WHAT WE THINK

We all have different ways of connecting with the Divine. At Beyt Tikkun we welcome everyone regardless of your belief or non-belief in a divinity.

As a congregation, we embrace YHVH (God) as the Force of Healing, Transformation, and Liberation—the power in the universe that makes possible the transformation of reality from that which is to that which can and ought to be: a world of love, justice, generosity, ecological harmony, and awe at the mystery of the universe.

We know that some of us struggle with the traditional conceptions of God, such as a judgmental old man in the sky. Because we do not connect with such a God, we can find it hard to embrace prayer and maybe even Judaism.

Rather than spend your time fighting against the God you don’t believe in, whether that is some big man in heaven or some other formulation or vision, at Beyt Tikkun, we stipulate that the God you don’t believe in, doesn’t exist. You don’t need to waste your time and energy arguing about that God. You can let go of all those old concepts and pictures that interfere with your ability to connect with Divine source.

Judaism has never had a single definition of God. Across history and in our Torah, God has been understood in different ways—YHVH, El Shaddai (Nurturing God), El Roi (Seeing/Witnessing God), El Rachamim (Compassionate God), and others—each reflecting what people needed in their time. Today, as we face domination, inequality, and ecological crisis, we see YHVH—the Force of Transformation and Liberation—as one of the most urgent ways of understanding Divine energy in the universe today.

This vision reminds us that God is beyond human categories. Our metaphors shift with culture and history, but at its core, Judaism teaches that the Divine is the energy of love, justice, and renewal—calling us to co-create a better world. It is the Voice from the future drawing us toward what could be. To hear that Voice in the present, to know that the potential for transformation is in everything, is to touch a central truth of Judaism and all religions.

PRAYER

Prayer helps us tap into a deep reality or presence that is beyond ourselves. Like meditation, prayer slows us down. It helps us connect with ourselves and with the source of all life. In prayer, I hear both my small, struggling self and my deeper, soulful self. In prayer, my narrow, traumatized places cry out—reaching toward the Divine—both within me and beyond me.

As the psalmist says:
Min HaMeytzar Karati Yah, anani bamerchav Yah.
“From my constricted place I call out to YHVH, and YHVH answers me from an expansive place.”

Prayer carries us from fear into spaciousness, from tightness into freedom.

Prayer also awakens awe. The grandeur of the universe. The wonder of simply being alive. As Abraham Joshua Heschel writes: “To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain the sense of mystery that animates all beings. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.”

And prayer calls us to action. It stirs us to heal, to repair, to transform. Again, Heschel reminds us: “Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive—unless it seeks to overthrow the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, and falsehood. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement.”

Our prayers weave a tapestry—deepening our self-connection, awakening us to the wonder of life, and rousing us to resist the forces of fear and separation. May they call us to build a world of justice and love.