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The truth of the matter is that the Tradition oftentimes and purposefully makes God unintelligible to us by throwing us off-track and sending us off on misleading side-trails. It does that in fact by speaking on two different levels: the open and aboveboard “exoteric” level versus the shady and allusive “esoteric” level.

We see reference to these two levels of communication most famously in Rambam’s Introduction to “A Guide to The Perplexed” where he differentiates between what the “ignorant” and “superficial” are to be told about such things given that they take things in on a “literal, not a figurative sense”  from whom the “truth .. is (to be) completely withheld”, and what the enlightened or potentially-so are to be told about such things.

But, why must things be treated that way by the Torah? As Ibn Pakudah explains in Ch. 10 of the Gate 1:

As it is acknowledged by all, we are forced to personify God and to describe Him in human terms in order for (everyday, unlearned) people to conceptualize His existence. That is why the Books of the Prophets present Him in such concrete and accessible terms. In fact, if they were to speak of Him in language suitable to Him, that is, in spiritual terms and in a spiritual context, we would understand neither the terms nor the context. And because we could not grasp Him, we could not serve Him, as it is impossible to serve what you cannot grasp.

So, the words and concepts had to be made clear to their (unlearned) listener from the outset, and they could only be so when they were presented anthropomorphically and put into human terms. We could then enlighten him at another point, and be more precise in our explanations, letting him know that those images were only approximate and metaphorical, and that the matter is actually far finer, far more exalted, transcendent and beyond anything we could ever understand, it is so subtle.

The bright and understanding (on the other hand) would then try to strip away the shell of corporeality and elevate his understanding by degrees until he would have arrived at as much of the truth as possible, while the boor would (continue to) take the metaphors used for God in those books literally….

If the Torah were to present the subject the way it truly deserves to be — the way only the intelligent and understanding could bear — the great majority of people, who are limited in their intelligence and unable to comprehend spiritual matters, would be left without religion or Torah. For one who truly understands will not be harmed by a material treatment of these concepts, recognizing them as he does for what they are; and such a treatment helps the illiterate because they confirm to him that he has a Creator whom he is obliged to serve.

Ibn Pakudah then goes on to approach the problem from another angle further on here.

Since the Creator is completely hidden and utterly at a distance from us in His Essence, we can only comprehend the fact of His existence. For we would lose whatever understanding of His existence we had by trying to imagine Him, because we would have exceeded our reach, and it would be like trying to experience something physical with the inappropriate sense. So, we should pursue God’s existence through the signs of His deeds in creation, and they will prove Him to us.

We should stop imagining Him, or coming up with likenesses and symbols for Him in our minds, or trying to perceive His Essence after establishing His existence that way. Because if we do, in the belief that we will understand Him that way, we will lose faith in His existence, and whatever image we would form of Him in our mind would necessarily apply to something else.”

At bottom we’re being told that God unto Himself is unfathomable, and yet it’s vitally important to refer to Him if one is to grow in his being and draw close to Him. So we conceive of Him on different levels depending on our own capacities to keep the conversation going. We’ll nonetheless never be able to grasp Him unto Himself removed from the world and in His own element, if you will. We’re all forced to relate to Him as the Creator of reality as we know it and as its governing Force so as to maintain some level of comprehension.

Yet others would say that there are other ways to understand Him in more depth, as we’ll see.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

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

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Ibn Pakudah then cites a number of instances of anthropomorphism in the Torah that seem to throw a wrench into our understanding of God as un-earthly, uncommon, and non-human. As he says in chapter 1:10 there.

It is known that the Torah, the Books of the Prophets, and the lyric–works of the pious very often use such terms for the Creator in two ways: either by suggesting a physical shape or form for Him (as, for example, “And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created Him” [Genesis 1:27], “Because He made man in the image of God…” [Ibid. 9:6], “…through the mouth of God…” [Numbers 9:18], “I, My hands, have stretched out the heavens” [Isaiah 45:12], “…to God’s ears” [Numbers 11:1], “… under His feet” [Exodus 24:10], “God’s arm…” [Isaiah 52:9], “…who has not taken My Spirit in vain” [Pslams 24:4], “…in God’s eyes” [Genesis 6:8], “God said to His heart…” [Ibid. 8:21] and the like, referring to body parts).

Or by ascribing movement and physical action to Him (as, for example, “And God smelled the sweet smell…” [Genesis 8:21], “God saw… He regretted… it grieved Him in His heart” [Ibid. 6:5-6], “God descended” [Ibid. 11:5], “God remembered” [Ibid. 8:1], “God heard” [Numbers 11:1], “God awoke, like a sleeper” [Psalms 78:65] and the like, referring to human actions.)

Is there any wonder, then, why we misunderstand God?

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

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

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

We now touch on the whole subject and definition of God — the object of our trust. How exactly are we to understand Him?

In his Introduction Ibn Pakudah defines God simply as the one who “directs everything”, and the entity from whom “all good and all harm” comes and upon whom “all authority rests”.

Notice that he doesn’t define Him as the Creator, but that’s because God is more than that, and also because His being the Creator is a given in his eyes: after all, what or whom would there be for Him to direct had He not created the universe, what good or harm would there be, and upon whom would His authority rest had He not created the universe?

At bottom this comes to an expression of pure and radical monotheism.

Notice, too, that Ibn Pakudah makes the point of saying that both goodness and harm — good and evil — derive from God. This isn’t the point to expand upon this vital though theologically vexing issue, but at bottom it comes to this. Since God created everything, He obviously created evil as well. Others have argued that evil is an entity unto itself or that another god had to have created evil, given that it seems to be absurd to attribute any malevolence whatsoever to God, but that’s not so. God created everything and maintains everything, too, including evil.

We’ll see, though, that this is an inadequate definition of God. We’ll first touch on the problems of the above definition, expand upon it, and then bring it back to trusting in Him in due time.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

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

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”

There are very many advantages to trusting God. As Ibn Pakudah worded it in his Introduction to Gate 4:

One who trusts God serves no one else but Him …. He does not seek the approval of others, nor does he flatter them or agree with them …. And he is neither frightened of them nor intimidated by their arguments. He eliminates the straight-jacket of the need to satisfy them, and the burden of the need to thank them or repay them.

Wouldn’t we modern-day slaves to the approval of others do well to learn a lesson from this? He goes on:

The worldly advantages to be had from trust in God include: freedom from worldly cares, and the tranquility that comes from the lessening of physical desires …. He lives in perpetual repose, security and tranquility…. One who trusts God enjoys the peace of mind and well being that comes from not having to do arduous and exhausting labor. And he no longer needs to be loyal to kings and their laws, or to their looting underlings. He is satisfied with an easy profession that earns him a good reputation that allows him enough leisure time to reflect and fulfill his obligations to study Torah and do the other things he must do…. He has very few professional cares, even when his product does not sell, when he cannot collect money owed him, or when he becomes ill. For he knows that the Creator controls his affairs rather than he …. And finally, he is pleased with everything, even if it goes against his grain. Because he trusts that God would only do what is best for him all the time, like a loving mother who bathes, diapers, dresses or undresses her child whether he asks for it or not.”

There’s trust and then there’s naiveté, to be sure. But the truly sophisticated student and adherent of trust can’t help but be inebriated by the freedom allotted by such blithe trust in God Almighty.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

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

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Ibn Pakudah offers an astounding insight into human nature with the remark that, “If you don’t trust God, you’ll inevitably trust someone or something else” (Introduction to Gate 4). That’s to say that we’re hard-wired to trust in something or another.

Let’s see an illustration of this. We’ll quote from Erich Remarque’s, “All Quiet on the Western Front”, which sets out to depict the bleakness and ugliness of war. The protagonist is speaking about the soldier’s visceral reaction to sudden violence.

To no man does the earth mean so much as to the soldier. When he presses himself down upon her long and powerfully, when he buries his face and his limbs deep in her from the fear of death by shell-fire, then she is his only friend, his brother, his mother; he stifles his terror and his cries in her silence and her security; she shelters him and releases him for ten seconds to live, to run, ten seconds of life; receives him again and often forever.

 ….. At the sound of the first droning of the shells we rush back, in one part of our being, a thousand years. By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, than consciousness. One cannot explain it.

A man is walking along without thought or heed;–suddenly he throws himself down on the ground and a storm of fragments flies harmlessly over him;–yet he cannot remember either to have heard the shell coming or to have thought of flinging himself down. But had he not abandoned himself to the impulse he would now be a heap of mangled flesh. It is this other, this second sight in us, that has thrown us to the ground and saved us, without our knowing how.

This is an instance of purely instinctual trust in and dependence upon something basic — the earth, in this case. The soldier simply knows in his heart that he should surrender himself to the earth; he doesn’t have to think about it. That reaction is inborn, primitive, and native to his humanity. That’s the sort of raw trust in something or another that we submit to when we need help desperately.

Ibn Pakudah’s point is that we should trust God just as viscerally if we’re wise, which is our concern here.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

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

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

The text we’ll be citing the most is Bachya Ibn Pakudah’s Chovot HaLevovot — The Duties of the Heart, since it expands upon both the notion of trusting in God and on His makeup.

Here’s what it says about both in conjunction with each other.

“The more you know about God and the more you believe He guides you and provides for you so well, and to your advantageous, the more you will trust Him. For, after all, a baby trusts his mother’s breasts at birth …. And he only begins to trust his mother herself when he begins to perceive all the care she bestows on him more clearly.” (4:7)

He’s clearly referring to a visceral and basic trust in one’s provider. Let’s offer an illustration of that.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

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

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.