Response to Frum Atheist

A good friend of mine who was born and raised in a traditional American Jewish home told me recently that she cannot buy into that whole concept of God.  This was not about the role of women or any particular mitzvoth, this was about the essential emunah: relying on God, trusting God, seeking God.  I assumed that young people in the land of gold were high on emunah because they are born with a silver spoon, kind of living on manna.  I naively thought that disbelief comes from suffering and hard work.  But this person had everything and did not even have to work! 

My friend acknowledged the psychological benefits of religion, and advantages of raising children in religious environment, and the pleasure of living in a frum community, but she just did not like that whole idea that everything comes from God.  In her view, religious people are fed on illusion, and that keep them happy and decent, but it is still an illusion.

I acknowledged her point of view, and even quoted a famous much admired philosopher among quite a few who wrote along the same line of thought.  And then I said that I disagree. 

I disagree that faith in God alleviates the symptoms of psychological unease, working like a band-aid to cover a wound, a paint to cover the ugliness of life. I believe that faith cures psychological and physical condition because it connects the soul with its true source, in other words it works because it is true. It does not paint over the ugliness but uncovers the true beauty, it does not just cool down but truly heals the wounds, it gives the soul not soda pop but clean water to nourish and sustain it.

We are suffering because we are in exile - when a human being is born the soul is exiled from its source, when the world was created the man and woman were exiled from paradise, we as Jews were exiled from our land to serve strangers - and the only way to alleviate that existential suffering of exile is to seek God, the source of all souls, to catch the glimpse of His presence, to search for bits and pieces of His spirit, wherever they could be found.