92NY Center for Culture & Arts

Recanati-Kaplan Talks

I’m Jewish. Do I Have to Believe in God?

Rabbi David Wolpe and Professor Rebecca Newberger Goldstein in Conversation with 92NY’s Rabbi David Ingber

Rabbi David Wolpe, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, and Rabbi David Ingber

It’s a question as old as monotheism itself: Are Jews a race? A culture? A people? A religious group?

And where, today, might God fit in? In SAPIR’s most recent volume on faith, one of America’s preeminent rabbis, David Wolpe, describes the paradox of maintaining belief in the face of skepticism, and leading philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein considers how to live an ethical life as a self-proclaimed Jewish atheist. They are joined by Rabbi David Ingber for a thought-provoking discussion on whether belief in God is crucial to living a Jewish life.

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Rabbi David Ingber

Rabbi David A. Ingber is the new Senior Director for Jewish Life and Senior Director of the Bronfman Center at 92NY …

Rabbi David Ingber

Rabbi David A. Ingber is the new Senior Director for Jewish Life and Senior Director of the Bronfman Center at 92NY. He serves as the founding rabbi of Romemu, the largest Renewal synagogue in the United States. Rabbi Ingber founded Romemu in NYC in 2006, following his ordination by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Founder of the Jewish Renewal movement. Over the past decade-plus, Romemu has grown into a weekly home for thousands of people, a growing membership of over 1,000 in its two physical locations (Manhattan and Brooklyn), and a growing online global membership. Rabbi Ingber also founded Romemu Yeshiva, the first fully egalitarian Yeshiva (immersive learning center), dedicated to mystical and meditative Jewish learning and practice.

Raised Modern Orthodox in New York, Rabbi Ingber studied at Ramaz, Yeshiva University, Beit Midrash L’Torah, Yeshivat Chaim Berlin, and Yeshivat Chovovei Torah Rabbinical School. He also studied philosophy, psychology and religion at New York University.

Rabbi Ingber’s distinct approach to Torah, rabbinical teaching, and ritualistic practice is informed by his own personal seeking and learning from a wide cross-section of sacred traditions and faiths. He is enlightened by Jewish mysticism and Hasidut, fusing these beliefs with those of other ancient philosophies and world views. Particular influences include 18th Century Kabbalist and Founder of Hasidut, Rabbi Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov; the great 19th Century Ishbitzer Rebbe, R. Mordechai Leiner; and leading 20th Century thinkers from Kabbalist, Rav Abraham Isaac Kook to psychologist, Carl Jung.

Rabbi Ingber was named by Newsweek as one of the top 50 most influential rabbis in the United States as well as by The Forward as one of the 50 most newsworthy and notable Jews in America. A major 21st Century Jewish thinker and educator, his rich perspective, open heart and mind, and full-bodied approach to Jewish learning has brought him to speak worldwide. He serves on the faculty for the Wexner Heritage Program, and the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and Israel, and was an AJWS Global Justice Fellow. Rabbi Ingber has lectured extensively on the topics of spirituality, theology, Jewish mysticism, prayer, and meditation. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Ariel and their three children.

Please note that all 92Y regularly scheduled in-person programs are suspended.