The God Upgrade: Finding Your 21st-Century Spirituality in Judaism's 5,000-Year-Old Tradition [Paperback]

Jamie S. Korngold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2011

The biggest stumbling block when it comes to religion is God, even for an ordained rabbi who admits her rational mind "just 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 many faces of God, Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold examines how our concept of God has changed over the centuries, and how these changes have shaped every aspect of Judaism. She shows that by upgrading our God concept to one that is aligned with our modern sensibilities, the result is a Judaism that is both meaningful and accessible.

In an exploration energized with enthusiasm and humor, Rabbi Korngold looks at God concepts ranging from the earliest perspectives to some of the most influential modern theologies. Ultimately she introduces a concept of God that speaks to the issues of the twenty-first century.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Introduction: Running God System 1.0 in a 2.0 World
• Part I: THE ISSUES WITH GOD 1.0
  • Chapter 1: Looking for Lightning
  • Chapter 2: They Taught You That in Sunday School?
  • Chapter 3: God Envy
• Part II: UPGRADES THROUGH THE CENTURIES
  • Chapter 4: God 1.0--When the World Was Flat, God Had It Easy
  • Chapter 5: God 1.1--Therapist with Superpowers
  • Chapter 6: God 1.2--On the Farm with God
  • Chapter 7: God 1.3--Discovery of the Afterlife
  • Chapter 8: God 1.4--Arguing with God
  • Chapter 9: God 1.5--Maimonides on What God Is Not
  • Chapter 10: God 1.6--Spinoza's Spin on God
  • Chapter 11: God 1.7--Rabbi Harold Kushner on When Bad Things Happen
    to Good People
  • Chapter 12: God 1.75--Rabbi Harold Schulweis Says God Is in the
    Grammar
  • Chapter 13: God 1.8--Rabbi Martin Buber's I-Thou
  • Chapter 14: God 1.9--Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Praying with
    Our Feet
• Part IV: GOD 2.0--GOD IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
  • Chapter 15: God and the Big Bang
  • Chapter 16: Finding God on a Mesa
  • Chapter 17: According to What Authority?
• 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?
  • Chapter 19: Who Wrote the Torah?
  • Chapter 20: Does God Hear Our Prayers?
  • Chapter 21: My Life Is Already Overbooked. Why Should I Make Time for
    Judaism?
  • Chapter 22: What Happens When We Die?
  • Chapter 23: Judaism 2.0--The Upgrade
• Acknowledgments
• 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!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Korngold, a Reform rabbi who as "Adventure Rabbi" leads outdoor hikes and retreats designed to recreate the spiritual connection between nature and Judaism, takes her 2008 book God in the Wilderness a step further.

She presents brief updates of the concept of God as advanced by Maimonides, Spinoza, Buber, Heschel, and Kushner before offering her own understanding of God.

She asserts that "upgrades" are in keeping with Jewish tradition and rejects the conception of a God that keeps score of human deeds and hands out punishments or rewards accordingly.

Instead, she argues for modernizing the contemporary notion of God so that it becomes compatible with both science and Judaism.

This involves maintaining ancient rituals as "gems" that tie today's Jews to ancestors and to each other.

Traditions and heritage linked to contemporary understanding will produce a fresh view of God that can "inspire you, bring you comfort, and fill your life with peace."

While Korngold primarily addresses Jews, her powerful message can resonate with people of all faiths as they struggle to reconcile science and religion.

Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review, April 2011

Review

"Produces a fresh view of God.... [A] powerful message [that] can resonate with people of all faiths as they struggle to reconcile science and religion." --Publishers Weekly

"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, co-president, Synagogue 3000; author, God's To-Do List

"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

"I loved this book.... Accessible, friendly, warmhearted, provocative and, above all, inviting ... shows how a tradition that began 5,000 years ago can draw us closer to the God who lives today." --Rev. James Martin, SJ, author, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

"A gift to those struggling with a way to live a postmodern Jewish life. Rabbi Korngold s love for Judaism is an inspiration for Jews like me with a more traditional Jewish theology, and a gift to anyone of any faith or no faith searching for meaning. Rabbi Korngold shows how you don t have to leave your critical faculties at the door of your place of worship to find your way into an authentic devotional life." --Yossi Klein Halevi, fellow, The Shalom Hartman Institute; author, At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden

"A funny, easy-to-read page-turner. Judaism has a better chance of being relevant to our daily lives with such wise teachings." --Diane Troderman, educator and philanthropist

"A powerful critique of classical theology and a gutsy call for a rethinking of Judaism.... A rare voice of hope, clarity and brutal honesty in an age of religious disillusionment, Korngold has produced one of the most stunning expressions of love, awe and spiritual longing in Jewish writing today." --David Hazony, author, The Ten Commandments

"Offers Judaism's rich banquet of theologies. No matter what your religion, the rabbi s invitation is the same: pull up a chair and dig in!"
--Mary Doria Russell, author, The Sparrow and A Thread of Grace

"If there were more rabbis and ministers like Jamie Korngold, religious affiliation in America would not be dropping as rapidly as it is." --Elliot Gerson, The Aspen Institute

"What do we uncomfortable souls... who have sometimes felt ourselves to be on the periphery of Jewish life, have in common with the great Jewish wrestlers who came before us? They were, as we are, looking for a way in, as individuals and as members of a community. This is precisely what Korngold understands best, in the most unabashed way." --Scott-Martin Kosofsky, author, Jl

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 130 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (March 21, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580234437
• ISBN-13: 978-1580234436
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rabbi Korngold is an ordained Reform rabbi and the founder and executive director of the Adventure Rabbi Program, based in Boulder, Colorado. She is nationally recognized for her innovative work combining religion and nature, as well as for her cutting-edge use of technology.

A favorite of the media, she has been featured by Good Morning America, National Geographic, NPR, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Ski as well as many other outlets.

Rabbi Korngold is an athlete and a scholar. She completed the Leadville Trail 100, a hundred-mile running race, in less than thirty hours and was ranked fourth in the nation for telemark mogul skiing. She is a graduate of Cornell University's natural resources program and received her masters and ordination from Hebrew Union College.

Rabbi Korngold is best known for her ability to make Judaism relevant, meaningful, and accessible and therefore opening the doors back to Judaism for thousands of disenfranchised Jews. Through her nature-based approach to religion, she is able to bridge the gap between scientific thought and religion, healing a fissure that often disrupts spiritual paths.

She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, Jeff, and daughters, Sadie and Ori.

Find her at:
Adventure Rabbi: http://www.AdventureRabbi.org/
Facebook: http://www.AdventureRabbi.org/facebook/
Blog: http://blog.AdventureRabbi.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/adventurerabbi

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Does God exist? May 5, 2011

By Israel Drazin TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Rabbi Korngold may be a pantheist. She writes that she believes what she understands Spinoza did that God is found in nature. She runs religious adventure outings and takes people to camps and woods to experience God. She admits that she receives hate mail from fellow Jews who strongly dislike her approach to Judaism. But she feels that she is right and, more importantly, she feels that everyone should find their own way to understand God.

She quotes Albert Einstein frequently because she agrees with him. He said: "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns Himself with fates and actions of human beings."

She notes a recent Harris poll that "only 9 percent of American Jews claimed to believe in a God who makes things happen in the world" even though the opposite is taught in Jewish schools and sermonized by pulpit rabbis. She quotes Albert Einstein: "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

Korngold feels that while the Hebrew Bible made an undoubted significant contribution to civilization, moving ancient people to a higher level of humanity and inspiring further development, it "fits into our modern (computer) world about as well as a manual typewriter from the 1960s does." She doesn't "advocate throwing out meaningful history and tradition. Rather, let us build on the thousands of years of wisdom we have inherited." She emphasizes that we need to recognize "that when we talk about God in the prayer book that it's a metaphor," not meant to be taken literally. A person doesn't need to "buy into the idea that God split the Red Sea or spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai" to be a good Jew....

She rejects the idea of a personal God who is involved in human affairs, who listens and responds to prayers, who tests people, rewards them for good deeds and punishes them for bad ones. She cites a poll that found that "Twenty-one percent of Americans (but few Jews) still cling to this belief" that in "the afterlife, I will be rewarded for my misery here." "If people are good because they fear punishment, and hope for reward," Albert Einstein wrote, "then we are a sorry lot indeed."

Prayer is a period of reflection, of judging oneself, of making an assessment. The Hebrew word for praying l'hitpaleil, means "to judge oneself." Prayer reminds us of our history, family, our potential, and to care for others. People have a responsibility to think and act, take control of their lives, and not sit back and rely on divine help. Galileo wrote: "I do not feel obliged to believe that God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." She writes: "I do not pray to God when I pray.... I experience God through my prayers."

She offers the views of some famous Jewish thinkers. Maimonides (1138-1204) taught that we cannot know God but that we can learn about God by studying the universe. Thus people should study science. He and many others were convinced that the Torah as everything else must make sense. "Thus, when he encountered an irrational teaching in the Torah, he felt compelled to reinterpret it so that it made rational sense." A serpent did not entice Eve in the garden, and Jonah was not swallowed by a whale. These are parables. The donkey did not speak to Balaam, or Jacob wrestle with an angel. These were dreams.

She does not believe that "the Torah was revealed by God to Moses on Sinai." She writes that "some students of his (Maimonides) works believe that this was only his belief as written for the public. In private, they argue Maimonides doubted the possibility of revelation at Sinai because it didn't make rational sense." She could have added that this view is consistent with Maimonides' contention that prophecy is not a revelation or a communication from God; it is the human ideas of a very intelligent person.

She understood Spinoza (1632-1677), as we mentioned earlier, as believing that God is found in nature. But just as Spinoza is unclear, so is she. Does this rabbi mean that there is actually no God, but if we want to think of God, it is nature? Or are she and Spinoza saying what Maimonides said before them. We cannot know God, but the best way to understand Him is through His creations. Scholars debate what Spinoza meant. It seems that she understands Spinoza in the first way: "he thought God was nature and nature was God, all one and the same."

She mentions the views of some modern thinkers. Rabbi Harold Kushner, for example, believes that God has nothing to do with the bad things that happen to good people. Although she does not say so, Kushner took his idea from Maimonides who said the same thing and elaborated: what people consider bad comes from what they do to themselves, such as overeating; what others do to them, as when someone hits another person; or is a natural event, such as a hurricane, which cleans the air but kills people. She understands Kushner to believe that while God is not involved in the hurtful event, "God helps us respond to and cope with the disaster." This seems like a contradiction to her Spinoza view that God is nature; if so, how could inanimate nature help? Maimonides does not think that God helps; people need to do help themselves.

In short, she seems to take a pantheistic view of God: "As Spinoza taught us, the whole Earth (the capital E is hers) truly is filled with God's glory, and holiness abounds." "We meet God in places and moments of awe." "For me," she writes, "the first step toward making traditional prayer meaningful was to move the service into the wilderness." Readers can decide it they want to accept her ideas in total or in part or not at all. They are thought-provoking. Read more ›

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Can Judaism and Pantheism coexist? May 21, 2011

By Coach K

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Rabbi Korngold's message is a powerful, though not original idea. Jewish mystics and philosophers have long spoken of a very different God from the one traditionally understood in the Bible, a God that doesn't exist, but is "existence itself". Rabbi Korngold takes this message and packages it in a way that is very accessible to the layperson, and with a focus on finding spirituality in the outdoors.

In the book, Rabbi Korngold takes the reader through the many incarnations of the God concept over time, from the ancient "therapist with superpowers" to the more modern understandings of Spinoza and Buber. In the end, her argument boils down to her belief that the arguments for pantheism are more compelling than that of monotheism. Moreover, pantheism can co-exist with Judaism, she argues.

What sets this book apart from similar efforts (works by Arthur Green, David Cooper, Lawrence Kushner and more recently, Everything is God, by Jay Michaelson and even the similarly outdoors themed A Wild Faith by Mike Comins) is that it is not written as a scholarly tome -- this book is meant for public consumption. It is full of very personal stories and comes more from the heart than from the head.

For that reason, I recommend this book for the right audience. People already familiar with similar efforts and/or those seeking something scholarly will likely not find much that is original here. But for a person looking for an accessible, humorous, light read to get them thinking more about what kind of G-d they believe in, this is a great start.

One pet peeve throughout the book is the author's endless self promotion. For example, "And I, who would later become the Adventure Rabbi and found the nationally renowned Adventure Rabbi Program...".... The extent to which this book served as an ego trip detracted from the importance of the message. It was more than a minor irritant.

So in the end, does it work? Can Judaism and pantheism or panentheism work together? I remain unconvinced after reading this, and other books. But religion has found means of adapting over time in remarkable ways. Our continuing spiritual evolution will ensure that efforts to bridge the two will go on. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT BOOK June 18, 2011

By Mary H. Franklin

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm still reading it, so cannot fully comment. So far, though, it is enthralling history and profound philosophy. Gives me the words to say when talking with my son and his wife, who have rejected the God of my childhood, and have not yet found a God that makes sense to them. They "don't believe in God."

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars You won't find it here July 14, 2011

By MZ

Format:Paperback

I'm grateful that Rabbi Korngold decided to address one of the most important topics facing Judaism, and perhaps American spirituality, today. However, I am disappointed by the shallow treatment in this book. I understand this book was intended as a gateway for the general public to enter the debate over modern religion, but I just don't think that it takes the reader very far into the deep thinking required to explore it. This light collection of surface-scratching anecdotes and historical vignettes could have, and should have, been posted for free on her website as an introduction to the issue. Or, it could have been shortened and used as a preface to a more serious exploration of modern Jewish spirituality. As it is, the contents of this book do not live up to the title.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Spinoza May 18, 2011

By A. Schultz

Format:Paperback

My favorite part of the book is when she talks about her likeness to Spinoza as referenced by her peers, and how she wasn't catching the reference. it speaks loudly to her the pureness of her strong pull to god-in-nature and is a testament to how treasured these experiences are - before rote learning - and how readily available this encounter is to each of us if we're paying attention and willing to shift our gaze down from the heavens. her notes on how she feels passages from the Jewish tradition so much clearly in the great outdoors is part of the natural crux in the experience of a tradition, perhaps in the roots of a tradition - or the seed. for ad DH Lawrence noted in one of my favorite quotes: "In the oldest religion, everything was alive, not supernaturally but naturally alive...For the whole life-effort of man was to get his life into contact with the elemental life in the cosmos, mountain-life, cloud-life, thunder-life, air-life, earth-life, sun-life. To come into immediate felt contact, and so derive energy, power and a dark sort of joy. This effort into sheer naked contact, without an intermediary or mediator is the root meaning of religion."

I have friends who "go to church" every day by running or biking in the morning, or they keep holy the sacred Sunday hike. I hold my daily hike with more sanctity than I ever held going to Mass. These experiences are not any less connected to god than what happens when the community gathers at the temple on the weekends. She give us permission to feel the profundity of this experience for what we innately feel it be - as an encounter with god - and to trust that knowing first and foremost....

Ultimately, she speaks of an important shift in worldview which is crucial for life on this planet here and now, so that we begin to see and feel god everywhere and know that *that* presence is what we need to engage with as we trust our experience as human beings from this new way of seeing and visualizing god. This calls for a big shift in perspective which is more important now than ever before as the power of our worldviews shape our present and our future. This new way of seeing calls for a new way of being in the world. Rabbi Korngold's book belongs to the canon of Deep Ecological texts, as well as a shining place within her own tradition.

This is a delightful read. I recommend it to anyone, in any practice, who has ever felt that 'something more' in the woods, on the trails and blowin in the wind. Read more ›