Mendelson Scholar Series: Rabbi Erin Leib Smokler

There is a famous Hasidic teaching about a student who comes to his rabbi, beset by religious doubts. “I just don’t believe in God,” he says tearfully. The rabbi listens to the student’s concerns and replies, “You know, the God you don’t believe in, I don’t believe in either.” Who/what is the God we believe in? Is God even something to believe in? What if that is a category error? What happens when we open up the very concept of belief and the concept of divinity? What theologies might we shed? And what might we be open to?

This weekend will offer an opportunity to think broadly and feel deeply into the varieties of religious language and religious experience offered by our complex tradition.