r/Jewish • u/ChessSuperpro • 1d ago
Questions š¤ Am I Jewish if I don't believe in God?
My family isn't particularly religious, (my mother and brother are non religious, and my father is Jewish, goes to Temple, but doesn't try to make the rest of my family Jewish.)
In the last year or so, I've been embracing Judaism more. (I've been going to Temple, reading the translated Torah, trying to learn Hebrew, celebrating Hanukkah, etc).
However, how ever much I try, I can't convince myself to believe in God, or anything that goes against science (trust me I want to and try to believe.)
Am I Jewish? I'm confused. I want to believe, but I can't.
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u/mikiencolor Just Jewish 21h ago
Yes. If you doubt it, just tell non-Jewish people that you're an atheist who comes from a Jewish family, and watch the "Jewish" part become the main thing they identify you by.
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u/Hopeful_Being_2589 20h ago
For real. This.
Iāve been in the punk scene for most my life. Where pretty much everyone considers themselves atheist or agnostic, including meā¦ yet Iām still the token Jew.1
u/nofx_given_ Just Jewish 17m ago
Yup, we were literally called the "Jew Crew" at gigs. It didn't matter if we were religious or believed in god. That was our identifier.
Edited to add: We were called it by others and it was not a name we gave ourselves.
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u/SnooCrickets2458 17h ago
"Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not." - Tyrion Lannister
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u/Emotional-Tailor-649 20h ago
Of course you are. A lot of Jews who survived the Holocaust struggled with their belief in god afterwards. I wouldnāt call any of them not Jewish for not believing in god.
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u/sleepyouroboros 21h ago
Iām a patrilineal Jew and Iām not really religious - many other Jews will say Iām not a real Jew for either/both of these reasons but I believe that being Jewish is not just about being religious. Iāve seen someone else say something to the effect of āJews are not a religious people, but a people with a religionā which makes sense to me; we have unique cultures and traditions that revolve around religion, but also our history as a people.
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u/Interesting_Claim414 21h ago
Youāre right ā itās very simple. We are Jews. Jews come from Judea but sometimes we adopt people into our tribe. We have a religion called Judaism but not every Jew practices it. All we require religiously is that you not pray to idols and multiple gods because those are in conflict with our the commandments.
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u/sababa-ish 19h ago
yep my situation is the same. it's weird because nobody on the jewish side of my family is religious, my dad is very proudly jewish but has always been an atheist.
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u/LynnKDeborah 21h ago
No belief in god necessary. Many Atheist and Agnostic Jews. If you donāt believe youāll unlikely be able to force yourself. Possibly Find a local Reform synagogue to learn more.
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u/Jjrose362 22h ago
G-d doesnāt go against science
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u/Bruhses_Momenti 16h ago
I second this, read the Torah as metaphor and mythologized history, not as direct fact, the existence of a god doesnāt go against science, but some of the magic in the Torah definitely does, and so this is how I go about it, there is a god, all this mustāve come from something, does he intervene? Could he if he wanted to? I donāt know, and it doesnāt really concern us, so who cares, prays away or donāt.
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u/Jewishandlibertarian 22h ago
On the one hand, according to Jewish law your status as a Jew doesnāt depend on your personal beliefs. And many Jews are openly secular or atheistic - in Israel they even have their own legal status (hilonim) which determines Eg what kinds of schools they are assigned to.
On the other hand, belief in God has been a core belief of Judaism since the beginning. Itās a challenge to rationalize following all the commandments of Jewish law without the belief that God commanded them. And pretty much every Jewish custom has some religious basis. There are communities of secular Jews that try to create new secular Jewish traditions but I donāt see them catching on.
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u/Hopeful_Being_2589 20h ago edited 20h ago
Yes, you are Jewish.
There are a lot of agnostic and atheist Jews.
I consider myself agnostic.
Another reason Judaism is considered an ethnoreligion.
Sharing a belief in one god is not the one thing that connects Jews. Our culture connects us. Our holidays, our language, our history, etc etc
Even if you do not speak Hebrew, Yiddish or ladino fluently.. Iām sure more than youāre aware of is in your vocabulary than non Jews.
edit* Also part of Judaism is questioning..everything. The Talmud is a great example of that.
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u/InformationPlayful29 20h ago
Of course lol most of my Jewish friends are atheists, myself, my partner, and everyone in my family included
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u/Villanelle__ 19h ago
I believe more in Hashem as like, a universal consciousness. I literally see in my minds eye the universe and cosmos that is coupled with this feeling of intelligence. Ask yourself what DO you believe? Maybe explore that?
You can also lean into the cultural aspects of being Jewish such as cuisine, community life etc.
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u/Mindless_Charity_395 Tribe Protector 19h ago
Me too!!!
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u/Villanelle__ 19h ago
You can also lean into Jewish practices that seem religious, but can easily be adapted into secular life. One example is Shabbat. Lean into the spirit of it, trying to relax more, having Friday dinners etc. I love having Friday night family dinners then walking to shul in the morning. Itās the one day I beautify myself to honor and beautify Shabbat too. I donāt do any house cleaning or work either.
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u/xaqadeus 20h ago
To answer your question, yes.
Jews are a people. Many Jews observe Judaism to different degrees, while many Jews do not.
Even religious Jews wrestle with the nature of God, and some are skeptical of if we can really "believe in God" when we don't have the capacity to truly grasp what it is...
But yes, you are Jewish. Congrats on the burden and the blessing of that.
We have quite a story and are as resilient as it gets.
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u/snowplowmom 19h ago
You're Jewish if your mother is/was born a Jew, and you're raised a Jew, or if you convert. The Reform accept patrilineal Jews, too. It is a religious identity, but also ethnicity and tribal identity. I have a pretty good Jewish education, raised my kids as Jews, and yet I didn't really believe in God from about age 12 or so. It's not that I don't believe in God, I don't really care whether God exists or not. What I care about is living life in a Godly fashion, meaning treating others well, caring for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor, working towards a just world, repairing the world. I feel that Judaism provides an excellent framework for that, and it is just who I am.
Once I asked a Hebrew school teacher why we never really talked about God. We mostly talked about Jewish law, liturgy, history, texts. He looked a bit uncomfortable, and then he said that he thought it might be because of all the horrors perpetrated upon the Jews by "godly" Christians, in the name of Jesus Christ and Christianity. They murdered countless Jews, claiming that this was what God wanted them to do.
So be confident in your Jewish identity. I taught my children to be Jews without necessarily teaching them belief in God. I taught them to believe in Judaism.
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u/Mindless_Charity_395 Tribe Protector 19h ago
I had an extremely hard time with this as well, since I was little. I would always question metaphysics, G-d, spirituality, even did some mild research on each topic. Honestly whether you believe in G-d, or not, it doesnāt change your heritage. If your Jewish, your Jewish, period. When I started reading Torah, I realized that I donāt need a thorough explanation about anything, because the book itself has beautiful and valuable lessons. It made me change my perspective to questioning everything to just being appreciative. Maybe this could work for you also, try to approach it differently.
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u/seamonstersparkles 17h ago
Yes! My grandfather was an atheist and proud Jew! And I consider myself agnostic.
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u/EternalII 13h ago
It's not just a religion, but understanding that religion is an important part of our identity and the basis of our Peoplehood, is a factor. Your faith in it, on the other hand, is a personal matter. (But faith and acceptance of another religion is not)
For instance, you don't have to believe or have faith, but understanding what Hanukkah is for instance and its historical context is important. It was quite a miracle! Faith doesn't stop you from celebrating it.
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u/Ska-dancer-66 11h ago
I participated heavily on an agnostic social website years ago. When I raised a discussion about being an atheist Jew I was mercilessly abused by the white ex Christians on the site. All claiming that my life was unacceptable and impossible. In fact, I was bullied off the site. The gentiles won't understand. But we do.
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u/BionicTurtle64 14h ago
I would explore Humanist Judaism if I were you! As an agnostic (at best) Jew, I really liked the service I went too recently
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u/teddyblues66 Modern Orthodox 10h ago
Yes, you're part of a community/family regardless of your belief in God. We're lucky to have you
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u/Beautiful_Bag6707 Jewy Jew 20h ago
If you are born Jewish (this is a halachic conversation as to which parent determines this), you are Jewish. If you don't participate in any of the religious practices, culture, language, traditions, community, food, history, etc., then you might still be considered a Jew (halachically) albeit a not very good one. It's kind of difficult to claim Jewish ethnicity when there's nothing about you that's ethnically Jewish and the same holds true for religion.
Many Jews are ethnically Jewish and pass on the ethnicity to their children, thus continuing the Jewish line whilst not being religiously Jewish or any other religion. If someone is actively embracing another religion, then they're still Jewish but a heretic.
Since Japanese and Sikhs are ethnicities, imagine someone from those groups procreating outside of their ethnic group and sharing none of it with their children and grandchildren. While they would still be technically Japanese or Sikh, those grandchildren wouldn't be able to say, "As a Japanese person..." when they have no concept as to what being Japanese is. Same with Jews.
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u/Local3mo 19h ago
in the torah it says āthere is no more than one godā and you can leave this up to interpretation so some may take that as āone godā or 1-0 gods š¤·āāļø
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u/Yuval_Levi 21h ago
I believe your question is best answered with questions. Do you believe we Jews are a chosen people? If so, what are we chosen for and who chose us for that purpose?
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u/CactusChorea 19h ago
1) There is no question that you are Jewish as far as I am concerned. This is true regardless.
2) I believe the classic socratic rhetoric around this question would be to put the question back to you: in what, precisely, do you not believe?
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u/Metoocka 6h ago
Yes, absolutely. I went to Jewish day schools until middle school and used to believe in Hashem. Over time I began to question the existence of any magical being. Movies such as Kevin Smith's Dogma and Bill Maher's Religulous got me thinking and were the push I needed to get over the fence. I still consider myself proudy Jewish and a supporter of Eretz Yisrael. It's a cultural signifier.
There's even a community for Jewish atheists and agnostics on FB called Flying Spaghetti Monster Synagogue. In case you haven't heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), the idea is that it's just as ridiculous (or valid) to worship a flying spaghetti monster as it is to worship any other deity. Religious headgear is a colandar and is not gender-specific.
p.s. The "FSM" is a general atheist creation, not a Jewish one. That particular FB group is geared towards Jews and references the FSM to let us know that it's for atheists or agnostics.
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u/EastAmbassador6425 5h ago
It is more than just a religious thing. There is a branch of Judaism that is humanistic and has no deity involved. What it has is a celebration of history and traditions. Iād say that would be a good fit.
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u/icarofap 4h ago
Yea, a lot of jews are just "ethnic" of "cultural" jews, even famous jewish figures like Freud were non religious.
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u/21PenSalute 1h ago
Questioning God or whether there is a God is such a Jewish act! Yes, you are Jewish. You are Jewish because your mother is Jewish. Judaism is an ethnoreligion unlike Christianity, for example. We are people, not just a religion.
Keep on reading Torah, celebrating holidays and simchas, and keep on pondering and questioning.
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u/whatever1238o0opp 22h ago
You didn't mention the pertinent thing. Is your mother Jewish (up the female line).
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u/The_Lone_Wolves 21h ago
I have never once believed in god in my entire life. My Jewish heritage is central to my identity.
Yes.