Shabbat Talmud Study: God’s Body, Part II

Here is the problem we are trying to solve. Jews are blocked on God. Community? Check. Social justice? Check. L’dor v’dor transmitting values from generation to generation? Check. Israel? Check. Rich family traditions like Shabbat dinners and Pesach seders? Check. But God? Many of us will say, “I am not a God person.”

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer of Hadar has an interesting thesis. Maybe the problem is that for Jews connecting with God is too much of a head thing. You have to read a book to get to God. You have to be a philosopher to get to God. We are given a menu: Heschel, Kaplan, Soloveitchik, Buber, Levinas, which is great if you are a graduate student in Jewish philosophy.

How can we reach God through our emotions, through our heart, through feeling?

Last week we read Rabbi Kaunfer’s sources which show overwhelming evidence that, to quote one of his sources, “The God of the Hebrew Bible has a body.” We also encountered Talmudic sources where God has a body. Talmudic rabbis see, talk to and talk about God in the flesh.

Does corporeal God solve our God problem? For most of us, no. Corporeal God leaves us cold. It feels off. It feels weird. It feels not us. Reading Heschel or Soloveitchik may not be the answer for everyone. Taking God’s arms, legs, back, face, flaring nostrils literally also appears not to be the answer for many around the table.

Can we solve our God problem? Is there a non-intellectual, non-corporeal way to connect with God?

Yes.

Shabbat shalom,
Wes