The new atheists understand nothing, W. says as we head towards The Trout. But what can you expect? They've read nothing, they know nothing, and especially concerning Judaism. And especially concerning the Judaism of Rosenzweig and Cohen, W. says.
Religion is not a matter of a world beyond this world, W. says, which is best left to philosophers and metaphysicians, but the world as it currently is. As it is! The world here and now. This very instant! But only insofar as it harbours redemption, W. says. Only insofar as it is close to eternity.
For the Jew, says Rosenzweig, the world is always double. Every relation to something in the world, to a 'this', is also a relation to a 'that' in a world to come.
The present and the future worlds are not separate or divided from one another, as though the future were something that took place along the lines of the present although more distantly – as though the present were only a journey into the future that was always open and indefinite.
Rather, the future of redemption exists alongside the present, as a moment within or deep inside the present. Thus, in blessing things, the Jew is turned in two directions at once: towards this world in which things are used and consumed, but also to that world to come.
Lars Iyer's Blog 