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God and Existence
Beliefs
Sources
A
God created the world as a consequence of His compassion. For He wanted to reveal His compassion, and if Creation had not taken place, to whom would He have shown His compassion? He therefore created the entire creation, from the inception of
Atzilut
all the way down to the center point of the corporeal world, in order to display His compassion. Yet when God wanted to create the world, there was no place in which to create it, since there was nothing but
Ein Sof
(the Infinite One). He therefore contracted the Light to the sides…
Likutei Moharan 64:1:2-4
But through faith, the Jewish people prevail over all the wisdoms and even this heresy that stems from the Vacated Space. This is because they believe in God, without any philosophical enquiry and intellection, but only with perfect faith. For God “fills all worlds and encircles all worlds.” Thus we find that He is, so to speak, within all the worlds and round about all the worlds. Yet there has to be a separation, so to speak, between the filling and the encircling, for if not, then it is all one…
Likutei Moharan 64:2:8-11
With the above in mind, we may now understand the statement in the holy
Zohar
, that the verse
Shema Yisrael
is
yichudah ilaah
(“higher level Unity”), and
Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto Leolam Vaed
is
yichudah tataah
(“lower level Unity”). For
Vaed
is
Echad
through the substitution of letters. The cause and reason for this
tzimtzum
and concealment that the Holy One, blessed is He, obscured and hid the life-force of the world to make the world appear as an independently existing entity [is as follows]: It is known to all that the purpose of the…
Tanya, Part II; Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah 7:1-2
Now, the name
Elokim
is the name which indicates the attribute of
gevurah
and
tzimtzum
, hence it is also numerically equal to
hateva
(nature), for it [
Elokim
]
conceals
the supernal light which brings the world into existence and gives it life, and it appears as though the world exists and conducts itself in a natural way. And this name
Elokim
is a shield and a covering for the name
Havaya
, to conceal the light and life-force which flows from the name
Havaya
and brings creation into existence from naught…
Tanya, Part II; Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah 6:1
An investigative rational approach sees in these words a reflection of how G’d had delegated various powers to various angels each one of whom is in charge of different segments of the universe. In the first instance He addressed Himself to an angel who presides over the other seven domains in the universe. [we had described these as equivalent to the antiquated system of the seven fixed stars. Ed.] When G’d used the plural נעשה, He simply indicated that His instructions would be carried out in conjunction with this angel who is the super-angel, so to speak…
Rabbeinu Bahya, Bereshit 1:26:3
The Gemara (Shabbos 88a) explains that when Bnei Yisrael received the Torah, Hashem lifted the mountain like a barrel above them and declared that if they did not accept the Torah, they would be buried under it. This act of compulsion serves as a major excuse for not fulfilling the Torah’s directives. Our sages explain that at the time of receiving the Torah, there was freedom, as the inner life force of nature was revealed, subjecting all of creation to Hashem's will, similar to the future when His name will be one…
Sefat Emet, Numbers, Shavuot 2:5
It is evident that anything which cannot be said to have occurred by chance because of the orderliness of its arrangement and nature implies the presence of an intending agent. For example, a book, ordered as it is, with letters and words, will, beyond a doubt, not be said to have occurred by chance, but to have proceeded from an intending agent. In sum, then, an ordered act unquestionably implies the presence of an arranging and originating actor. In this respect there is no difference between Divine acts and human acts. The difference consists in the following: Any lack in a human act, i.e…
Derashot HaRan 3:13
Now, just as in the human soul the principal manifestation of the general vitality is in the brain, while all the organs receive merely a light and potency which shines to them from the source of the manifestation of the said vitality in the brain, so indeed, figuratively speaking, is the essential manifestation of the general stream of vitality, animating the worlds and the creatures therein, clothed and contained in His will, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, blessed be He, which are called the “intelligence,” and these are those which are clothed in the Torah and its commandments.
Tanya, Part I; Likkutei Amarim 52:1
And just as the matter of the joining of the soul to the body and continued existence of the soul-
Neshama
in the body requires eating and drinking, and lacking them it would separate and depart from the body, in the same way, the joining of His essence (blessed be He) with the worlds, which is the secret of the “Great Man”, to erect them and sustain them. And so His soul-
Neffesh
won’t reject them, His will decreed that it should be dependent on the treasured nation’s involvement with Torah, [their] performing the commandments and the service of prayer…
Nefesh HaChayim, Gate II 6:1
קונה שמים וארץ, heaven and earth are His, to do with as He pleases. They do not have a will of their own as some scientists believe. G’d alone works His will on them, using them according to His will.
Sforno on Genesis 14:19:2
And the reason that every blessing includes the two features mentioned above is because the fundamental cornerstone of our holy faith, [is] that the target of our hearts/minds’ intentions in all of the blessings, prayers and supplications, is exclusively and only the One of the universe, singular Master,
Ein Sofe
, blessed is He. However, it is not that we address Him (so to speak) as His Essence alone, in the aspect that is completely removed and separated from the worlds, similar to the situation that existed prior to creation…
Nefesh HaChayim, Gate II 4:1-3
ושמר ה' אלוקיך לך את הברית, the one He swore, when He said (Genesis 17,7) “I will give My covenant between Me and you, and between your descendants after you for all generations as an eternal covenant, to be your G’d and that of your descendants after you.” Being our G’d means that He will supervise our fates not by means of some intermediary, such as the fates which are supervised by appointees of G’d, including horoscopes, and angels assigned to each nation. Besides, anything which is done by G’d personally, without His having recourse to an intermediary, is something that endures forever…
Sforno on Deuteronomy 7:12:5
אהיה אשר אהיה. I am an independent existence, not subject to influences by other phenomena or even caused by them. Seeing that this is so it follows that I love existing, and beings that exist. As a corollary to this love of Mine for existence, it follows that I deeply resent anything or anyone who tries to terminate such an existing being from continuing to do so. The prophet Ezekiel 18,32 phrased this thought as “for I do not desire the death of him that dies.” From this it follows that I must love righteousness and justice the objective of both virtues being the continued existence of all…
Sforno on Exodus 3:14:1
I have explained at length that "evil" is distilled from "good,” that it has only been created, נברא, for the sake of the good, i.e. הטוב. Without רע, "evil," there could not have been such a concept as טוב, "good." G–d arranged that people should fear him; this is why the advantage of light is something that is due to the potential power of darkness. This is the deeper meaning of the Torah saying that both luminaries were created equal in size even though the word מארת is spelled defective, without the letter ו indicating the plural…
Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Bereshit, Torah Ohr 49
Just as the precision and predictability of events based on laws of nature testify to the true existence of its Master, so on occasion does the suspension of laws of nature proclaim the Majesty of the Almighty. Philosophers have conceded the existence of G-d and enthroned Him, when they agreed that He is the ultimate Cause of all that exists, and that if one were to imagine that He did not exist, nothing else could exist either. However, if the universe were to disappear, it would not have any bearing on Him at all…
Akeidat Yitzchak 38:1:4
And this idea itself was what was intended by Moses, of blessed memory, in the juxtaposition of this parshah with that preceding it. He says: "And now, O Israel, what does the L-rd your G-d ask of you…" That is, though you have sinned against and offended Him, He does not desire your destruction, and asks of you only that you fear Him. And all of the afflictions that He brought upon you in the desert were not intended as punishment, but only to bring you to this end. As the verse itself states (Ibid 8:5): "And know in your heart that just as a man chastens his son…
Derashot HaRan 10:5
And in accordance with our approach to the matter of the two aspects we mentioned—from His (blessed be He) perspective and from ours, as was described— will be explained another distinction and difference between the two names God-
YHV”H
and God-
Elohi”m
. For the name God-
Elohi”m
’s definition is Master of All Powers. (For a part of the explanation of its context, refer to the beginning of Gate 1.) And continuing in the explanation of the matter of Master of All Powers, each power, from the lowest of the terrestrials until the highest of the supernals…
Nefesh HaChayim, Gate III 10:1
This, also, will be the true joy of the soul, especially when one recognizes, at appropriate times, that one needs to purify and illuminate one’s soul with gladness of the heart. Let him then concentrate his mind and envisage in his intelligence and understanding the subject of His true Unity, blessed be He: how He permeates all worlds, both upper and lower, and even this world is filled with His glory, and how everything is of no reality whatsoever in His presence, and He is One Alone in the upper and lower realms…
Tanya, Part I; Likkutei Amarim 33:1
Another interpretation (of Lev. 12:2), “and bears a male”: This text is related (to I Sam. 2:2), “There is no holy one like the Lord, for there is none beside You.” What is the meaning of “for there is none beside You (
bltk
, traditionally voweled as
biltekha
)?” A king of flesh and blood builds a palace, and his building outlasts (rt.:
blh
) him; but the Holy One, blessed be He, is outlasting the world, as it were, “for there is none outlasting you (reading
bltk
, voweled as
ballotekha
).” (I Sam. 2:2, cont.:) “And there is no rock (
tswr
) like our God…
Midrash Tanchuma, Tazria 2:1
I have seen an allusion of a moral-ethical nature in this paragraph which it is important for people to appreciate. Remember that
Sanhedrin
93 taught us that the spiritual level of the Israelites is higher than that of the angels. We have also been taught in the
Zohar
second volume page 155 that G'd created four different worlds, each one higher than its counterpart. All this is derived from Isaiah 43,7
כל הנקרא בשמי ולכבודי בראתיו, יצרתיו, אף־עשיתיו
. "All that is called by My name I have created, for My glory, fashioned it, and completed it…
Or HaChaim on Leviticus 22:12:2-4
Related
ראו גם
Creation
Reality
Direction
Good
The Purpose of Creation
Acts of God
Tzimtzum
God's Armies
Samael
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