Beyond Belief: Reflections on Jewish Faith, Reason, and Experience, is designed to help students take a closer look at how Jewish beliefs can help bring meaning to their lives and guide their choices.
How did the world get here? If the Universe has a Creator, does He run the world, or has He stepped into the background and left things up to physical and human nature? How does G-d communicate with us? What is a prophet? Are there any prophets living today? Who wrote the Torah? Where does the text we read today come from? Are we rewarded and punished for our behavior? What is the meaning of the Jewish concept of a Messiah? Is there an afterlife?
Maimonides, the pre-eminent Jewish thinker, systematically identified thirteen key beliefs that touch on all of the questions above, and that serve as the foundation of Judaism to this day. Taken together, they are a set of necessary and sufficient building blocks that allow us to construct a deep and nuanced understanding of what it means to live as a Jew.
In this course, students examine the logic and role each principle plays in shaping their world view. Students will also have the opportunity to grapple with ideas that sometimes seem remote, and to gain insight into the process by which these and other beliefs are shaped and expanded. Most importantly, this course will also address the inner struggle that many people feel when considering issues of faith.
Lesson Five: Seeking Heaven
In Lesson Two, we saw that G-d speaks to us through the prophets, but can we also speak to G-d? What can we learn about ourselves from the way in which we choose to pray? How does G-d respond to our actions and our words? Do we have to wait till after we die to find our eternal reward? Or can we find heaven (and hell) on earth? In this lesson, we examine prayer as a form of self-assessment, as well as G-d's reward and punishment of our actions.
