Editing Jewish principles of faith (section)

===Nature of God===
{{see also|Tzimtzum|Apophatic theology#Judaism|Free will in Theology#Judaism|Divine simplicity#In Jewish thought|Kuzari#Question of attributes}}
The Jewish view is that God is [[Eternity|eternal]], with "neither beginning nor end", a principle stated in a number of Biblical passages. The rabbis taught a "quite literally ... down-to-earth" view of the eternalness of God: "God is eternal, but it is not given to man to explore the full meaning of this idea." So, "one cannot, therefore, expect to find in the [[Rabbinic Judaism|rabbinic literature]] anything like a detailed examination of what is meant by divine eternity." A famous [[Mishnah]] statement on attempts to "pierce the veil" is this: "Whoever reflects on four things it were better for him that he had not come into the world: "What is above? What is beneath? what is before? and what is after?"<ref>Louis Jacobs, "Chapter 6: Eternity" in ''A Jewish Theology'' (1973). Behrman House: p. 81-93.</ref>

Various Jewish thinkers, however, have proposed a "finite God", sometimes in response to the [[problem of evil]] and ideas about [[free will]]. [[Louis Jacobs]] writes that modern Jewish thinkers such as [[Levi Olan]], echoing some classical Jewish writers such as the 14th-century Talmudist [[Gersonides]], have "thought of God as limited by His own nature so that while He is infinite in some respects he is finite in others", referencing the idea, present in classical sources, that "there is a primal formless material co-existent with God from all eternity upon which God has to work, and that God only knows the future in a general sense, but not how individual men will exercise their choice".<ref name="LouisJacobs_a">Louis Jacobs, "Chapter 5: Omnipotence and Omniscience" in ''A Jewish Theology'' (1973). Behrman House: p. 76-77.</ref> On the topic of omniscience and free will, Jacobs writes that in the medieval period, three views were put forth: [[Maimonides]], who wrote that God had foreknowledge and man is free; Gersonides, who wrote that man is free and consequently God does not have complete knowledge, and [[Hasdai Crescas]], who wrote in ''[[Or Adonai]]'' that God has complete foreknowledge and consequently man is not really free.<ref name="LouisJacobs_a" />

Several Jewish writers have dealt with the issue of [[theodicy]]: whether and how God is all-powerful and all-good, given the existence of evil in the world, particularly [[the Holocaust]]. [[Jon D. Levenson]] argues that omnipotence doctrine fails to "give due regard to "'the formidability and resilience of the forces counteracting creation" (such as the primordial state of chaos existing before creation) and "leads to a neglect of the role of humanity in forming and stating the world order.<ref name="Clark">Clark M. Williamson, ''A Guest in the House of Israel: Post-Holocaust Church Theology'' (1993). Westminster John Knox Press: pp. 210-215.</ref> [[Hans Jonas]] proposed a "tentative myth" that "God 'chose' in the beginning to give God's self 'over to the chance and risk and endless variety of becoming, entering into the adventure of space in time". Jonas said, "God does not create the world by fiat (although God does create the world), but leads it by beckoning it into novel possibilities of becoming. Jonas, who was influenced by the [[Holocaust theology|Holocaust experience]], believed that God is omnipresent, but not "in all respects non-temporal, impassible, immutable, and unqualified omnipotent."<ref name="Clark"/>

Traditionally, Judaism views God as a [[personal god]]. This is shown in the [[Jewish liturgy]], such as in the [[Adon Olam]] [[hymn]], which includes a "confident affirmation" that "He is my God, my living God...Who hears and answers".<ref name="Samuel">Samuel S. Cohon. ''What We Jews Believe'' (1931). [[Union of American Hebrew Congregations]].</ref> [[Edward Kessler]] writes that the Hebrew Bible "portrays an encounter with a God who cares passionately and who addresses humanity in the quiet moments of its existence."<ref name="EdwardKessler">Edward Kessler, ''What Do Jews Believe?: The Customs and Culture of Modern Judaism'' (2007). Bloomsbury Publishing: pp. 42-44.</ref> [[List of Chief Rabbis of the United Hebrew Congregations|British chief rabbi]] [[Jonathan Sacks]] suggests that God "is not distant in time or detached, but passionately engaged and present."<ref name="EdwardKessler"/> The predicate 'personal' as applied to God does not mean that God is [[Incorporeality|corporeal]] or [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]], views which Judaism has always rejected; instead, "personality" refers not to physicality, but to "inner essence, psychical, rational, and moral".<ref name="Samuel" /> Although most Jews believe that "God can be experienced", it is understood that "God cannot be understood" because "God is utterly unlike humankind" (as shown in God's response to [[Moses]] when Moses asked for God's name: "[[I Am that I Am]]"); all anthropomorphic statements about God "are understood as linguistic metaphors; otherwise, it would be impossible to talk about God at all".<ref name="EdwardKessler" />

Although the dominant strain in Judaism is that God is personal, there is an "alternate stream of tradition exemplified by ... Maimonides", who, along with several other Jewish philosophers, rejected the idea of a personal God.<ref name="EdwardKessler" /> This reflected his belief in [[negative theology]]: that God can only be described by what God is not.<ref name="EdwardKessler" /> Rabbi [[Mordecai Kaplan]], who developed [[Reconstructionist Judaism]] and taught at the [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]], also rejected the idea of a personal God. Kaplan instead thought of God "as a force, like [[gravity]], built into the very structure of the universe", believing that "since the universe is constructed to enable us to gain personal happiness and communal solidarity when we act morally, it follows that there is a moral force in the universe; this force is what the Constructionists mean by God", although some Reconstructionists do believe in a personal God.<ref>Morris N. Kertzer, ''What Is a Jew'' (1996). Simon and Schuster: pp. 15-16.</ref> According to [[Joseph Telushkin]] and Morris N. Kertzer, Kaplan's "rationalist rejection of the traditional Jewish understanding of God exerted a powerful influence" on many Conservative and Reform rabbis, influencing many to stop believing in a personal God".<ref>[[Joseph Telushkin]], ''Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History'' (Revised Edition) (2008). HarperCollins: p. 472.</ref> According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, Americans who identify as Jewish by religion are twice as likely to favor ideas of God as "an impersonal force" over the idea that "God is a person with whom people can have a relationship".<ref>http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/05/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417032920/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/05/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf |date=2017-04-17 }}, p. 164</ref>