Writing in The Forward, my old schoolmate Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove rightly notes that

[W]hile Judaism may be a religion of deed and not creed, a generation that does not invest its energy into the question of Jewish belief is a generation that will find itself without the life-sustaining aquifers necessary to keep it vital.

He points out that without theology, kashrut, circumcision, and Israel are, respectively, a diet, a medical technique, and another problematic Middle Eastern country.

And without theology, the synagogue is just another old boys’ or old girls’ club, or perhaps just another preschool.

Larry Hoffman has started the conversation (PDF download). Anyone want to join him and Elliot?

(Thanks to Jewschool’s LastTrumpet for the heads-up.)

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