The God Upgrade: Finding Your 21st-Century Spirituality in Judaism’s 5,000-Year-Old Tradition by Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold, Jewish
Lights, Woodstock, VT; ISBN 978-1-58023-443-6 ©2011, $15.99, p. 129 plus Appendix
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
- Fred Reiss, Ed.D
WINCHESTER, California — The Jews of seventeenth century Amsterdam repudiated Baruch Spinoza and his philosophy, which rejected much of traditional Judaism. His excommunication places him near the bottom of revered Jewish thinkers. Yet, the secular world believes his rationalist views to be of such importance, that
many scholars consider him to be the father of the Enlightenment, which began a century later. Rationalism alone cannot explain his rejection among traditionalJews. After all, Moses Maimonides, the most esteemed medieval Jewish philosopher combined the beliefs of Judaism with Aristotelian rationalism. Traditional Judaism rebuffs Spinoza’s philosophy because of its extreme naturalistic views about God and the world.
Naturalism asserts that natural laws and forces direct the structure and operation of the universe. As such, a strict naturalist does not believe in a supernatural being.
Can a Rabbi be a Naturalist? Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold answers with a loud, “Yes!” In her most recent book, The God Upgrade, Korngold, who is known as the Adventure Rabbi, explains how Judaism identifies God, in His version 1.0, as a fatherly figure who oversees the world. To her way of thinking, when people perceived that the world was flat, the belief in a personal God was relatively easy.
Korngold notes that Isaac Newton discovered gravity under an apple tree, and she discovered God while powder skiing in Utah. Subsequently,
through her work as the Adventure Rabbi, she has become so certain of her perspective that she asserts, “I have discovered that with careful guidance, even adamant atheists are able to experience God outdoors.”
That God controls nature for His own purposes is a powerful vision that the Psalmist often employs to show the weaknesses of the gods of other nations. For Korngold, God and nature are one and same. Moreover, nature acts according to laws that are fixed, unchanging, and more importantly unconcerned about its effects on life. God in version 2.0 is impersonal. One is either at the wrong place at the wrong time, or not. God neither intercedes nor grants requests.
When a loved one needs an operation, she makes no pleas, offers no promises, and says no prayers. Instead, Korngold hopes that the surgeon and anesthesiologist are well-prepared and well-rested.
Perhaps the closest similar depiction of God’s interaction with humanity is read in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes. In it for example, King Solomon, the traditionally ascribed author, writes, “I have further perceived that under the sun, that races are not won by the swift and battles by the strong, the wise do not get the bread, wealth does not go to the intelligent or favor those who know, rather time and chance happen to all of them” (Ecc. 9:11.)
Korngold teaches about God version 2.0 through the Adventure Rabbi program. Some of her activities include holding High Holiday
services in the mountains of Colorado and conducting Sabbath services after an exhilarating morning of skiing. For Korngold, prayer is for meditation, connection with other Jews, and to express awe and wonder at God’s world. Korngold does not reject God, just the image of Him painted by traditional Jewish authority. The God Upgrade provides a clear presentation of Naturalistic Judaism and offers an alternative way for
alienated and disaffected Jews to experience God.
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; AncientSecrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah. The
author can be reached at fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com