Martin Buber
1878-1965
When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.
Mordecai Kaplan in The Many Faces of God: A Reader of Modern Jewish Theologies edited by Rifat Sonsino, pp. 22–23
Kaplan (1881-1983)
In brief, God is the Power in the cosmos that gives human life the direction that enables the human being to reflect the image of God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, 1955
1907-1972
The true meaning of existence is disclosed in moments of living in the presence of God.
Erich Fromm:You Shall Be As Gods, 1966
1900-1980
The concept of God has gone through a process of evolution from the jealous God of Adam, going on to the nameless God of Moses, and continuing to the God of Maimonides, of whom man can know only what He is not. The 'negative theology' of Maimonides leads, in its ultimate consequence--though one not contemplated by Maimonides- to the end of theology. How can there be a 'science of God' when there is nothing one can say or think about God? When God himself is the unthinkable , the 'hidden,' the 'silent' God, the Nothing?
Eliezer Berkovits, Faith after the Holocaust, p. 64. 1973
1908-1992
The hiding God is present; though man is unaware of him, He is present in his hiddenness. Therefore, God can only hide in this world. But if this world were altogether and radically profane, there would be no place in it for Him to hide. He can only hide in history. Since history is man's responsibility, one would, in fact, expect him to hide, to be silent, while man goes about his God-given task. Responsibility requires freedom, but God's convincing presence would undermine the freedom of human decision. God hides in human responsibility and human freedom.
Yitz Greenberg: Voluntary Covenant, 1984
b. 1933
The central teaching of Judaism is redemption. Yahadut teaches that the world and the life which emerges within it are grounded in the infinite source of life and energy which we call God. As the continuum of life unfolds, the emerging life becomes more and more God-like-- more and more valuable, more and more responsive to others, more and more free...The intrinsic nature of God is beneficent, giving and pulsing with life. Therefore, the life which is growing in the ground of the Divine will continue to grow until all of its possibilities will be fully realized and perfected.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man, 1984
1903-1993
When God created the world, He provided an opportunity for the work of His hands – humanity – to participate in His creation. The Creator, as it were, impaired reality with the promise that mortal man could repair its flaws and perfect it. God gave the Book of Creation – that repository of the mysteries of creation – to man, not simply for the sake of theoretical study but in order that man might continue the act of creation...
The perfection of creation, according to the view of the halakhic man, is expressed in the actualization of the ideal Halakhah in the real world. … The Halakhah fills the “deficiency” by drawing the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, downward into the lowly world, by “contracting” transcendence within our flawed world. … If man wishes to attain the rank of holiness, he must become a creator of worlds. If a man never creates, never brings into being anything new, anything original, then he cannot be holy unto his God.
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, "The Source of Faith Is Faith Iteslf," 2015
1933-2015
The greatest source of faith, however, has been the Robbono shel Olam Himself... Existentially...nothing has been more authentic than the encounter with Avinu Malkeinu, the source and ground of all being. Nothing more sustaining, nothing more strengthening, nothing vivifying. The encounter, of course, has been varied. In part it has been channeled - primarily through talmud Torah (this is no do doubt an aspect of maor she-bah, "the light within it," of which Hazal spoke), but also through tefillah and the performance of mizvot; or, if you will, by the halakhic regimen in its totality. In part, it has been random - moments of illumination while getting on a crowded bus or watching children play in a park at twilight. Obviously, it has been greatly varied in intensity. It is totality, however, whatever the form and content, it has been the ultimate basis of spiritual life.