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What’s a Jew to do during the high holy days when they question the existence of a higher power?

Movdsouth 4 Sep 15
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Be an agnostic, not an atheist, then you can question the existence of a higher power too. You say they question the existence of a "higher power", which means the people you are with are agnostics. I have found that many Jews are

All Jews are different. In my Jewish by Culture Group we have x-tians who are vs anti-Semitism and racism.

@sassygirl3869 Many Jews I know on the Upper West Side of Manhattan are cultural Jews who may visit the synagogue for family reasons on the High Holy Days, but actually they are agnostics & atheists. They question whether there is a higher power as agnostics, not as Jews.

@Remiforce ok makes sense-personally I do not believe in such.

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well, i am a jew, i like the high holy days, and i don't question the existence of a higher power -- i actively disbelief in the existence of a higher power, all questioning over.

so what i do is i go and i read the quotations in the front of our prayer books, which are very interesting and have surprisingly little to do with any deities for the most part, and i listen to the humanist aspects of the sermon and i take the god bit as metaphorical and don't sweat it. and yeah, as @lazylee said, enjoy the food. our break-the-fast is heavy on the lox. i adore lox. lox is good. every time someone says "god" i could think of lox and smile (i don't need to do that but if it was a problem, you know?)

now, nonjews reading this might not quite get it, but there is no fire and brimstone in judaism, and the sermons i remember best from my extremely infrequent visits were about recycling and whether or not there was an afterlife (rabbi's conclusion: we don't know, but it's interesting to think about, albeit not an important part of living. no christian would say THAT!) and yom kippur is interesting in and of itself because it reminds us 1. to offer forgiveness if possible to those who have harmed us, 2. to ask forgiveness of those we have harmed, not of god, but of those humans we have harmed, and that it's not all that important to us whether or not they do forgive us, but it is important to be sincere in the asking and to change or have changed the harmful behavior; and 3. remember what it feels like to be hungry because there are still hungry (and enslaved) people in the world today. those are good concepts and you don't need a god to want to remember those things.

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Thanks for that 😊

@Geoffrey51 🙂)

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You genesis are exactly right. These are the days I miss being part of a Jewish community for the last 20+ years in small southern town

@Movdsouth hence your screen name yes?

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Go out for Chinese?

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Ignore them, just like "god" ignored everyone during the Holocaust.

The existence of imaginary beings should always be questioned.
Then dismissed as nothing more than the myths they all are.
ALL gods are myths.

This supposed omnipresent and just entity has apparently ignored genocide and children being raped and murdered by people in their own families, but he did help Karen find her keys last week.

@BufftonBeotch just once my prEyer to the lottery gawd could be answered with the PowerBALL Numbers exactly matching my 3 dollar ticket

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A higher power? I like 220 volts over 120?

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Simple, just grab a nice freshly made Ham sandwich ( after all the Kosher rules are RELIGION based anyway) or two and have a relaxing time with a picnic or sitting by seashore.

actually the kosher rules are NOT religion-based. they got incorporated into judaism because that's how things got codified in the absence of real science, but they were based on astute observation that people who ate pork and shellfish were dropping dead of (what we now know is) trichanosis (pardon my spelling). without science, the best they could do was say god was punishing those people for eating those things. deserts get pretty hot, there was no refrigeration, and those foods can, if not properly stored and prepared, cause that illness. there is no need to follow those rules now as we DO have refrigeration, and theoretically we have the fda looking after us (i wouldn't count too much on that). but kashruth DID get codified and there it is. but i would like to know what the hell that has to do with the high holy days anyway? the question wasn't how to amuse oneself during the high holy days. the question was how to OBSERVE them while being true to one's actual beliefs.

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@genessa I WAS attempting to facetious and having a joke with my reply.

@Triphid i understood that. it didn't work and the reason is that jokes are funny in direct proportion to how hard they hit the truth. since your joke was based on an apparent misreading of the question and an apparent misapprehension of a fact crucial to the joke, it didn't work.

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@genessa good point-Islam has same dietary laws due to lack of refrigeration years ago in the hot Middle East.

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I dunno, feel guilty about something you shouldn't? That seems to be the whole point of religion anyways.

1of5 Level 8 Sep 15, 2019
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Eat Chinese food and go to the movies. 🙂

Damnit, you got there first. Have you been following me around for the last 30 years?

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Who is they? Why would "they" question the existence of something that doesn't exist? This sounds like an oxymoron to me. But, regardless, here at least nobody believes in high or even low holy days, we only believe in normal run of the mill common days comprised of 24 hours and we choose to do whatever we want to do during those days as it's nobody's business what you choose to do any given day (as long as it is legal). So do whatever you want to do.

So being Jewish is much more than a religion it’s a heritage and a tradition that goes back almost 6000 years. Unlike christianity with its definitive rules, even if you believe in the god of the Jews there is no punishment for questioning his or her existence. Before I go any further in this discussion with you personally, I should point out that this site is agnostic.com, not atheist.com

@Movdsouth i don't really care about the stupid "traditions" of any religion, they are all moronic and baseless. I care even less what the site is called, I don't use labels, I just do not believe in bullshit.

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Go enjoy a nice chocolate milkshake!

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Just do what you do on all the other days, and stop questioning. Just enjoy.

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Become a secular Jew

i think she already is a secular jew. but maybe she likes the tradition and wants to be able to enjoy it without feeling a conflict with her secularity. i am also an atheist and a jew, and i have responded to the best of my ability (without writing war and peace about it) above.

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I don't question a higher power. I just let Him do His thing while i do mine. One thing i know...these religion cats have no inkling as to What He is or what He is doing. Those of us here, on this site, are actually more in tune with Him than they could ever be. We're minding our own business and tending to living, each is our own way. No falsehoods attributed to That Which Is (or Isn't). However, the Jews had it right when they said it was a sin to even mention His name. Also, "Do not take the name of the L.... in vain." Jews, again. Right? So on the High Holy days feel good about yourself. You're so much closer to the truth than they.

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I was raised Jewish, so I just enjoy the cultural aspect and have a nice dinner with my family/loved ones. There was always a running joke in my family that every celebration was an excuse to eat.

ha that is funny. what i have always said, myself, is that most jewish holidays are about this: "they tried to kill us. they failed. we lived. let's eat!"

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@genessa Yes, I've heard that one, too!

@bleurowz me too-its all about the food!

Agree with the others. Food 😋

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Spend it with your family. Ignore the god part. Eat the food!

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A-Jew-duh-cate it?...
Yeah I went there sue me...

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This seems like a strange place to ask

it does not seem in the least strange to me!

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No guilt, just having a conversation

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Start like everybody else... start with the lower power!!!

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Drink booze like anybody else?

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How about having a few days off?

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Ignore tha questions. Of course, you can always speak as a historian not a believer. When believrs start bothering me, I start telling them about Odin,Allvattar, the Norse god, who hung himself upside downfrom Yggdrasil ( the world tree) plucked out one of his eyes to gain the knowlege of certain runes. These are all Heldensagen, heroes tales, and people crave them . Have some ready to tell. It doesn't matter which religion you choose. They are all tales.

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I think we all could benefit from a day of honest atonement as in Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah looks like it could be a fun time.

See above. Thanks.

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The culture I come from is Jewish, but I am 3rd generation atheist on one side, maybe both. What are called the High Holy days, and, in spring Passover, are an annoyance to me . Well, no, just Passover is, with its food restrictions. As a teenager, a friend and I wanted to see what it was all about, and tried to attend "Services." We were simply turned away at the door, having no tickets, and the apparent disregard for us, rather than some interest in why we might have come without tickets, did nothing to endear either of us to the religion.
I do nothing different at the autumn holy days, and have attended a Seder at Passover, at a cousin's annually. To me, this is just a time to visit with family. My wife has done second night Seder at our house, but, now, with no family close by, after our recent move, we'll see.

that is odd. we cannot afford membership (nor would i want membership) in the local shul but they do not turn us away; they know we're poor and they accommodate us. that is what they're SUPPOSED to do.

oddly, i don't think of passover in terms of restrictions, but maybe that is because i don't eat that much bread to start with and i like matza. go figure, right? so to me it's an increased availability of some special things i like to eat.

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@genessa Yes, I would think that that is what they are supposed to do, as well. I applaud your schul!

I have lived places with friendly open armed Jewish communities and some with snobby not so nice, show me your tickets Jewish communities. Hmmmm, sounds the same as goyim and atheist communities.

@Movdsouth yep, just like the rest of humanity! individuals with something important in common and lots of other stuff not in common 🙂)

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Take the question seriously, and seek an answer by the scientific method. Look for facts and evidence, not just blind faith.

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Enjoy the food.

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Volunteer for a non-religious charity. Show love to your fellow humans, and do something that is meaningful to you.

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