Questions About G-d
- Who is G-d? What is G-d’s name?
- How do we know He exists?
- How can we gain awareness of G-d? How can we have a relationship with Him?
- I believe that G-d made the world, but not that He continues to be involved.
- Does G-d really care whether I switch a light on/off on Shabbat? Have three drops of milk in my chicken soup etc.?
- Why does G-d need us here? Why did G-d create us if He doesn’t need anything?
1. Who is G-d? What is G-d’s name?
(top)G-d has many different names. We cannot know G-d in His essence[1] ; we can only know His manifestation on earth. We interpret this manifestation as His traits (mercy, wrath, kindness) or as His actions. We give different names to each one of these, so that we can tune into the specific dimension of G-d’s manifestation more perceptively.
Different languages have different vocabularies to discuss the areas which that culture is rich in. Eskimos have different names for different types of snow. The Turks have a separate name for eldest brother, indicating that that is a completely separate category of sibling in their mind. Biblical Hebrew is rich in spiritual words, because that is what is important to we Jews. This allows us to think more richly and accurately in this area. No wonder then, that we have many different names for G-d.
2. How do we know He exists?
(top)It is always possible to believe that G-d does not exist, but it is unlikely. If we investigate the world as good scientists, we will see that G-d is the best explanation for the facts that we see around us. There will always be other explanations as well. The question is how closely they fit the facts. For example, we know that the Big Bang began from an infinitely dense point of matter. But who created this matter? We could cook up some explanation, or we could say we do not know, or we could say G-d. The same goes for the anthropic principle, or the fact that the four basic forces of nature are one, or how life first began, etc[2]. In all cases G-d seems to be the most natural, likely answer (though not the only possible answer) to explaining the facts at hand. This scientific approach short cuts the endless philosophical explanations that theology and metaphysics have engaged in for thousands of years.
3. How can we gain awareness of G-d?
How can we have a relationship with Him?
It is one thing to know that G-d exists. It is another thing to know Him. The former is the G-d of the scientists, abstract and removed. The latter requires passion. Like all relationships, a relationship with G-d requires continuous work. Like all relationships, even when we feel close to G-d, if we let up on the investment, we begin to feel a distance.
One of the first steps to knowing G-d is G-d awareness – seeing G-d in nature, noticing His Providence, seeing the hidden miracles. Now, if He is involved with nature, surely He is intimately involved with us. He sets up, in minute detail, every challenge we face, and responds to every thing we do.
But, we need to go beyond observing into engagement. Engagement means that we talk to G-d, that we ask Him for things, that we study what He has to say in His Torah, that we respond to what we know He wants from us, and that we feel loved and wanted by Him. He is on our side and by our side.
Judaism is a fabulous tool for feeling that G-d is with us, close and caring, everywhere we go. We will begin to notice His Hand in everything we do and in everything which surrounds us - nature, the stock exchange, the eyes we see with and the clothes we wear.
The way Judaism does this is by giving us various entrées in the form of prayer, Torah study and mitzvos. Each one of these connects us to G-d in a different way, allowing for a full, rounded relationship. The Torah formula is a very nurturing, very exact, very wise way of getting close to G-d. After all, it is the formula He Himself gave to us.
4. I believe that G-d made the world,
but not that He continues to be involved.
This approach gives us the best of both worlds. It allows the comforting explanation of where we came from, with no resultant responsibilities. It is also a sad, lonely, intellectually abstract belief, the G-d of the philosophers.
It is hard to understand why G-d would do such a thing – why He would bother to create a world and then back out. Certainly, if He is capable of creating us, He is capable of looking after us. Why would He want it any other way?
5. Does G-d really care whether I switch a light on/off on Shabbat?
Have three drops of milk in my chicken soup etc.?
In Judaism, greatness lies in the details. And so it does in nature or technology. A computer missing one tiny microchip probably won’t work at all. Try tuning into a radio station close but not exactly on the station. The result is an awful lot of noise. Try baking a cake at 450 when it was supposed to be baked at 400. Instead of a tasty dish we get a burnt cinder.
Spirituality is the same. Harmonizing ourselves with spirituality requires that we tune in exactly to the right station. It requires a focus on details. The devil is in the details, as they say, but so is the spirituality. This is how G-d made His world and He therefore cares very much about the details. It makes sense that if G-d made the physical world that way, He also made the spiritual world that way.
And why did He create it so? Because the real test for us is not whether we can do something heroic and get a medal. We are all capable of running to help the little, old lady who fell down in the street. The heroic moment brings the best out of most of us. But, can we sustain this sensitivity and relating day in and day out.? We are all capable of smiling some of the time. The great person always smiles when it is appropriate. We all have a great pray – maybe when we really need something. The great person prays like that three times a day. He/she is always patient when he/she needs to be, always connecting with the pain and the joy of others, never overeating. Oh yes – greatness is in the thousands of little everyday realities. And that’s just what G-d is looking for.
6. Why does G-d need us here?
Why did G-d create us if He doesn’t need anything?
Certainly, G-d did not create us because He needs us. Being that He is perfect, there is nothing that we can add to Him or give to Him.——— No, G-d created us for us – in order that He could share of His perfect goodness with us[3]. This concept we will explain in greater detail in the section entitled the Messiah and the World to Come, under the question, “What is the Purpose of Existence”.
[1] Even the שם השם (The Name of G-d) is not a description of His essence, just of the highest point which we can perceive. (נפש החיים)
[2] See the chapter on science.
[3] דרך ד’ ח”א פרק ב: א-הנה תכלית הבריאה היה להטיב מטובו ית”ש לזולתו
Posted in: Jewish Beliefs & Philosophy
