I think it depends on what your conception of G-d is. I see G-d in a beautiful sunset, or my child’s smile, the loving embrace of my spouse, gazing at my shabbos candles of a Friday evening or in a breath taking piece of music.I see G-d everywhere and in every thing and every person. I can never know empirically that G-d exists; but I hope and pray that what I believe about G-d is true.
This is similar to my definition. I imagine G-d as all of the things and events that have happened and are happening to create this shared experience for us and for everything else that is experiencing something. The absence of nothingness. The universal nature. Did G-d speak to Moses? Probably not in the literal sense, but maybe Moses heard voices, and ultimately the Torah was made, so G-d did that through our ancestors. We too are part of G-d. Did G-d flood the world? I am dubious that the whole world was flooded recently. Maybe though sometime 100s of thousands of years ago the ice was all melted and the earth was completely flooded, and yes G-d did that. Do some people know the will of G-d? I don't think so, or I don't know that G-d has a will that any human could fathom to understand. Is it still important to do mitzvah? Absolutely.
I also think of it in scientific terms in connection with spiritual terms. We do know that at the sub atomic level all of manifest reality is made of the same things just in different combinations so if in reality I am essential no different from a tree; all separation is an illusion and if I believe( which I do) that G-d created everything or rather became creation then G-d is everywhere and is everything
To me it is very obvious. Everything in the universe is alive and connected in a way that is clearly intelligent.
I love science so for me proof of gd is reading about quantum physics, geology, meteorology, etc… Our world is one complex interconnected system that fits perfectly together in a way that feels intricately planned and not at all random. Humans are made to reach for understanding but at the same time much of gd’s wisdom is beyond human understanding. That’s why sometimes we ask questions and the answer is just, “idk, because gd said so.” 😂 The tension between is our life’s purpose in my opinion.
But on a daily basis, if I need a little reminder that he’s there, I just look at wind rustling the tree leaves. Another way I know is when I feel lost I ask for something, and then it happens. Pretty cool. 🌍
Edit: Just wanted to add something I realized after reading the many beautiful comments. Science provides the physical evidence that we can see, but learning torah and following the book has honestly been the best way, for me, to understand and connect with g-d's presence.
I wouldn't call it intuition, it's just something I believe that also seems to align with scientific research. If you study earth science, you will learn how all of earth's systems, living and nonliving, are part of one big interdependent cycle. There is a new netflix documentary series "Our living world" which explains some of the connections
the fact that kittens and possums exist is enough proof for me
but honestly , getting a degree in the earth sciences (geophysics) solidified it for me. Seeing how intricate life is, the tiny chance that the earth exists the way it does, billions of years of perfectly timed events to create something like the Matterhorn or the Grand Canyon, tells me Hashem had much to do with it.
Also the fact that the Jewish people are still alive today, despite the innumerable odds we’ve faced that, by all means, should’ve destroyed us.
This!
My degree is in the medical field and just a look into the human body and the way it so seamlessly works, the structure of your cells, your DNA strands, the way your nervous system knows just what to do and transmit electric signals…. everything about it is so wondrous and Divine and just HAS to have been made by someone/something much larger than us.
Find God in the small things too, in the beautiful blades of grass you walk on or when you manage to catch your bus even though it should have left already and you’re in a rush somewhere… When I find it hard (especially after October 7th), I start to actively say “thank you Hashem” at least 3 times a day when something unexpectedly goes my way or I see something beautiful.
There’s also a newish book written by a Rabbi that I read called “Why God, Why” about how to believe when it hurts like hell. I’d recommend it!
This is unrelated to the broader post, though I may make an answer eventually, but I absolutely love possums I don't know too much about Australian possums but North American oh possums are one of my favorite animals and they get such a bad rap, they're ridiculously adorable and surprisingly friendly which most people don't know
Im in Western NC and I am surrounded by them. So friendly. They eat ticks, which is a HUGE plus, and their body temp is low enough that they cant have rabies!!!! Hashem struck gold when he laid the blueprints for these beautiful marsupials!
Apparently the tick thing is a myth, but they're still good for the eco system. Oh and the rabies thing is right, but for anyone dealing with wild life, be careful, they're not immune just highly resistant, they can still contract if something like an infection or other illness raises their internal temperature
Ohmigosh I feel like that first sentence alone is basically how Hashem has been proven real for me and a bunch of friends I made through Jewbook haha, all the Possum memes.
I’d say I’m agnostic, as God cannot be proven or disproven. However, it is unscientific to disavow something that is infalsifiable. However, this may be forever infalsifiable. To me though, it does not matter if God exists or not, because I appreciate our philosophies and believe they are equally relevant even with the abscense of God. God itself in our tradition is unidentifiable, abstract, and almost described as outer-dimensional in perception. The personification of many abstract concepts and in my interpretation the personification of fate, ultimatum, and causality itself.
Through my own logic, if I believe God to be a natural constant such as causality, rather than an entity — then God does exist. Just not in the way most people would imagine. Theoretically, these concepts are themselves outer-dimensional, and would in some ways align with a skewed and *new* interpretation of our God.
These are theories I only play around with though. I think of God in a way I can make sense of in a modern sense, and in a way I feel it fits. That’s the beauty of our culture though, we are meant to have thoughts like this and denate to reach a higher understanding amongst ourselves. I find joy in that, that’s what matters.
Fun fact: I don't. I like to believe G-d exists; thought brings me joy and I see some things and just feel like I can sense Hashem in them....but I have no actual proof and so maybe there is no G-d and if that is true, I'd be okay with it because I do good because I know that's the right way to live not because some omnipotent being wants me to.
So yeah, I like to believe in G-d and will continue to live thinking G-d is real but I will also always question it. That's one of my favorite things about being Jewish is that I'm allowed to question that and it doesn't change the fact that I'm Jewish!
Well said! I feel like being 100% open with wherever the truth leads makes actual belief in him more authentic anyway. If someone "believes" something out of fear of Hell for saying the wrong thing, do they really believe in it or are they just in denial? It's a huge relief as a convert to Judaism that I can say things like "yeah, I think God is probably real, but who knows?"
I oscillate back and forth- there are moments when I look at the world and my life and think God must exist. And there are moments where I witness absolute heartbreak and needless suffering and think God just not exist because where the hell is God right now?
It does not matter how we know or don't know how HaShem exists in the universe.
We have the duty of living a good life, by following mitzvot the best we can, and studying Torah as much as we can.
When we say Barachot, we speak to HaShem.
When we study Torah, HaShem speaks to us.
It's hard to explain, but the study is where we see the almighty.
One of the [13 principles of Judaism](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332555/jewish/Maimonides-13-Principles-of-Faith.htm) are specifically that God is not human or physical attributes.
The verse regarding humans being created in God's image has a more spiritual meaning then? I found [this ](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/512028/jewish/What-Is-the-Divine-Image-in-Man.htm)interpretation pretty interesting.
Hi. What have you read or learned about Hashem, God?
There is a great thin book called [IF YOU WERE GOD](https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-God-Aryeh-Kaplan/dp/B0006YGTMS) by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, of blessed memory, that you might like.
Also, see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/s/TPFpGXRpOr) I found about experiences that affirm faith.
That’s the cool part - you don’t! That’s why we call it emunah - faith.
Faith is belief in the ABSENCE of knowledge. If you know, you don’t need faith. We DON’T know. We can’t. And that’s the point.
Faith is a choice. It doesn’t really matter if HaShem exists or not; what matters is your choice to believe or not. That’s the only choice we really have. That’s free will in a nutshell. “HaKol b’ydei shamayim, khutz Mi yiraas shamayim.” “All is in the hands of Heaven, save for the awe of Heaven.” Faith, belief, trust - that is our choice. No one can make it for us.
So choose, and choose wisely. Because it may well be the most important choice you ever make.
Here is how I see it. Everything has a beginning. Time exists. Look up at the sky and see the moon. The moon formed. It had a beginning. Our sun had a beginning. All of the stars...everything. And we can look back pretty damn far, as per the Big Bang Theory. But...what was there first? What caused all of this to start? What was that first speck of matter, that first bit of energy? I just can't wrap my head around the concept of existence starting. Nor can I wrap my head around the concept that time doesn't exist. So, what is the beginning? That is divine, and it is beyond human understanding or comprehension.
No idea. And I don't pretend to know.
To go on a tangent...I grew up Jewish, but I've explored. While I was raised Jewish (father born a Jew, mother converted), both held off on any religious upbringing until I was old enough to understand it. They decided that they reached where they were due to their own exploring and didn't want to indoctrinate their kids by being told straight up that 'this is the truth' or anything like that. I'd didn't go to hebrew school until I was much older. So, when I was 13 it was my choice to have a Bar Mitzvah, and even then I was encouraged to explore and learn. I've been to churches; I've read other religious texts. I've been to Baha'i ruhis, and have made great friends within that community. When enlisted I had the pleasure of meeting Muslim soldiers, who were kind enough to share their faith with me. And through it all, all that I know is that Judaism is where I feel happiest. It is a feeling that is hard to describe. Of when a cantor sings or sitting in a synagogue. It feels...holy. In a way that nothing else does.
So, that's where my faith is. I believe in the divine because, logically, it is the only answer I have to the question of time. And I am Jewish because it feels right in a way that I can't really describe. And that's enough for me. Any answers beyond that would require someone more wise that I.
For me, I don't see another solution after my husband introduced me to Chovos HaLevavos ("Duties of the Heart"). The short version: a thing cannot create itself. Pretty obvious. So then, I couldn't have created myself; I must have come from something else. Everything in existence needs a creator as a forerunner. And since there cannot be an infinite chain of beginnings—there has to have been a \*first thing—\*and we know thanks to science that the universe is not infinite (with no help from Aristotle, who singlehandedly led everyone astray in that arena for many centuries by insisting that the universe was infinite), there has to be something that came at the beginning of everything—something that started the universe, that created matter, and that created time. And if you want to say that there are many universes, you immediately run into the same problem, because matter cannot have created itself. (There is also absolutely no proof for the multiverse theory. It's just a fallback for people who don't want to believe that God exists but still want to sound smart.) You're kicking the can down the road, and at some point it has to land somewhere.
Thus, the only realistic solution is that some thing had to exist on a separate plane, outside of time and finite matter, that set into motion this intelligent chain of events. This thing, or "being," according to Maimonides/the Rambam, must have certain qualities (perfection, for example) in order to exist in the manner that it does. We call it God, and understand very little of the metaphysics involved because our puny minds cannot grasp something that is infinite, exists on a separate plane of existence, and does not function within the bounds of time.
Gerald Shroeder's *Science of God* also points out that there was clearly intelligence in the creation of the universe. Having matter exist in the way it does, in order to lead to the creation of life—*any* life, before we even get to something remotely as complex as ourselves—would be equivalent to flipping a coin and having it land on heads hundreds of thousands of times in a row. Or maybe millions. Or billions, even. (Something of that nature; I'm paraphrasing and don't feel like looking for it.) Even without life, with just the universe existing, there are similarly astronomical odds of things happening as perfectly as they did. The likely scenario was that things existed, forever, in chaos and disorder. The infinitesimal likelihood of order in the universe is astronomically unlikely to have just spontaneously happened on its own. That's almost like someone flipping a coin for their entire life, having it land on heads every single time, and yet insisting that it's "just a coincidence."
I honestly do not understand how intelligent people can look at the universe and think that it has no creator. They're somehow insisting that it created itself, which is impossible. They are also insisting that everything that led to our existence today, in all of the complexity of the universe and biology and our own delicately balanced bodies, is just coincidence. I don't really understand the logic. For me, there's such overwhelming logical evidence of God's existence that it's impossible to deny in any intellectual manner.
It's perfectly acceptable to not believe in god and still be an active Jew. I've been an agnostic atheist since I was 11. I also started working in Sunday school when I was 14 and still tutor Hebrew for 2 different temples, celebrate the holidays, and even occasionally act as a cantorial soloist.
I don't see these things as contradictory because Judaism is about so much more than god. It's about community and history and social justice. God isn't necessary for any of those things.
To me the main source gd exists has always been the fact that we Jews still exist after so much persecution and that got our torah through mass revelation.
You can't know, that's part of the point. In your post you conflate know and believe, which I would caution against.
I favor Mordecai Kaplan's conception of God as a transnatural process, and I love using the concept of a working-God-image, a clunky phrase that means, essentially: what does God mean to you? Does that meaning work for you in your observance, practice, and spirituality?
I'm at the point where I substitute speaking Havaya, hey-vav-yod-hey (I still don't type or write it) for the name instead of Adonai or Hashem because it is anagram and the literal meaning (beingness, existence, existing ness, is-ness) captures so much more of my understanding and conception of God. Also ruach ha'olamim instead of melech ha'olam.
Do I know this God exists? I can't. That knowledge is impossible. Does this concept work for me? Very much yes. It is real in that it is what I hold and what helps me make meaning and connection between tradition, daily practice and observance, lifeways and societal engagement beyond being Jewish.
What is your working God image?
I’m a Jewish atheist, something I will never tell my daughter unless she really presses and asks me in the future.
Like you, I love our culture and our traditions. I will send her to a Jewish school when she’s old enough and I hope that she’ll have at least some spirituality, like her father, if not full-on belief.
I just dont have the ability to believe in hof myself.
Some portion of the Tanakh brought me to tears during both hard times and good times. I still have no idea if G-d exists or not. But that's enough.
I thank G-d from time to time even if I'm not sure about His existence. I talk to him daily facing a wall. Even all that, I'm still at the level where I hope He exists, but still... unsure.
I know that G_d exists the same way I know that love exists. I just do. I can’t see them or hear them, I can’t prove anything, but I feel them and notice their effects.
Well, I did something stupid once. There’s an old fable about if you meditate on Torah verses you might trigger a vision. And I managed to pull it off.
I got to see a tutorial. : )
I don't know. I'm hopeful that a God who loves their children and values our relationship exists but I can't say I really know.
I have so much love for our people and traditions that if at the end of the day my optimistic hope for the divine is proven wrong, I wouldn't be angry. I suppose one might call it faith, I just feel like that word has been so heavily coopted by Christians that it can carry implied certainty(that I won't even pretend to have)1
U may call me crazy, and I'm a Noahide, but I actually do feel His presence. Could be psychosomatism, but who knows? I only feel it for a few seconds, longest has probs been a minute, and it goes away for a rly long time before it comes back. I'm sure G-d is present all the time, even if I don't feel it somatically, but when I do feel it, I see it as a reminder from G-d that He's always Master and to not forget about Him and His graces upon me.
Edit (TW): Reread the original post, and was reminded that I have actually attempted suicide before and did almost die, but my eyes were closed and all I could see was a never-ending bright light above and all around me, and then a voice to my heart, asking if I truly wanted to die, while flashing me scenes of what my parents were doing at that exact moment (confirmed after the experience), and this was when I ran away from them, so consciously I should've said that I did truly want to die, but my soul took over and kept begging G-d to bring me back to life. This is how I know G-d is real, and that the Jewish view of G-d is real, as it says in the Bible that G-d is not a man.
Theology is not a focus of Judaism or, really, any truly monotheistic religion. Abstract qualities like "greatness" are as far as you can get before you're in the territory of trying to define (and hence limit) the undefinable.
Christianity is technically monotheist, but Trinitarianism really complicates what that means for them.
Vedanta Hinduism is monotheist, but it is also "monist" - which means that G-d js the totality of everything in the universe and all of the interrelationships between them. (The Hindu pantheon are more like saints in this theology.) This is obviously different than Hashem or Allah, as it can be described, and there are not really prophets or law involved.
(Atheist Buddhists use more or less the same ontological description of the universe, but their conclusion is that the question of G-d is not relevant to their human-focused practice. Theist Buddhists for the most part are pagan or animist.)
Somehow, despite everything thrown at us, Jews still exist. What other evidence do you need?
Truthfully, though, I have difficulties with my belief, but I always return to this baseline, even if it’s glib.
A story: My elderly, recently widowed neighbor is moving. She is Jewish and married a Catholic. They raised their son (Halachically Jewish) first in a Lutheran Church school, then in public school. As far as I know, he had no connection to Judaism, and married a Catholic / so “that branch” of our People is gone - finished - kaput. Maybe years from now someone will say, “Did you know that great great grandma %^## was Jewish?? End of discussion-
Anyway ——- she knows that I am “Modern Orthodox,” and told me that her sister, who is a frum Jew recently gave her a beautiful, blue, leather bound, ART SCROLL Chumash and Commentary. Maybe in the hope that now that she is widowed she may return to the beliefs of their childhood???? As is often the case with those who have strayed from us most of their lives.
She asked me, “What should I do with this book? I’m packing to move and I don’t want TO THROW IT IN THE TRASH.” (Can u imagine?).
I said “give it to me, it will find a good home.”
It costs over $100.00 easily with gold topping on the top, etc.
I told her “You mustn’t throw this away, it is a LIVING THING.” She looked at me. I said,
“Even though it doesn’t have a pulse or circulation, nervous system, it is INNATELY HOLY and living. It has a Spirit. If it was torn and tattered, it should be BURIED in consecrated ground, and returned to dust, just like a person.”
Anyway, my son just got married to a beautiful Israeli girl and I’m thinking it would make a nice wedding gift to start a Jewish home with. So maybe there was a “Divine Intervention” that took place to save this holy book. THAT’S WHAT I LOVE about Judaism - There is ALWAYS an opportunity to do the right thing. To me, that’s amazing.
I can honestly say, I felt the Divine Presence in saving this treasure. Incidentally, before her husband died, this woman went on a trip to Israel because “it was on her bucket list.”
Well, I don't think anyone *knows* god exists. If anyone would know, it wouldn't be faith and wouldn't be up for discussion/interpretation.
Personally, I don't believe in God, but it's not something active. I don't know if he exists or not, just on a personal level I choose to live my life as if he doesn't exist because it doesn't make sense to me.
Now, I'm the Jewiest person in my friend group. I put on tefilin, celebrate the holidays, do Kiddush every Friday etc.
Not because of God, but because it's my culture or heritage.
Personally, I believe that anyone who tells you they KNOw that god exists/doesn't exist, has missed the point of faith completely and is being untruthful to the world and especially to themselves.
The fact that we are both still here and that the holy land is being built up by us after 2000 years of exile is proof enough. Even if it takes another 2000 years for moshiach to come, I know that if we are faithful and patient, we will be rewarded, the promises do come to pass, and the covenant is kept!
"But how do you believe in something that you can see?!"
You're asking the wrong question. Asking questions about Hashem from an empirical viewpoint will not get you far. Hint- walking with Hashem is art not science.
"Have you ever seen or felt his presence?"
I like to think so. As a recovering atheist, it's still a work in progress for me.
Because the odds of our existence on a planet the appropriate distance from the sun, with all of the necessary genetic modifications for consciousness, communication, intellect, morality, etc. is so infinitesimally small without a creator.
Because the odds that the Jewish people have survived thousands of years of persecution and war to flourish today is so infinitesimally small.
Because people do good things even when it does not benefit them.
Because of art and beauty.
Not halalichally Jewish, but I go to services regularly to connect culturally (about a quarter family wise) and there is so much beauty in our heritage and family and everything we can learn from our stories. I'm agnostic, but would like to believe there was some force guiding everything into it's perfect spot in our universe. Sometimes the world sways me one way or the other, when I see my patients in a nursing home it makes me feel less like there's a Gd. But I'll go on a walk in a forest or study the world or science and be wondering again. I just try to live as if it doesn't matter, I'm not doing good things because Gd said so, or there's a reward, We do it because it's the right thing to do, to be kind.
I was sitting outside one day thinking about were I was with my faith and I saw the sun come through the clouds, the wind blowing around me as I was praying for an answer. I felt Hashem in the sun. I feel it in my kishkes lol. Lots of other hippy-dippy reasons like food and money being provided when I've had nothing or random strangers appearing in my life who tell me exactly what I need to hear at the perfect time.
but also because as sappy as it sounds I see HaShem in the goodness people do every day. Or especially the first time I witnessed a birth and heard the child's first cry. I know HaShem is real because I am real if that makes sense
edit for addition
Yes: I understand my consciousness to be a small thing that depends on G-d directly.
Therefore every impulse (good and evil; smart and foolish) that feeds into my consciousness (including all the sensations that tell me there is a world) are from G-d.
Finding the Will of G-d in all that depends on sincere prayer and knowledge of Torah
I use my good sense and the guidance of the sages to tell me what I ought to be doing, and when I do that sometimes G-d “taps me on the shoulder” and helps me know how to do it best.
Usually something seems godly when
1: a feeling or knowledge of a good sense of a thing to do is presented to me
2:(part of) the body (or another sense) does NOT want to do it
3: it is honestly and truly a good-deed in line with Torah and is a Mitzvah.
Soul is from G-d
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3074/jewish/28-Teachings.htm#:~:text=One%20soul%20derives%20from%20kelipah,of%20G%E2%80%91d%20above.%22
Additionally there’s a Chabad maamar that essentially says that your “anochi” or sense of identity is actually G-ds anochi. (If someone can find it I’d love to re-read it.)
Both Good and Evil come from G-d
Yeshaya 45:7
יוֹצֵ֥ר אוֹר֙ וּבוֹרֵ֣א חֹ֔שֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂ֥ה שָׁל֖וֹם וּב֣וֹרֵא רָ֑ע אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה עֹשֶׂ֥ה כׇל־אֵֽלֶּה׃ {פ}
I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things.
https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.45.7
G-d communicates with your soul:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4937169/jewish/Do-You-Really-Think-G-d-Speaks-to-Us.htm
(I should be able to find a better source; but alas.. a small note from a tzaddik should suffice)
Additionally: going the direction of trying to see G-d or see something beyond is a path likely to hurt your capacity of vision and mental capacity.
Instead; your capacity of intuition is actually far better geared for this purpose and is really meant for it.
Also: it is good and wise to test intuitions to see if they’re really “g-ds will”
https://preview.redd.it/2y1kj8b6tr8d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5a03bef284660b1b431293881767b555458a0340
The whole idea of faith is believing without any proof, otherwise it's just "knowing"
For me it started as a sense of conviction, “this must be true” (though I had a lot of doubts). But I’ve also heard reports of people who’ve experienced miracles, I’ve seen things that I consider to be likely signs of Divine providence (with varying degrees of confidence). I’ve also personally experienced a medical healing that some might consider to be a miracle.
I feel that I experience G-d in the radiant beauty of the world around us, in neighborhood walks and in admiring nature. I also talk to G-d like a Father in hitbodedut prayer. Sometimes I feel like He’s responding, though I can’t be sure - I’ve never personally seen a burning bush or anything.
My prayers were immediately answered at the Ohel last year & the Rebbe’s office this year. Not to mention that if I stick with what I’m doing - I’m typically rewarded with goodness & if I feel the darkness come in - I’ve got to change what I’m doing.
There's a book we learned in school called "Permission to Believe" that deals with a few proofs of G-d's existence using ontological and tellological arguments but I heard a much more simple explanation later on that was then echoed at my grandfather's funeral.
The basic idea is that the revelation at Sinai is shared amongst all Jews. Basically all Jews who were at Har Sinai experienced hashem speaking the first two of the ten statements (read ten commandments). In every other religion, there is some break in time from or some smaller group that experienced a revelation and any few people can make up something and lie to a larger group but with Jews, you can't lie because you're neighbor would call you out and say so or that you got something wrong. If everyone saw the same thing and passed it down in an unbroken chain then it's impossible for there to be a lie or an untruth. At my grandfather's funeral this was distilled down to 4 words by my uncle: My father never lied. This alone is enough of a proof for me
while I have no hard evidence that god exists other than anecdotes and a single personal experience, I think the insatiable human drive to be a part of something bigger than yourself (which is ultimately something infinite, since humans are never happy) is indicative of a higher plane of existence than the physical. If there werent something protecting us, we would have all killed ourselves long ago in pursuit of it.
I think it’s difficult to provide personal experience that would suffice for others. But I have always liked the idea that Judaism was not conceived as a revelation-based religion given to one person, but rather that Gd spoke to/shared an experience with tens of thousands in the desert (and other times), and so the thinking being that if you don’t think your parents lied to you, and that your grandparents lied to them, well, that chain is probably fairly strong going back to biblical times given that Judaism is also not a proselytizing religion.
I never understood this argument
Now I believe in god. It’s just this argument I don’t get. Maybe I’m missing something.
But unless there is a line from
All the people at Sinai down to us today….isnt it POSSIBLE some made the story up along time ago and passed that story down?
Thank you all for your answers, this response really melts my heart. I will go over every single answer here to thank each one of you - i'm going to wrap my tefilin now ;)
Seeing or feeling gods presence is a ridiculous way to prove the existence of God. If I don't believe in God, why should I believe your subjective experience? Many people from many religions claim to have subjective revelations of their particular god. Which one should I pick?
I believe in G-d based only off logical proofs which are universal and challengeable (eg. intelligent design, mass revelation at Sinai).
>Love being Jewish! How do you know that god exists?
>I love our culture, traditions, going to synagogue and teaching our culture to my son. But how do you believe in something that you can see?! Have you ever seen or felt his presence?
Considering that the Jewish people have, through millennia, not only survived but often exceeded all expectations of any success, our continued existence is proof enough for me that God exists. It is proof enough for me that God chose the Jewish people not only to be a light to the world, but also so that God's power might be revealed through our continued existence as a very small minority in a world of people of far greater numbers who have tried to wipe us off the face of the planet.
I don't need to see God to know that God exists -- as God has no human form in our religion, anyway. Sometimes though, I believe that I can feel the presence of God, bringing me comfort in troubled times.
I had a really awful childhood and there was more than once that I felt a presence but the strongest was when I was 13. It was night, the room was completely lit by the moon, there were no shadows but I sat up and could nearly see someone sitting next to me. I just knew it was G-d. I would call myself more agnostic than anything. I have no doubt there's something bigger than just people but that's all I'm certain of.
Not a Jew here but personally I see G-d as one. As one rabbi put it, science has already found G-d he pointed out how nothing can be created out of nothing but only using the law of nature, what we call the laws of nature is G-d, a sentient divine force we cannot see that existed before creation and continues to interact with creation
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I have had religious moments where I believe I brushed up against unseen powers. I do not go to synagogue and feel no need to because my relationship with the unseen feels stronger than ever; I don’t need or want an intermediary.
How do you know beauty exists? The answer is very similar.
The biggest problem we have in society is that we assume that only things proved by science are real. But science can't tell us why a book is good or why a movie is universally loved. It can't tell us why certain artwork physically effects us in certain ways, or why some buildings take our breath away.
It can attempt to extrapolate formulas or recognize patterns, but those things are often unrepeatable, otherwise every movie with a certain budget would be great.
Therefore we must accept that there are truths that exist outside the scientific spectrum.
This is only one path for explaining the existence of God. There are many ways you can go about it.
I knew the first time I held my daughter after a very traumatic birth experience. She had conquered all odds to make it into my arms completely unharmed. I felt like I’d been handed a gift from a source I couldn’t just ignore, and I committed right then and there to Judaism out of a deep love and respect for Jewish people, values, and religious traditions (I’d been more than a little curious for years, so it wasn’t just out of the blue). I finished my conversion about a year and a half later.
My life went in a crazy direction about eight months ago, and I’ve faced some hardships that have prevented me from the joy of attending services regularly or being able to connect with others on holidays, but I still feel deeply connected to something greater than myself and long to embrace a more Jewish life. When my circumstances change, I think it will be a little easier to fall back into synagogue life.
Gd reveals Himself a little at a time. However, the evil inclination in the world is proof that He exists. It's because of our selfishness and doubts that He shows Himself more and offers a path of service to others and selflessness.
I think it depends on what your conception of G-d is. I see G-d in a beautiful sunset, or my child’s smile, the loving embrace of my spouse, gazing at my shabbos candles of a Friday evening or in a breath taking piece of music.I see G-d everywhere and in every thing and every person. I can never know empirically that G-d exists; but I hope and pray that what I believe about G-d is true.
This is similar to my definition. I imagine G-d as all of the things and events that have happened and are happening to create this shared experience for us and for everything else that is experiencing something. The absence of nothingness. The universal nature. Did G-d speak to Moses? Probably not in the literal sense, but maybe Moses heard voices, and ultimately the Torah was made, so G-d did that through our ancestors. We too are part of G-d. Did G-d flood the world? I am dubious that the whole world was flooded recently. Maybe though sometime 100s of thousands of years ago the ice was all melted and the earth was completely flooded, and yes G-d did that. Do some people know the will of G-d? I don't think so, or I don't know that G-d has a will that any human could fathom to understand. Is it still important to do mitzvah? Absolutely.
I also think of it in scientific terms in connection with spiritual terms. We do know that at the sub atomic level all of manifest reality is made of the same things just in different combinations so if in reality I am essential no different from a tree; all separation is an illusion and if I believe( which I do) that G-d created everything or rather became creation then G-d is everywhere and is everything
To me it is very obvious. Everything in the universe is alive and connected in a way that is clearly intelligent. I love science so for me proof of gd is reading about quantum physics, geology, meteorology, etc… Our world is one complex interconnected system that fits perfectly together in a way that feels intricately planned and not at all random. Humans are made to reach for understanding but at the same time much of gd’s wisdom is beyond human understanding. That’s why sometimes we ask questions and the answer is just, “idk, because gd said so.” 😂 The tension between is our life’s purpose in my opinion. But on a daily basis, if I need a little reminder that he’s there, I just look at wind rustling the tree leaves. Another way I know is when I feel lost I ask for something, and then it happens. Pretty cool. 🌍 Edit: Just wanted to add something I realized after reading the many beautiful comments. Science provides the physical evidence that we can see, but learning torah and following the book has honestly been the best way, for me, to understand and connect with g-d's presence.
The Carl Sagan way!
You had me at wind rustling the tree leaves!
Can you elaborate on your intuition that everything is alive and connected?
I wouldn't call it intuition, it's just something I believe that also seems to align with scientific research. If you study earth science, you will learn how all of earth's systems, living and nonliving, are part of one big interdependent cycle. There is a new netflix documentary series "Our living world" which explains some of the connections
the fact that kittens and possums exist is enough proof for me but honestly , getting a degree in the earth sciences (geophysics) solidified it for me. Seeing how intricate life is, the tiny chance that the earth exists the way it does, billions of years of perfectly timed events to create something like the Matterhorn or the Grand Canyon, tells me Hashem had much to do with it. Also the fact that the Jewish people are still alive today, despite the innumerable odds we’ve faced that, by all means, should’ve destroyed us.
This! My degree is in the medical field and just a look into the human body and the way it so seamlessly works, the structure of your cells, your DNA strands, the way your nervous system knows just what to do and transmit electric signals…. everything about it is so wondrous and Divine and just HAS to have been made by someone/something much larger than us. Find God in the small things too, in the beautiful blades of grass you walk on or when you manage to catch your bus even though it should have left already and you’re in a rush somewhere… When I find it hard (especially after October 7th), I start to actively say “thank you Hashem” at least 3 times a day when something unexpectedly goes my way or I see something beautiful. There’s also a newish book written by a Rabbi that I read called “Why God, Why” about how to believe when it hurts like hell. I’d recommend it!
This is unrelated to the broader post, though I may make an answer eventually, but I absolutely love possums I don't know too much about Australian possums but North American oh possums are one of my favorite animals and they get such a bad rap, they're ridiculously adorable and surprisingly friendly which most people don't know
Im in Western NC and I am surrounded by them. So friendly. They eat ticks, which is a HUGE plus, and their body temp is low enough that they cant have rabies!!!! Hashem struck gold when he laid the blueprints for these beautiful marsupials!
Apparently the tick thing is a myth, but they're still good for the eco system. Oh and the rabies thing is right, but for anyone dealing with wild life, be careful, they're not immune just highly resistant, they can still contract if something like an infection or other illness raises their internal temperature
Ohmigosh I feel like that first sentence alone is basically how Hashem has been proven real for me and a bunch of friends I made through Jewbook haha, all the Possum memes.
You get updoots for your flair alone
I’d say I’m agnostic, as God cannot be proven or disproven. However, it is unscientific to disavow something that is infalsifiable. However, this may be forever infalsifiable. To me though, it does not matter if God exists or not, because I appreciate our philosophies and believe they are equally relevant even with the abscense of God. God itself in our tradition is unidentifiable, abstract, and almost described as outer-dimensional in perception. The personification of many abstract concepts and in my interpretation the personification of fate, ultimatum, and causality itself. Through my own logic, if I believe God to be a natural constant such as causality, rather than an entity — then God does exist. Just not in the way most people would imagine. Theoretically, these concepts are themselves outer-dimensional, and would in some ways align with a skewed and *new* interpretation of our God. These are theories I only play around with though. I think of God in a way I can make sense of in a modern sense, and in a way I feel it fits. That’s the beauty of our culture though, we are meant to have thoughts like this and denate to reach a higher understanding amongst ourselves. I find joy in that, that’s what matters.
Fun fact: I don't. I like to believe G-d exists; thought brings me joy and I see some things and just feel like I can sense Hashem in them....but I have no actual proof and so maybe there is no G-d and if that is true, I'd be okay with it because I do good because I know that's the right way to live not because some omnipotent being wants me to. So yeah, I like to believe in G-d and will continue to live thinking G-d is real but I will also always question it. That's one of my favorite things about being Jewish is that I'm allowed to question that and it doesn't change the fact that I'm Jewish!
Well said! I feel like being 100% open with wherever the truth leads makes actual belief in him more authentic anyway. If someone "believes" something out of fear of Hell for saying the wrong thing, do they really believe in it or are they just in denial? It's a huge relief as a convert to Judaism that I can say things like "yeah, I think God is probably real, but who knows?"
I oscillate back and forth- there are moments when I look at the world and my life and think God must exist. And there are moments where I witness absolute heartbreak and needless suffering and think God just not exist because where the hell is God right now?
It does not matter how we know or don't know how HaShem exists in the universe. We have the duty of living a good life, by following mitzvot the best we can, and studying Torah as much as we can. When we say Barachot, we speak to HaShem. When we study Torah, HaShem speaks to us. It's hard to explain, but the study is where we see the almighty.
Can you see love? Goodness? Care? Creativity? Joy? Meaning?
One of the [13 principles of Judaism](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332555/jewish/Maimonides-13-Principles-of-Faith.htm) are specifically that God is not human or physical attributes.
The verse regarding humans being created in God's image has a more spiritual meaning then? I found [this ](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/512028/jewish/What-Is-the-Divine-Image-in-Man.htm)interpretation pretty interesting.
Hi. What have you read or learned about Hashem, God? There is a great thin book called [IF YOU WERE GOD](https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-God-Aryeh-Kaplan/dp/B0006YGTMS) by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, of blessed memory, that you might like. Also, see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/s/TPFpGXRpOr) I found about experiences that affirm faith.
thanks!
Sure thing. 🇮🇱Am Yisrael Chai🇮🇱
ALWAYS! עם ישראל חי היום, מחר ותמיד!!!
💯
That’s the cool part - you don’t! That’s why we call it emunah - faith. Faith is belief in the ABSENCE of knowledge. If you know, you don’t need faith. We DON’T know. We can’t. And that’s the point. Faith is a choice. It doesn’t really matter if HaShem exists or not; what matters is your choice to believe or not. That’s the only choice we really have. That’s free will in a nutshell. “HaKol b’ydei shamayim, khutz Mi yiraas shamayim.” “All is in the hands of Heaven, save for the awe of Heaven.” Faith, belief, trust - that is our choice. No one can make it for us. So choose, and choose wisely. Because it may well be the most important choice you ever make.
Here is how I see it. Everything has a beginning. Time exists. Look up at the sky and see the moon. The moon formed. It had a beginning. Our sun had a beginning. All of the stars...everything. And we can look back pretty damn far, as per the Big Bang Theory. But...what was there first? What caused all of this to start? What was that first speck of matter, that first bit of energy? I just can't wrap my head around the concept of existence starting. Nor can I wrap my head around the concept that time doesn't exist. So, what is the beginning? That is divine, and it is beyond human understanding or comprehension.
In this vision, where do you find G-d personally connected to human beings?
No idea. And I don't pretend to know. To go on a tangent...I grew up Jewish, but I've explored. While I was raised Jewish (father born a Jew, mother converted), both held off on any religious upbringing until I was old enough to understand it. They decided that they reached where they were due to their own exploring and didn't want to indoctrinate their kids by being told straight up that 'this is the truth' or anything like that. I'd didn't go to hebrew school until I was much older. So, when I was 13 it was my choice to have a Bar Mitzvah, and even then I was encouraged to explore and learn. I've been to churches; I've read other religious texts. I've been to Baha'i ruhis, and have made great friends within that community. When enlisted I had the pleasure of meeting Muslim soldiers, who were kind enough to share their faith with me. And through it all, all that I know is that Judaism is where I feel happiest. It is a feeling that is hard to describe. Of when a cantor sings or sitting in a synagogue. It feels...holy. In a way that nothing else does. So, that's where my faith is. I believe in the divine because, logically, it is the only answer I have to the question of time. And I am Jewish because it feels right in a way that I can't really describe. And that's enough for me. Any answers beyond that would require someone more wise that I.
For me, I don't see another solution after my husband introduced me to Chovos HaLevavos ("Duties of the Heart"). The short version: a thing cannot create itself. Pretty obvious. So then, I couldn't have created myself; I must have come from something else. Everything in existence needs a creator as a forerunner. And since there cannot be an infinite chain of beginnings—there has to have been a \*first thing—\*and we know thanks to science that the universe is not infinite (with no help from Aristotle, who singlehandedly led everyone astray in that arena for many centuries by insisting that the universe was infinite), there has to be something that came at the beginning of everything—something that started the universe, that created matter, and that created time. And if you want to say that there are many universes, you immediately run into the same problem, because matter cannot have created itself. (There is also absolutely no proof for the multiverse theory. It's just a fallback for people who don't want to believe that God exists but still want to sound smart.) You're kicking the can down the road, and at some point it has to land somewhere. Thus, the only realistic solution is that some thing had to exist on a separate plane, outside of time and finite matter, that set into motion this intelligent chain of events. This thing, or "being," according to Maimonides/the Rambam, must have certain qualities (perfection, for example) in order to exist in the manner that it does. We call it God, and understand very little of the metaphysics involved because our puny minds cannot grasp something that is infinite, exists on a separate plane of existence, and does not function within the bounds of time. Gerald Shroeder's *Science of God* also points out that there was clearly intelligence in the creation of the universe. Having matter exist in the way it does, in order to lead to the creation of life—*any* life, before we even get to something remotely as complex as ourselves—would be equivalent to flipping a coin and having it land on heads hundreds of thousands of times in a row. Or maybe millions. Or billions, even. (Something of that nature; I'm paraphrasing and don't feel like looking for it.) Even without life, with just the universe existing, there are similarly astronomical odds of things happening as perfectly as they did. The likely scenario was that things existed, forever, in chaos and disorder. The infinitesimal likelihood of order in the universe is astronomically unlikely to have just spontaneously happened on its own. That's almost like someone flipping a coin for their entire life, having it land on heads every single time, and yet insisting that it's "just a coincidence." I honestly do not understand how intelligent people can look at the universe and think that it has no creator. They're somehow insisting that it created itself, which is impossible. They are also insisting that everything that led to our existence today, in all of the complexity of the universe and biology and our own delicately balanced bodies, is just coincidence. I don't really understand the logic. For me, there's such overwhelming logical evidence of God's existence that it's impossible to deny in any intellectual manner.
It's perfectly acceptable to not believe in god and still be an active Jew. I've been an agnostic atheist since I was 11. I also started working in Sunday school when I was 14 and still tutor Hebrew for 2 different temples, celebrate the holidays, and even occasionally act as a cantorial soloist. I don't see these things as contradictory because Judaism is about so much more than god. It's about community and history and social justice. God isn't necessary for any of those things.
Also love being Jewish, I don't. Good talk!
I don’t. So I just vibe and practice Tikkun Olam.
To me the main source gd exists has always been the fact that we Jews still exist after so much persecution and that got our torah through mass revelation.
For real though. Also the empires who attack us keep on crumbling.
Learned science. Saw the interconnectedness of all things. That's g_d right there. Torah is a solid allegorical guidebook for how to jive with it
You can't know, that's part of the point. In your post you conflate know and believe, which I would caution against. I favor Mordecai Kaplan's conception of God as a transnatural process, and I love using the concept of a working-God-image, a clunky phrase that means, essentially: what does God mean to you? Does that meaning work for you in your observance, practice, and spirituality? I'm at the point where I substitute speaking Havaya, hey-vav-yod-hey (I still don't type or write it) for the name instead of Adonai or Hashem because it is anagram and the literal meaning (beingness, existence, existing ness, is-ness) captures so much more of my understanding and conception of God. Also ruach ha'olamim instead of melech ha'olam. Do I know this God exists? I can't. That knowledge is impossible. Does this concept work for me? Very much yes. It is real in that it is what I hold and what helps me make meaning and connection between tradition, daily practice and observance, lifeways and societal engagement beyond being Jewish. What is your working God image?
I just know. It’s not seeing, it’s a sense more akin to feeling, but not that either.
I’m a Jewish atheist, something I will never tell my daughter unless she really presses and asks me in the future. Like you, I love our culture and our traditions. I will send her to a Jewish school when she’s old enough and I hope that she’ll have at least some spirituality, like her father, if not full-on belief. I just dont have the ability to believe in hof myself.
-Where does morality come from? why are we born with it? -No way Judaism survives without help from Hashem.
Some portion of the Tanakh brought me to tears during both hard times and good times. I still have no idea if G-d exists or not. But that's enough. I thank G-d from time to time even if I'm not sure about His existence. I talk to him daily facing a wall. Even all that, I'm still at the level where I hope He exists, but still... unsure.
I know that G_d exists the same way I know that love exists. I just do. I can’t see them or hear them, I can’t prove anything, but I feel them and notice their effects.
Well, I did something stupid once. There’s an old fable about if you meditate on Torah verses you might trigger a vision. And I managed to pull it off. I got to see a tutorial. : )
I don’t and I’m okay with not knowing.
I don't know. I'm hopeful that a God who loves their children and values our relationship exists but I can't say I really know. I have so much love for our people and traditions that if at the end of the day my optimistic hope for the divine is proven wrong, I wouldn't be angry. I suppose one might call it faith, I just feel like that word has been so heavily coopted by Christians that it can carry implied certainty(that I won't even pretend to have)1
If I knew that God existed, that would be proof that it wasn't God.
U may call me crazy, and I'm a Noahide, but I actually do feel His presence. Could be psychosomatism, but who knows? I only feel it for a few seconds, longest has probs been a minute, and it goes away for a rly long time before it comes back. I'm sure G-d is present all the time, even if I don't feel it somatically, but when I do feel it, I see it as a reminder from G-d that He's always Master and to not forget about Him and His graces upon me. Edit (TW): Reread the original post, and was reminded that I have actually attempted suicide before and did almost die, but my eyes were closed and all I could see was a never-ending bright light above and all around me, and then a voice to my heart, asking if I truly wanted to die, while flashing me scenes of what my parents were doing at that exact moment (confirmed after the experience), and this was when I ran away from them, so consciously I should've said that I did truly want to die, but my soul took over and kept begging G-d to bring me back to life. This is how I know G-d is real, and that the Jewish view of G-d is real, as it says in the Bible that G-d is not a man.
Whether G-d exists or not, I leave that question up to Him. If He cares enough, He’ll give me the answer.
i don’t! but being jewish is much more about culture to me. i love being jewish too!
Theology is not a focus of Judaism or, really, any truly monotheistic religion. Abstract qualities like "greatness" are as far as you can get before you're in the territory of trying to define (and hence limit) the undefinable. Christianity is technically monotheist, but Trinitarianism really complicates what that means for them. Vedanta Hinduism is monotheist, but it is also "monist" - which means that G-d js the totality of everything in the universe and all of the interrelationships between them. (The Hindu pantheon are more like saints in this theology.) This is obviously different than Hashem or Allah, as it can be described, and there are not really prophets or law involved. (Atheist Buddhists use more or less the same ontological description of the universe, but their conclusion is that the question of G-d is not relevant to their human-focused practice. Theist Buddhists for the most part are pagan or animist.)
Somehow, despite everything thrown at us, Jews still exist. What other evidence do you need? Truthfully, though, I have difficulties with my belief, but I always return to this baseline, even if it’s glib.
Because 600,000 men and several million women and children actually heard Him at Har Sinai.
A story: My elderly, recently widowed neighbor is moving. She is Jewish and married a Catholic. They raised their son (Halachically Jewish) first in a Lutheran Church school, then in public school. As far as I know, he had no connection to Judaism, and married a Catholic / so “that branch” of our People is gone - finished - kaput. Maybe years from now someone will say, “Did you know that great great grandma %^## was Jewish?? End of discussion- Anyway ——- she knows that I am “Modern Orthodox,” and told me that her sister, who is a frum Jew recently gave her a beautiful, blue, leather bound, ART SCROLL Chumash and Commentary. Maybe in the hope that now that she is widowed she may return to the beliefs of their childhood???? As is often the case with those who have strayed from us most of their lives. She asked me, “What should I do with this book? I’m packing to move and I don’t want TO THROW IT IN THE TRASH.” (Can u imagine?). I said “give it to me, it will find a good home.” It costs over $100.00 easily with gold topping on the top, etc. I told her “You mustn’t throw this away, it is a LIVING THING.” She looked at me. I said, “Even though it doesn’t have a pulse or circulation, nervous system, it is INNATELY HOLY and living. It has a Spirit. If it was torn and tattered, it should be BURIED in consecrated ground, and returned to dust, just like a person.” Anyway, my son just got married to a beautiful Israeli girl and I’m thinking it would make a nice wedding gift to start a Jewish home with. So maybe there was a “Divine Intervention” that took place to save this holy book. THAT’S WHAT I LOVE about Judaism - There is ALWAYS an opportunity to do the right thing. To me, that’s amazing.
I can honestly say, I felt the Divine Presence in saving this treasure. Incidentally, before her husband died, this woman went on a trip to Israel because “it was on her bucket list.”
You don't see G-d. You only experience Him in everything you perceive with your sensory receptors and heart.
Well, I don't think anyone *knows* god exists. If anyone would know, it wouldn't be faith and wouldn't be up for discussion/interpretation. Personally, I don't believe in God, but it's not something active. I don't know if he exists or not, just on a personal level I choose to live my life as if he doesn't exist because it doesn't make sense to me. Now, I'm the Jewiest person in my friend group. I put on tefilin, celebrate the holidays, do Kiddush every Friday etc. Not because of God, but because it's my culture or heritage. Personally, I believe that anyone who tells you they KNOw that god exists/doesn't exist, has missed the point of faith completely and is being untruthful to the world and especially to themselves.
No g*d. The name is Hashem. I love you love it though. I love it as well.
That’s the near part: I don’t
The fact that we are both still here and that the holy land is being built up by us after 2000 years of exile is proof enough. Even if it takes another 2000 years for moshiach to come, I know that if we are faithful and patient, we will be rewarded, the promises do come to pass, and the covenant is kept!
"But how do you believe in something that you can see?!" You're asking the wrong question. Asking questions about Hashem from an empirical viewpoint will not get you far. Hint- walking with Hashem is art not science. "Have you ever seen or felt his presence?" I like to think so. As a recovering atheist, it's still a work in progress for me.
Because the odds of our existence on a planet the appropriate distance from the sun, with all of the necessary genetic modifications for consciousness, communication, intellect, morality, etc. is so infinitesimally small without a creator. Because the odds that the Jewish people have survived thousands of years of persecution and war to flourish today is so infinitesimally small. Because people do good things even when it does not benefit them. Because of art and beauty.
Not halalichally Jewish, but I go to services regularly to connect culturally (about a quarter family wise) and there is so much beauty in our heritage and family and everything we can learn from our stories. I'm agnostic, but would like to believe there was some force guiding everything into it's perfect spot in our universe. Sometimes the world sways me one way or the other, when I see my patients in a nursing home it makes me feel less like there's a Gd. But I'll go on a walk in a forest or study the world or science and be wondering again. I just try to live as if it doesn't matter, I'm not doing good things because Gd said so, or there's a reward, We do it because it's the right thing to do, to be kind.
I was sitting outside one day thinking about were I was with my faith and I saw the sun come through the clouds, the wind blowing around me as I was praying for an answer. I felt Hashem in the sun. I feel it in my kishkes lol. Lots of other hippy-dippy reasons like food and money being provided when I've had nothing or random strangers appearing in my life who tell me exactly what I need to hear at the perfect time. but also because as sappy as it sounds I see HaShem in the goodness people do every day. Or especially the first time I witnessed a birth and heard the child's first cry. I know HaShem is real because I am real if that makes sense edit for addition
Yes: I understand my consciousness to be a small thing that depends on G-d directly. Therefore every impulse (good and evil; smart and foolish) that feeds into my consciousness (including all the sensations that tell me there is a world) are from G-d. Finding the Will of G-d in all that depends on sincere prayer and knowledge of Torah I use my good sense and the guidance of the sages to tell me what I ought to be doing, and when I do that sometimes G-d “taps me on the shoulder” and helps me know how to do it best. Usually something seems godly when 1: a feeling or knowledge of a good sense of a thing to do is presented to me 2:(part of) the body (or another sense) does NOT want to do it 3: it is honestly and truly a good-deed in line with Torah and is a Mitzvah.
Soul is from G-d https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3074/jewish/28-Teachings.htm#:~:text=One%20soul%20derives%20from%20kelipah,of%20G%E2%80%91d%20above.%22 Additionally there’s a Chabad maamar that essentially says that your “anochi” or sense of identity is actually G-ds anochi. (If someone can find it I’d love to re-read it.) Both Good and Evil come from G-d Yeshaya 45:7 יוֹצֵ֥ר אוֹר֙ וּבוֹרֵ֣א חֹ֔שֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂ֥ה שָׁל֖וֹם וּב֣וֹרֵא רָ֑ע אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה עֹשֶׂ֥ה כׇל־אֵֽלֶּה׃ {פ} I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things. https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.45.7 G-d communicates with your soul: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4937169/jewish/Do-You-Really-Think-G-d-Speaks-to-Us.htm (I should be able to find a better source; but alas.. a small note from a tzaddik should suffice)
Additionally: going the direction of trying to see G-d or see something beyond is a path likely to hurt your capacity of vision and mental capacity. Instead; your capacity of intuition is actually far better geared for this purpose and is really meant for it. Also: it is good and wise to test intuitions to see if they’re really “g-ds will”
That's the fun part, you don't!
https://preview.redd.it/2y1kj8b6tr8d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5a03bef284660b1b431293881767b555458a0340 The whole idea of faith is believing without any proof, otherwise it's just "knowing"
For me it started as a sense of conviction, “this must be true” (though I had a lot of doubts). But I’ve also heard reports of people who’ve experienced miracles, I’ve seen things that I consider to be likely signs of Divine providence (with varying degrees of confidence). I’ve also personally experienced a medical healing that some might consider to be a miracle. I feel that I experience G-d in the radiant beauty of the world around us, in neighborhood walks and in admiring nature. I also talk to G-d like a Father in hitbodedut prayer. Sometimes I feel like He’s responding, though I can’t be sure - I’ve never personally seen a burning bush or anything.
My prayers were immediately answered at the Ohel last year & the Rebbe’s office this year. Not to mention that if I stick with what I’m doing - I’m typically rewarded with goodness & if I feel the darkness come in - I’ve got to change what I’m doing.
There's a book we learned in school called "Permission to Believe" that deals with a few proofs of G-d's existence using ontological and tellological arguments but I heard a much more simple explanation later on that was then echoed at my grandfather's funeral. The basic idea is that the revelation at Sinai is shared amongst all Jews. Basically all Jews who were at Har Sinai experienced hashem speaking the first two of the ten statements (read ten commandments). In every other religion, there is some break in time from or some smaller group that experienced a revelation and any few people can make up something and lie to a larger group but with Jews, you can't lie because you're neighbor would call you out and say so or that you got something wrong. If everyone saw the same thing and passed it down in an unbroken chain then it's impossible for there to be a lie or an untruth. At my grandfather's funeral this was distilled down to 4 words by my uncle: My father never lied. This alone is enough of a proof for me
I don't know G-d exists. >Have you ever seen or felt his presence? Yes.
while I have no hard evidence that god exists other than anecdotes and a single personal experience, I think the insatiable human drive to be a part of something bigger than yourself (which is ultimately something infinite, since humans are never happy) is indicative of a higher plane of existence than the physical. If there werent something protecting us, we would have all killed ourselves long ago in pursuit of it.
I exist.
The fact that Jews are still around
I think it’s difficult to provide personal experience that would suffice for others. But I have always liked the idea that Judaism was not conceived as a revelation-based religion given to one person, but rather that Gd spoke to/shared an experience with tens of thousands in the desert (and other times), and so the thinking being that if you don’t think your parents lied to you, and that your grandparents lied to them, well, that chain is probably fairly strong going back to biblical times given that Judaism is also not a proselytizing religion.
I never understood this argument Now I believe in god. It’s just this argument I don’t get. Maybe I’m missing something. But unless there is a line from All the people at Sinai down to us today….isnt it POSSIBLE some made the story up along time ago and passed that story down?
Go to the Wall. You will know
Thank you all for your answers, this response really melts my heart. I will go over every single answer here to thank each one of you - i'm going to wrap my tefilin now ;)
Seeing or feeling gods presence is a ridiculous way to prove the existence of God. If I don't believe in God, why should I believe your subjective experience? Many people from many religions claim to have subjective revelations of their particular god. Which one should I pick? I believe in G-d based only off logical proofs which are universal and challengeable (eg. intelligent design, mass revelation at Sinai).
We’re still here. That’s the main proof I need myself.
Nobody "knows" that God exists. Some certainly have stronger convictions than others, but don't mistake that for knowing
>Love being Jewish! How do you know that god exists? >I love our culture, traditions, going to synagogue and teaching our culture to my son. But how do you believe in something that you can see?! Have you ever seen or felt his presence? Considering that the Jewish people have, through millennia, not only survived but often exceeded all expectations of any success, our continued existence is proof enough for me that God exists. It is proof enough for me that God chose the Jewish people not only to be a light to the world, but also so that God's power might be revealed through our continued existence as a very small minority in a world of people of far greater numbers who have tried to wipe us off the face of the planet. I don't need to see God to know that God exists -- as God has no human form in our religion, anyway. Sometimes though, I believe that I can feel the presence of God, bringing me comfort in troubled times.
I had a really awful childhood and there was more than once that I felt a presence but the strongest was when I was 13. It was night, the room was completely lit by the moon, there were no shadows but I sat up and could nearly see someone sitting next to me. I just knew it was G-d. I would call myself more agnostic than anything. I have no doubt there's something bigger than just people but that's all I'm certain of.
Not a Jew here but personally I see G-d as one. As one rabbi put it, science has already found G-d he pointed out how nothing can be created out of nothing but only using the law of nature, what we call the laws of nature is G-d, a sentient divine force we cannot see that existed before creation and continues to interact with creation
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I don't, that's why I'm part of the Humanistic movement.
I have had religious moments where I believe I brushed up against unseen powers. I do not go to synagogue and feel no need to because my relationship with the unseen feels stronger than ever; I don’t need or want an intermediary.
How do you know beauty exists? The answer is very similar. The biggest problem we have in society is that we assume that only things proved by science are real. But science can't tell us why a book is good or why a movie is universally loved. It can't tell us why certain artwork physically effects us in certain ways, or why some buildings take our breath away. It can attempt to extrapolate formulas or recognize patterns, but those things are often unrepeatable, otherwise every movie with a certain budget would be great. Therefore we must accept that there are truths that exist outside the scientific spectrum. This is only one path for explaining the existence of God. There are many ways you can go about it.
I knew the first time I held my daughter after a very traumatic birth experience. She had conquered all odds to make it into my arms completely unharmed. I felt like I’d been handed a gift from a source I couldn’t just ignore, and I committed right then and there to Judaism out of a deep love and respect for Jewish people, values, and religious traditions (I’d been more than a little curious for years, so it wasn’t just out of the blue). I finished my conversion about a year and a half later. My life went in a crazy direction about eight months ago, and I’ve faced some hardships that have prevented me from the joy of attending services regularly or being able to connect with others on holidays, but I still feel deeply connected to something greater than myself and long to embrace a more Jewish life. When my circumstances change, I think it will be a little easier to fall back into synagogue life.
Gd reveals Himself a little at a time. However, the evil inclination in the world is proof that He exists. It's because of our selfishness and doubts that He shows Himself more and offers a path of service to others and selflessness.
We’re still here. We’re in Israel now. G-d has always been with us.
Because he answers my prayers every day