My parents and I went to synagogue today, which I personally enjoy. Despite my atheism (sort of) I still get a lot out of services. I like the community of people who all feel connected to each other, and it provides a time for relaxing and reflection. During the sermon, the rabbi was talking about Moses trying to imagine what Israel would be like without him in it, and how we all need to be our own Moses. I liked the sentiment, but I wished she had gone one step further, to say that we need to find our own Israel. I think that the idea of a people in Exodus looking for return to Israel in a physical sense is improbable. If the solution really was in return to the physical Israel, then more people would have gone back. I personally think that the most meaningful, and to me most real, Israel is the state of mind. It's kind of similar to Nirvana, but more permanent. It is attained by discovering how you fit Judaism into your life and how you connect with other Jews to form an intellectual community.
Many people ask me how I can identify as atheist/agnostic and Jewish, thinking they've gotten me pinned. In reality, to me it fits perfectly. I believe that there was something outside of nature that began the Big Bang, but since it was outside of nature, it is beyond anything we can comprehend, so there is no point in discussing God as if we know what it wants. As for the prayers, I don't think of it as asking some omnipotent man in the sky for protection, but pledging myself to be a part of this community, promising to take the good with the bad, in return for the community thinking of me and my loved ones. It's as much a personal pledge also. Since God is my question mark, it serves the purpose that the conventional God is supposed to: it pushes me to think deeper, to try and imagine how I fit, how I relate to others, and how others fit into my world.
From a contemplative gimp
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