Q&A: The Will of God
The Will of God
Question
With God’s help
Hello Rabbi, for a long time now I haven’t really been moved by Judaism and God, and that is because God by definition is something perfect, and He has no anger or love in our sense, and everything written in the Torah is a metaphor meant to guide us in how to live properly. That is what is written in some books by later authorities (Acharonim), and in my humble opinion it is also necessary and obvious. If so, then God does not really listen to or accept my prayers, and He also does not have mercy on me. It is all just metaphor, because we are incapable of understanding God. So it is very hard for me to connect to Judaism, because all of it is built on this, and without it Judaism is just actions without feeling or flavor, a burden worth carrying only for reasons of cost-benefit. And today I’m actually suffering from Judaism, because I cannot understand why it is good for God that I keep the Sabbath or pray. It even causes me a certain revulsion to see people getting emotional in prayer; it feels silly to me, certainly not practical, because we cannot understand anything in Judaism.
From the standpoint of faith, this causes me a huge decline in belief, because Judaism turns into something very impractical—just theories that God cares and that it does something for Him when I pray, some mystical idea that we do not understand at all.
Another point is that it seems the Sages did not notice this at all, and they relate to God as something with desires and anger and so on. The concept that God is perfect and beyond our grasp seems to be a later concept, maybe among the medieval authorities (Rishonim).
I would be happy if the Rabbi would answer me. Happy holiday.
Answer
Hello,
Your assumption that God is perfect may be correct, but His perfection does not mean that He does not need us. See my columns 170 and 360 on this.
But even if He does not need it, perhaps we need it. So I do not understand how you jump to the conclusion that there is no point in doing it. The fact that we do not understand does not mean that we do not need it. The Holy One, blessed be He, says that we do.
When His emotions are described, that is indeed an allegorical description, a metaphor. But why does that mean He does not care? That is exactly what it is coming to say: that He does care. It is just that for Him, caring is not an emotional state like it is for human beings. So in order to describe it, language is used that will be understandable to human beings. So what?
In general, if you have reached the conclusion that the Torah was given, that means that the Holy One, blessed be He, does indeed want us to do these things (whether it helps Him or helps us), and the questions about why He needs it are irrelevant. If you have not reached that conclusion, then there is no point in observing it even if in theory you understand why it is good for Him.
Happy holiday.
Discussion on Answer
Prayer really is less moving. So what? Keep it as short as you can, and that’s it. In my view, it is not such a central thing in the service of God.
I do not know why you would expect interactions with God like the ones we have with human beings. He is not a human being, so of course the descriptions are metaphors.
In general, it seems to me that you attribute far too much importance to emotion, certainly in relation to God. The relationship with Him is not supposed to be emotional.
I never claimed that faith is above difficulties and arguments. I constantly argue exactly the opposite.
I don’t know what you expect from me. Psychology and emotion are not my area (and I also do not see much importance in them).
Thank you very much.
I didn’t mean that there is no point in doing it, but that it isn’t moving and feels lifeless, because there is no simple meaning to praying—God does not really listen, at least not in our sense; He also does not really love in our sense. This part is purely a problem on the emotional level.
As for your point that if I reached the conclusion that God gave the Torah, then no question is supposed to change anything—I don’t think so, because it is not 100 percent but rather a probability that every person should take into account. That is how I see it, and once it becomes strange and illogical, that lowers the probability. (Actually, I know that the Rabbi’s view on the issue of faith is that no question raises or lowers it—even regarding Christianity, no contradiction in the New Testament raises or lowers anything. I just wanted to know whether there is another answer regarding this question.)
I would be happy if the Rabbi could help me, thank you.