This third thing we know about G-d - the next logical step to follow the first two - and that is, Hashem echad! G-d is One. For it is impossible for there to be more than one entity that is kulo poshut. This is because any time you have two or more things, there must be some defining parameters for both of them, which make Thing #1 not Thing #2 and vice versa. There must be definitions and borders that separate the two things. But something that is kulo poshut does not have such parameters or definitions, which means there cannot be more than one of them.
But Hashem’s being kulo poshut does not only mean that He is not two; it also means that He is not two halves, that He has no components. He is whole; indivisible; non-composite. Not made up of any ingredients or elements - not strength, not wisdom, not knowledge, not goodness, not even form or substance.
Hashem is something that cannot be divided into parts. Something uncomposed of other things. Something with no cause, and therefore no parameters or attributes.
That’s what “Hashem Echad” means.
We know things with our knowledge; we do things with our strength; we memorize things with our memory, etc. G-d “knows” things and “does” things and “memorizes” things not with various attributes, for He has no multiplicity of attributes. He “does” all of the above with the same mechanism: Him.
Not with His this or His that. He has no this or that. If He did, they would be components, and then having those com-ponents would be His cause, and this cannot be since He has no cause.
G-d “has” nothing - no parts, no attributes - nothing. He doesn’t “"have”; He only “is.” The mechanism by which G-d knows, and does, and gives, and makes, is Him. His Self. Not His talents or His strengths.
G-d and His knowledge and His strength therefore are One and the same.
Hashem Echad.
All the things said about Hashem in the Torah (and else-where), that He is strong, awesome, knowledgeable etc. - all of those things are not to be taken literally, just as phrases such as “the eyes of Hashem” and “the hand of Hashem” are not to be taken literally.
Rather, what these phrases mean is that Hashem can ac-complish the same things as someone with these attributes but without needing the attributes. Thus, “gibor” means Hashem does not need strength. “Rachum” means Hashem does not need the emotion of mercy, “yodeah” means Hashem does not need knowledge, and so forth.
It is extremely important that we do not take these attributes literally. Hashem has no attributes since he is kulo poshut - completely Simple - Hashem echad.
Achduso
Started by
Rabbi Shapiro
, Mar 06 2011 09:31 AM
2 replies to this topic
