Judaism 2.0

 

It Is Time To Fix a Distribution Defect, and Acknowledge a Theological Deficit

​

The Hebrew Bible is regarded by many as the best book ever written, clearly the most influential. It lays down a moral code of conduct that withstands the test of time. Its principles are adhered to by people everywhere. Regarding their identified God as universal, the Jews in Judaism 1.0 failed to declare His commandments as universal. They apply only to the children of Abraham. Leaving the rest of humanity unaddressed was a fundamental and costly mistake, which gave rise to antisemitism. Theologically the Hebrew Bible limited God to fit into the image of a human being. Judaism 2.0 says God is so above and beyond anything we humans can imagine that only its existence can be declared, imposing on divinity no attributes, no limitations whatsoever. It is time to transition from Judaism 1.0 to Judaism 2.0, fix the mistake, and perfect the theology.

​

Judaism 1.0 was introduced by Abraham who realized that constructions hammered by human hands cannot be regarded as "God". He introduced a non-material being in the image of who we are: human beings. The Bible clearly admits: "God built humans in His image." Genesis 1:27). Since the Bible was written by men, this image similarity between God and men is to be interpreted as men imagining God to be limited in His form to resemblance to human beings.

​

Now comes Judaism 2.0 and claims that the essential message of the Bible is not the description of God, but in the realization that we must rise above the prevailing description and fashion a higher one. Much as it is inconceivable that God is a bricks and sticks construction fashioned by men, it is similarly inconceivable that God is a construction envisioned by the limited human imagination. God can only be fairly described by one who knows what we know, and also knows what we don't yet know.

​

Careful analysis of the prevailing science identifies Darwin's evolution as the process that over time created the human species. Our brain is a product of Darwin's evolution. [See: Applied Physics Research Vol 17 No 2].  This very fact raises a big problem because everything in this brain of ours was developed in response to a threat. So the tool we use to contemplate and envision God was designed and formed by the happenstance series of threats that we faced throughout the long duration of Darwin's evolution. Which in turn means that we are blind, unaware, of all the stuff around us that has no survival impact. We evolved our brain to survive, not to figure out a fair view of reality with all its neutral parts. Such neutral reality did not trigger a means for its perception, neither for its consideration, nor, until now, did it trigger any sense of suspicion for its existence. It floats around us unrecognized. Migrating birds apparently developed sensory perception of the geomagnetic field, required for their survival. Since we humans developed other means to find our way around, we did not build in our body and brain the sensory perception of the earth magnetism. Same for everything else that is around us and did not help us escape our hunters, nor find food. Moreover, since it is so unsettling to conclude that we are in such deep state of ignorance versus reality in its full span, we are strongly tempted to deny this prospect, and avoid the actionable conclusions thereto.

​

Judaism 2.0 simply says we are not ready to describe God in any credible way because we are not in the know of the reality which is God's creation. How can we positively describe the creator of something we don't know what it is. Mind you, we have no way of guessing the nature of God except through His creation around us. Limited as we are by Darwin's evolution, or say held back by Darwin's barriers, all we can say about the custodian and the creator of everything there is, is that He is. The particulars specified in Judaism 1.0 do not stand the logic and the reason of Judaism 2.0. Is God just? Is God benevolent, forgiving, soft and embracing? We sure hope so, but we have no rational way to positively declare so.  And what about the 613 commandments in Judaism 1.0 -- most of them are consistent with our sense of fairness, justice and propriety?  Which we ought to follow because we have no other guide, and because we, by and large, share them.

​

So Judaism 2.0 says: stay on with Judaism 1.0, habits, customs, procedures and all, but crown it with the new insight that points to our unbound ignorance as to the reality created by God and hence to the nature and description of God Himself.

​

Underlying all the Judaism 1.0 commandments that we comply with by default and by history, we identify the single commandment pointed to by our new knowledge: reduce our ignorance, focus on the big unknown to make it known.

​

Can we do it? Limited as we are by our Darwinian brain how can we hop beyond? Isn't our unbound ignorance our permanent predicament? A very important question for which the answer is in the ignorance zone. It sure deserves our prime effort. Indeed, this very issue has recently been published in a prestigious physics journal ("Applied Physics Research" Vol 17 No2), and  many physics luminaries are getting on it.

From the point of view of Judaism 2.0 the important element is the repeat of Judaism 1.0 -- refusing to settle for God as either a man hammered wood and stone construction, or a Darwin brain imagined spiritual construction. (in man's image as the Bible says). Judaism 2.0 is insisting that God will only emerge to be known, worshipped and obeyed when we make significant progress in our singular grand mission to first bound our ignorance and then to minimize it.

​

Judaism 2.0 in its wake also fixes the biggest serious defect in Judaism 1.0. Judaism 1.0 emerged at the time when every tribe built their own wood and stone God construction. The Jews pioneered the idea of a spiritual God, which while He was the God that constructed everything, he nonetheless was the God of the Hebrews, the Jews, exclusively. If a non-Jew said: Judaism 1.0 makes sense for me, I want to be part of it, then the Jewish leaders would have rejected, or at least seriously discouraged, such a would be joiner.  Good and decent non-Jews who embraced Judaism 1.0 were not eligible to join. In other words, Judaism 1.0 ignores people not belonging to the tribe of Abraham.

​

What happened in reality was that the insightful and inspirational message of Judaism 1.0 as documented in the Hebrew Bible did make its way outside the tribe, but since Judaism was closed to those outsiders, they adopted the same insight and message in a framework of their own religion. That is how first Christianity and then Islam emerged on the world scene. Both of these religions were inclusive, leaving their mother-religion, Judaism, alone as exclusive and separatist.

​

And here it begins: a non-engaging minority which claims superiority, inevitably becomes a target for negativity, hostility, hatred, and violence which is exactly the historic record of the Jews throughout history.

​

Judaism 2.0 is fixing this defect: everyone is welcome.  Judaism 2.0 is Judaism for all. To wash any scent of arrogance we pursue Judaism 2.0 under the brand name of Religion21: Religion for the 21st century.

​

Judaism 2.0 as practiced by ethnic Jews is in full adherence to the particulars of Judaism 1.0 only that on top of its procedures we put our acknowledged unbound ignorance, and the realization that it is not for us to limit God to attributes we think He should have, not depict Him as built in our image, but leave everything open except His existence.

​

Facing a future of great uncertainty, we better hold on to our track record, our history, our legacy, our tradition. We Jews have a rich and intricate tradition; we have our own characteristics. We are united and bonded by the long history of antisemitism that diluted us through and through, refining the core of the surviving Jews, now counting a fraction of their count potential: fifteen million Jews, no more, worldwide.  The original Jews, the Hebrews, have pointed to the right direction with Judaism 1.0: God is not our handmade physical construction, rather it is a non-material expression.  Now, once again, we point to the right direction: Judaism 2.0 says: God is above and beyond any spiritual entity that our Darwinian brain can draw.  What lies beyond? We don't know yet, because we are in a state of unbound ignorance. And how do we worship the God that even our imagination cannot reach?  We commit to get closer to God by washing  away our ignorance; we strive to know, to be aware, to learn, and we don't call half-truth full truth. Judaism  2.0 (Religion21) says: don't dismiss the admission of unbound ignorance as long as our ignorance is unbound. No shortcuts! However long it takes  we learn, we innovate, we wash away our ignorance.  It is not easy. The more we know the more it appears that what is left is little details and non-consequential. We must not be tempted to be overly impressed with our accumulating knowledge, what we don't yet know may be beyond our imagined limit.

​

This single command religion based on our unbound ignorance is all that we need, in order to live a good life individually and as a society.  Schedule a conversation:  Gideon@TryAgain.com.​

​