God has always been a concept that I've struggled with. What is God exactly? Do you have to believe in God to be Jewish? What does believing in God even mean? The article Must a Jew Believe in God talks all about the Jewish belief of God. According to Rabbinic and Biblical Judaism, the belief in God is something that is important. The Maimonides' thirteen principals of faith mentions that God does exist, and that believing in God is essential to one's Judaism. Obviously, depending on the type of Judaism, orthodox or reform, you will get different answers about one's belief in God.
I think that it is up to each person to interpret their God, and their views about God. Some people may feel a strong connection to God, while others may not. Personally, I don't know if I believe in God or not, but I absolutely still consider myself Jewish. I'm in Israel, the holiest place on earth, studying, and experiencing the culture for four months. If that still doesn't classify me as Jewish, then I don't know what does.
I completely agree with your statement at the end that there is not much many more "Jewish things" than coming to study in the Jewish Homeland. I feel as though believing in God is not that important to modern Jews today. I think that Judaism and the Torah uses God to teach lessons to the people that we can still apply to our modern day lives. Coming on this program and learning about the Tanakh has shown me the role that God has had throughout history and is very interesting to me. Also, your first question, "What is God exactly", I think, is unanswerable and people will be debating that exact question for as long as humans are around.
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