaism's 5,000-Year-Old Tradition
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.
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Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today and many other media outlets for her innovative work in Judaism. Founder and spiritual leader of the Adventure Rabbi Program, she is a popular retreat leader and speaker on the topics of Judaism and Jewish life. She is the author of God in the Wilderness: Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Great Outdoors.
Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, one of the most respected spiritual leaders and teachers of his generation, has been a rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California, for close to forty years. He is the founding chairman of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, an organization that identifies and offers grants to those non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews threatened by the agents of Nazi savagery. He is also the founder of Jewish World Watch, which aims to raise moral consciousness within the Jewish community. Synagogues and other religious institutions are now supporting this effort across the country.
Rabbi Schulweis is the author of many books, including: Conscience: The Duty to Obey and the Duty to Disobey (Jewish Lights), Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion, For Those Who Can't Believe, Finding Each Other in Judaism, In God's Mirror, and two books of original religious poetry and meditation--From Birth to Immortality and Passages in Poetry. His Evil and the Morality of God is regarded as a classic.
"Funny, honest and passionate ... a provocative, intriguing and always interesting exploration of Jewish theology that will grab you from the first page. God-wrestlers, this book is for you!"
--Dr. Ron Wolfson, copresident, Synagogue 3000; author, God's To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth
"Clear, accessible ... will serve as a safe entry point into serious conversations about Jewish theology and spirituality for a new generation."
--Rabbi Daniel Freelander, senior vice president, Union for Reform Judaism
"Courageous! Grapples with religion with such honesty, wisdom and humor."
--Harold Grinspoon, founder, Harold Grinspoon Foundation
"Offers a way into Judaism that doesn't require adherence to a stale and rigid theology. [A] powerful and compelling articulation of Judaism."
--Rabbi Sharon Brous, founder, IKAR
"Offers terrific examples of how creative and innovative Jewish educators can link millennia-old traditions with the natural world to inspire young Jews to chart their own course through our rich heritage."
--Lynn Schusterman, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
"Provides all of us--primarily parents and teachers--with a thoroughly accessible resource for introducing a younger generation into the riches of Jewish theology. Particularly unconventional and noteworthy is the author's use of nature as another revealed 'text, ' parallel to Torah and the synagogue, where God can be experienced."
--Rabbi Neil Gillman, PhD, emeritus professor of Jewish philosophy, The Jewish Theological Seminary; author, Doing Jewish Theology: God, Torah & Israel in Modern Judaism
