{"id":80,"date":"2013-05-20T05:37:23","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T14:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derechhashem.wordpress.com\/?p=80"},"modified":"2013-05-20T05:37:23","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T14:07:23","slug":"derech-hashem-113","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2013\/05\/20\/derech-hashem-113\/","title":{"rendered":"Derech Hashem 1:1:3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The class can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a01:1:3<\/span><\/p>\n

The next thing is that G-d’s existence is “imperative” — \u201cHe simply couldn\u2019t <\/span>not<\/i> exist\u201d, if we or anything else are to exist [1]. Let\u2019s explain these ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

By definition, an imperative is either a “prerequisite”, or something that\u2019s “absolutely required”. When we think of a “prerequisite” or something “absolutely required”, we\u2019re immediately drawn back to school, where there were always prerequisite courses we had to take before we could either go further on or graduate. With that in mind we’ll take the expression that G-d’s existence is \u201cimperative\u201d to mean that He simply has<\/i> to exist if anything else is to follow and to advance. So, “G-d simply couldn’t not<\/i> exist” because if He didn’t exist nothing else could either exist from the first or go onward.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an emotional sense of the term “imperative”, too. It refers to the fact that when we have an “imperative need” for something, we experience an acute, aching, burning desire for it, and we could be said to be \u201cin pain\u201d without it. So in that sense of the word, you and I can be said to experience a deep and existential “imperative need” for G-d all the time. We simply couldn’t exist, couldn’t “go on” without Him.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another point being made here, and it\u2019s that G-d isn\u2019t simply an adjunct (however great and Almighty) to creation, or merely its Originator — He is its Source, its Soul, and its Life. And it denies spontaneous generation, which is to say, creation by happenstance, chance, or as a consequence of the stuff of core physical and chemical reactions. Without Him — if one could even posit such a reality — nothing whatsoever would exist, period. That\u2019s why He\u2019s referred as The Supreme Being or The Most High [2].<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Ma\u2019amar HaIkkurim<\/i> (\u201cBaBorei Yitbarach<\/i>\u201d) and Ma\u2019amar HaChochma<\/i> (\u201cAleinu Leshabaiyach<\/i>\u201d). Also see Yesodei HaTorah<\/i> 1:2.<\/p>\n

Understand, of course, that these ideas don\u2019t explain anything about G-d Himself.\u00a0 It would be absurd to say that His own existence is \u201cimperative\u201d if He Himself is to exist as well as absurd to say that He \u201csimply couldn\u2019t not exist\u201d if He\u2019s to exist.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Numbers 24:16, Deuteronomy 32:8, 2 Samuel 22:14, Psalms 7:17, 91:1 as well as Tikkunei<\/i> Zohar<\/i> 17a and Pardes<\/i> 3:1.<\/p>\n

(c) 2013 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/p>\n

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> at a discount.<\/p>\n

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here<\/a> at a discount as well.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The class can be found here. \u00a01:1:3 The next thing is that G-d’s existence is “imperative” — \u201cHe simply couldn\u2019t not exist\u201d, if we or anything else are to exist [1]. Let\u2019s explain these ideas. By definition, an imperative is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iqof-1i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}