An exposition on the Spiritual Practice of Jewish Science

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to B’nei Ruth’s inaugural Shabbat service (July 24, 2026). Thank you for being here. Since this is our first service and Jewish Science is a small and little-known movement, I thought I would use this opportunity to discuss what Jewish Science is and see how it relates to this week’s Torah portion. I am only going to touch on some general topics, and I expect that I can go deeper on particular topics in future sermons and study sessions.

This week we’re reading the second parsha of the book of Deuteronomy called Va’etchanan. Coincidentally, this parsha touches on many of the central principles of Jewish Science: God’s nearness and omnipresence, God’s love for us and desire for a relationship with us, an encapsulation of the essence of Judaism, and instruction on how to live in harmony with the Divine.

The central theology of Jewish Science is that God is the Divine Mind which created all things and permeates all reality. There is nothing devoid of God’s Presence, including us. As it says in 4:39, “Hashem is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is nothing else, ein od.” In other words, God is all. And because God is all, God is near to us, teaching us good laws and guiding us with love as it says in 4:7–8, “Who is a great nation that has a god so near to it as Hashem our God when we call on him? And who…has laws and regulations so equitable as all this Torah that I put before you today?”

The idea that God is all, that God is present throughout all reality, isn’t immediately obvious to us. Like a fish in water, it is easy to forget that we are surrounded and sustained by God. But whenever we lose sight of God and seek him, God assures us that we will find him as it says in 4:29, “When you seek Hashem your God…you will find him if you search with all your heart and soul.”

We also learn from this portion that God is loving and desires a relationship, a covenant, with us (7:8–9). The essence of this covenant is contained in the Ten Commandments of chapter 5. These are the basic mitzvot which summarize all the others. In Jewish tradition, it is believed that all the commandments can be classified under at least one of these Ten. When we examine them, we can see that the spiritual path they outline is what is called “ethical monotheism.” Ethical monotheism is a concept originating in Reform Judaism, which teaches that the proper and sufficient worship of God consists of devotion to God alone and living a moral life.

In this understanding, devotion to God consists of prayer and worship, avoiding idolatry, sanctifying the sabbath, and showing reverence toward God. The moral life is outlined in the latter six commandments that regulate the interactions of human beings. Arguably, the fourth commandment of sabbath observance is also a moral command since the version in Deuteronomy specifically includes servants, ensuring them a day off, with an admonishment to remember the exodus as justification (5:14–15).

The idea of ethical monotheism is immediately expanded upon in chapter 6 which teaches us to be aware of God with the Shema (6:4–9); to love God with heart, soul, and strength (6:5); and to show this love by obedience to the ethical laws. “Keep the commandment of Hashem your God, and his precepts and laws that he commanded you. You are to do what is right and good in the eyes of Hashem, that it may go well with you” (6:17–18).

The process outlined above of developing God-consciousness, loving God, recognizing God’s love for us, with a commitment to ethical and virtuous living is the path of Jewish Science. In order to reach the goal of God-consciousness, i.e. awareness of the Divine Presence in all, Jewish Science teaches that prayer is the most effective route. Specifically, Lichtenstein taught the technique of affirmative prayer.

While affirmative prayer is a petitionary form of prayer, Lichtenstein often directed it towards cultivating specific virtues and positive attitudes: serenity, universal goodwill and love, contentment, joy, and trust in God’s benevolence. As the title of one of Lichtenstein’s books indicates, the goal of Jewish Science is “Healing the Soul.” And by healing our souls, and restoring peace, contentment, and joy to our lives, we can also positively affect our physical health: a proposition that now has support from medical science. (Spirituality Linked with Better Health Outcomes)

This element of Jewish Science also finds support in our parsha. In 4:40 and various other verses, we learn that recognizing God’s Presence and living in harmony with his laws ensures our welfare. Indeed, this is also demonstrated in earlier portions of the Torah like Exodus 15:26 where God teaches us that doing what is right will protect us from the illnesses imposed on the Egyptians because God is our healer. The spiritual discipline of Judaism is meant to bring us into harmony with the Divine and with other people by creating a pious, virtuous person, a just society, and physical well-being.

Of course, all of this is grounded in the faith that God hears and responds to our prayers in love. Lichtenstein’s focus is on personal devotion rather than communal liturgy. He maintains the communal liturgy as an important element of Jewish practice, but he urged personal devotion as a necessary supplement and groundwork for communal worship. If we only engage in the communal practices, the liturgy can feel disconnected from our experience and leave us with the sense that Judaism has no real impact on our personal lives. Each person must develop a personal connection with God, God-consciousness, in addition to the communal practices.

The practice of affirmative prayer is meant to be this personal practice. It utilizes techniques that can be found in other Jewish spiritual disciplines, like meditation, visualization, and affirmation. We begin with meditation, reminding ourselves that God is present in all things, that we are surrounded by the Divine. This step can include visualizations such as picturing a Divine Light surrounding us, and it can use affirmations by saying something like, “There is one Divine Presence in all things.” This meditation on God’s Presence surrounding us then moves to a focus on the Divine within us. This step can also use visualization and affirmation, such as picturing the Divine Light permeating our body and affirming that the Divine attributes of peace, love, and truth are present in our souls made in the Divine image. The final step is to affirm and visualize that what we need in that moment is already present within us and manifesting in our lives.

If we need patience, we affirm that we are patient and kind. If we need peace, we imagine and affirm ourselves at peace. And so on. Lichtenstein was not averse to asking God for material things. After all, we are material beings and need things in order to live, but they are not the primary focus of this practice. Prayer is not magic. The primary focus is healing the soul, which will necessarily result in our good, as the Torah teaches us. And what is good for us is not necessarily what we may want at any given time. This parsha opens with Moses begging God to allow him to enter the promised land, and God denies the request of the greatest prophet to ever live.

Lichtenstein developed ten principles that he called the Ten Fundamentals of Jewish Science. These are beliefs and values that make up the core of Jewish Science, and can be found at the end of our Erev Shabbat service (and on our website). They uphold Jewish Science as the application of Judaism to the practice of life, the efficacy of prayer, serenity, joy, love, contentment, a rejection of worry and fear, trust in God, belief in eternal life, and God as the Source of health and healing. In support of these fundamentals, he also formulated two affirmations he encouraged his congregants to use every day in the practice outlined above. These are the affirmations we recited at the end of the Amidah this evening.

In closing, I want to emphasize two things. First, is that Jewish Science is not opposed to medical care. In fact, just the opposite. Lichtenstein supported people seeking appropriate medical care whenever they needed it. The type of spiritual healing he advocated was not magical faith healing you see among televangelists. Rather it is a slow process of healing the soul, which in turn positively affects our health. In this sense, spiritual healing, prayer, is meant to be a supplement to medical care, not a replacement. It promotes overall health rather than attempting to heal specific ailments through miracles.

Second, Lichtenstein specifically included his teachings on the immortality of the soul to show that there is nothing that can harm us. Because God is all, because we are emanations of the Divine Mind in flesh and blood, we do not cease to exist when our bodies die. Our souls return to God when our time on earth is finished. God’s benevolence cannot be abrogated, even by temporary suffering and illness. Our connection to God is the reason why healing the soul is our primary spiritual task. Our souls were given to us pure, as one of our morning prayers states. Nonetheless, we have free will and can choose between good and evil, life and death, as we’ll read in future parshiyot. When we choose the bad, our souls can become sick. By healing the soul, we are able to gain a foretaste of what it is like to be united with God. Truly, the Torah is meant for our benefit as Moses teaches us in this parsha.

I look forward to praying and learning with all of you going forward, and I hope that this community can help anyone who is looking for a way to connect with God. Please feel free to invite your family and friends as we embark on this journey together. Shabbat shalom.