Harry wrote:

Does man need G-d? If so, what for?

-------------
Without vision, the people perish. That's somewhere out of Mishlei, I think, the Nach is over on the other table. And 'vision' isn't quite it in English. More like a vision from the divine. Maybe someone else can explain it better than me.

Hashem gives us the world. And each other. And continues creating the world with every heartbeat. And we all of us are part of that creationing mix.

Maybe someone can argue that we don't need each other, that this world can never be sacred, that it isn't pretty wonderful even with all that's wrong, that no connection is necessary, that the whole shebang would go on without G-d. That life isn't a gift, even the places it takes some of us. I can't.

I think, Harry, when you open a Sefer Torah, you say something like I do: Ribono Shel Olam (Master of the Universe), teach me something, please.

What does Torah teach me? In part: that if you're a bad person, Hashem won't 'get' you, but the person you're bad to--will, if they have a chance. And it will go on and on and on. Unless we stop it.

Unless we realise the world, each other, creation, for the gifts they are. Do I see G-d in that? Oh yes. If I did not, I would be dead by now, not that I matter a lot in the grand scheme of things, but there you have it.

Do I see the potential for us humans in that? Yes. Distantly at times, but yes, and G-d promises us that. That we can turn it around, that we can fix the mess we've made of this place. That it would be tremendously difficult, but it's possible. Ultimately it's up to us. But the 'you can' matters. The world matters.

I don't like getting into 'knowing' stuff, either, theologically, at least not anything that needs to be proved. But history tells me that G-d doesn't clean up the messes in this world. It's down to us. I will stay away from those bits of what I believe to be divine intervention in my life, because they're too subjective, too easy for someone to pull apart. And ultimately, I don't think they mean anything to anyone else--my relationship with the Eternal is not yours, never can be. But that's okay.

Without G-d, would we realise how precious any of it is? Would we know how to act, even? Could any of it even have started, could it keep happening without G-d? Not in my little cosmogony, no.

Without G-d, would there be any hope? I don't think so.

But that's just me.

CK