The Healer of Shattered Hearts: A Jewish View of God.

IT SEEMS ALMOST AN EON AWAY, BUT A short twenty-five years ago people were talking seriously about "the death of God." The statement was not so much metaphysical as sociological: even if God existed and cared about us, people found that fact irrelevant to their lives.

Although the movement was heavily Christian in its language and in the identity of its exponents, it certainly bespoke the attitude of many Jews as well. Indeed, Jews were then, and have remained, the most secularized religious group in America. Aside from sociological, economic, and educational factors, this may well stem from the inherent structure of Judaism, in contrast to that of Christianity: one can be a Christian only in religious terms, but one can identify with the broader civilizational and ethnic factors which make up Jewish identity without asserting its religious core. Philosophical and practical problems abound in doing that, but a large percentage of Jews believe and act that way. In opinion polls they may profess a belief in God, but, for most, such a response is more of an assertion of respectability than a statement of a dynamic reality in their lives. Jews certainly attend synagogues with much less regularity and in much smaller percentages than Christians find their way into churches.

These two books, however, are part of a battery of evidence that Jews in increasing numbers are now seeking God. This is hardly a mass movement, but it is a distinct phenomenon in contemporary Jewish life, which manifests itself among Jews of all types. Some plunge into it with the zeal of the newly converted -- and then, as often as not, leave it just as suddenly. This is especially true of Orthodox ba'alei teshuvah (repentants). Most Jews in a search for God are surprised at finding themselves engaged in it, recurrently uneasy about it, and maybe even embarrassed by it. They often are wary and skeptical.

Nevertheless, they yearn for a sense of meaning in their lives, for community, for an understanding of roots and goals, for an outlet for feelings, and for assurance that their struggles are not lonely and worthless. This may be triggered by a specific event, like the death of a parent, tradition and modernity. Neither will satisfy those who align with halakhic teaching but ...