How Rambam Sees God in the Sunset

The Torah content for these two weeks has been sponsored by Judah and Naomi Dardik in loving memory of Rabbi Moskowitz zt''l, who taught his students to pursue truth by asking questions, who modeled love of Torah and learning, and who exemplified living a life of the mind.

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Photo: one of the many sunset photos I took this past Hawaii trip

How Rambam Sees God in the Sunset

I just returned from my annual trip to visit Popo (my 97-year-old grandmother) in Hawaii. Whenever I’m there, I do my best to trek out to the shoreline every evening to watch the Hawaiian sunset. It’s not just the aesthetic beauty which makes a sunset like this such a special experience. Rudolph Otto, a 20th century theologian and philosopher of religion, used the term “numinous” to mean “arousing spiritual or religious emotion; mysterious or awe-inspiring.” I’m sure I’m not the only one who has felt this numinous quality in a sunset. The question is: What does Judaism have to say? Just because this feeling is real doesn’t automatically mean that this is a valid religious experience in the Torah’s eyes.

My initial thought was that perhaps such experiences fall under the headings of ahavas Hashem (love of God) and yiras Hashem (awe of God). The Rambam defines these two experiences in the Laws of the Foundations of Torah 2:2:

What is the way of loving and fearing God? When a person contemplates (misbonein) His great and wondrous works and creations and sees from them His infinite and incomparable wisdom, he immediately loves, praises, and extols and is filled with a tremendous desire to know the Great Name, as David said, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalms 42:3).

And when he reflects upon these same matters, he immediately recoils back with fear and dread, knowing that he is a small, insignificant, unenlightened creature standing with a frail and puny mind in the presence of Perfect Knowledge, as David said, “When I behold Your heavens, [the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that you have set in place, I exclaim:] ‘What is frail man that You should notice him, [and the son of mortal man that You should take note of him?’]” (Psalms 8:4-5).

Are the feelings described by the Rambam here identical with the numinosity felt by the average person? Seemingly not. According to the Rambam, ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem are the emotional states which result from cognitive activity: tevunah (theoretical understanding) and machshavah (practical consideration). Both require a relatively high level of knowledge, as evidenced by the fact that the Rambam goes on to provide a three-chapter primer of Aristotelian metaphysics and physics “to open the way for the meivin (contemplative thinker) to love the Name.” While it is certainly possible to for a sunset to awaken ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem, I don’t think the average person’s awe of the sunset stems from a scientific knowledge of astronomy, optics, and other areas of physics.

However, in the middle of the aforementioned primer, the Rambam drops a clue which might provide us with the basis for an answer. In the Laws of the Foundations of Torah 3:11, he cites a pasuk from Tehilim: "Praise Hashem from the earth: sea creatures and all depths, fire and hail, snow and smoke" (Tehilim 148:7). This is problematic: how can non-rational creations – such as “sea creatures and all depths, fire and hail, snow and smoke” – praise Hashem? Rambam answers:

The meaning of this statement is: praise Him, mankind, from His gevuros (mighty acts) which you see in the fire, the hail, and the other creations that can be seen on earth, the gevurah (might) of which is constantly discernable to the small and the great alike.

When the Rambam describes the gevurah of these phenomena, he is clearly not referring to the lofty intellectual levels described in Chapter 2:2, since he specifies that this gevurah is “constantly discernable to the small and the great alike.”

I believe that the gevurah mentioned by the Rambam is identical with (or is at least related to) the numinous feeling we experience when we behold such natural phenomena as crashing waves, a ferocious storm, and a dazzling sunset. In that aspect of these experience, man feels the overwhelming power of Hashem’s mighty acts, and “there the small and the great are equal” (Iyov 3:19). True, for the meivin who understands the science behind these phenomena, the sunset may give rise to ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem, but both the meivin and the average person alike will be able to praise Hashem from the awe that arises within them when they gaze upon His handiwork in nature.

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Rambam: On Teaching Young Children about Hashem

This blog post was originally published in June, 2007. Click here for a printer-friendly version of this blog post.

Photo: very early color photograph taken by Sergey Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii
of a Jewish teacher and his students in Samarkand, circa 1909-1915

Rambam: On Teaching Young Children about Hashem

In this post we will present the Rambam's answers to two questions about early childhood chinuch (education) on the mitzvah of Yichud Hashem (God's Oneness). The two questions are:

1. Which ideas about Hashem should be taught to young children, and which should not - or cannot - be taught until they reach the requisite level of intellectual maturity?
2. How should these ideas be taught?

The Rambam answers the first question in the Guide for the Perplexed 1:35:

In the same way as all people must be informed, and even children must be trained in the belief that God is One, and that none besides Him is to be worshiped, so must all be taught by simple authority that God is incorporeal; that there is no similarity in any way whatsoever between Him and His creatures: that His existence is not like the existence of His creatures, His life not like that of any living being, His wisdom not like the wisdom of the wisest of men; and that the difference between Him and His creatures is not merely quantitative, but absolute, as between two individuals of two different classes .... This suffices for the guidance of children and of ordinary persons who must believe that there is a perfect Being, who is neither a body nor a force in a body, and that He is the Deity, that no sort of deficiency and therefore no affection whatever can attain Him ...

That God is incorporeal, that He cannot be compared with His creatures, that He is not subject to external influence; these are things which must be explained to every one according to his capacity, and they must be taught by way of tradition to children and women, to the stupid and ignorant, as they are taught that God is One, that He is eternal, and that He alone is to be worshiped. Without incorporeality there is no unity, for a corporeal thing is in the first case not simple, but composed of matter and form which are two separate things by definition, and secondly, as it has extension it is also divisible ... 

Those who are not sufficiently intelligent to comprehend the true interpretation of these passages in the Bible, or to understand that the same term admits of two different interpretations, may simply be told that the Scriptural passage is clearly understood by the wise, but that they should content themselves with knowing that God is incorporeal, that He is never subject to external influence, as passivity implies a change, while God is entirely free from all change, that He cannot be compared to anything besides Himself, that no definition includes Him together with any other being, that the words of the Prophets are true, and that difficulties met with may be explained on this principle. This may suffice for that class of persons, and it is not proper to leave them in the belief that God is corporeal, or that He has any of the properties of material objects, just as there is no need to leave them in the belief that God does not exist, that there are more Gods than one, or that any other being may be worshiped.

According to the Rambam, we are obligated to teach children these fundamental ideas about Hashem as soon as they are capable of understanding them. Even before they reach that level of intellectual maturity, we must teach them these ideas by rote. Just as we teach a child is trained to believe that God is One and that only He is to be worshiped, he must also be trained to believe that God is incorporeal, has no emotions, doesn't exist in any place, cannot change, and bears absolutely no resemblance to any of His creations. And if the child asks questions about passages in the Chumash, the answers to which he is incapable of understanding, we must assure him that the verses are not to be taken literally, and that there are chachamim (wise individuals) who understand their true meaning.

I find this answer to be very interesting. I think it's fair to say that it is a common practice in Jewish households to introduce children to the basic notion of monotheism at a very early age: the basic idea that God is One, and is the only One we worship. It would be rare to find a Jewish child who is aware that we worship Hashem, but thinks that Hashem refers to a multiplicity of gods, or that we worship gods other than Hashem. Either way the child doesn't fully grasp what we mean by the term "Hashem," but he or she has been taught by rote that this is what Jews believe. The Rambam maintains that we should extend this rote form of monotheism to include the other yesodei ha'Torah (fundamentals of Torah) which comprise Judaism's unique concept of Yichud Hashem. Even though many of these ideas are far too abstract for children to understand, we nevertheless instill the statements which correspond to these ideas in Jewish children from a very young age. 

The Rambam's answer to the second question - the question of how to teach these ideas to young children - can be found in the halachos of Mitzvas Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim (the mitzvah to tell of the Exodus from Egypt on the night of Passover). The Rambam writes in Hilchos Chametz u'Matzah 7:2

It is a mitzvah to teach the children about the Exodus from Egypt even if they do not ask, as it is stated, “And you shall tell your son” (Exodus 13:8). The father should teach in accordance with the mind of the son. How? If the son is very young or stupid, he should say to him, “My son, all of us were slaves – like this maidservant or like this manservant – in Egypt, and on this night, the Holy One, Blessed is He, redeemed us and we went out to freedom.” And if the son is mature and intelligent, he should tell him what happened to us in Egypt, and the miracles that were wrought for us through Moshe Rabbeinu – in accordance with the mind of the son. 

The key principle is: lefi daato shel ben, aviv melamdo - the father should teach in accordance with the mind of his child. It would be meaningless to tell a child, "Pantheism is heresy. In truth, Hashem is incorporeal, and therefore cannot partake of accidental qualities such as location." But if a child asks, "Where is Hashem?" the parent might say something to the effect of: "Well, do you know where time is? Time isn't in any place, but it is real. Do you know where right and wrong are? Right and wrong aren't in any place, but they are both real. Hashem is also real, even though He isn't in any place." Of course, this is just an example. It may be that even this explanation is too abstract for the child. In each situation, the teacher or parent must strive to present the idea in accordance with the mind of the child.

Notice that the injunction to teach according to the mind of the child does not only refer to the formulation of the ideas, but to the media through which the ideas are presented. An older child may be able to learn through discussion, but a younger child may need to be taught with visual aids, rhyming songs, cartoons, and the like. I know parents who taught their kids fundamental ideas in metaphysics through puppet shows.

Needless to say, this post was not intended to be a comprehensive guide to early Torah education. But discussing the principles of education like these will better prepare us for the arduous but vital task of educating Jewish children.

Chesed Hashem in the Messianic Era

Originally posted in December 2008, during my Rabbi Sacks period. Please pardon the somewhat jargon-heavy writing style.

Artwork: Rush of Knowledge, by Eric Peterson

Chesed Hashem in the Messianic Era

The shortest perek (chapter) in Sefer Tehilim (The Book of Psalms) is perek 117, which says:

Praise Hashem, all peoples; praise Him, all the nations! For His chesed (kindness) has overpowered us, and the truth of Hashem is eternal, Halleluyah! 

The phrase "His chesed has overpowered us" is peculiar. We don't typically describe chesed as something that "overpowers" the one who receives it. "Overpowered" implies resistance on the part of the recipient. Why should there be any resistance to Hashem's chesed?

To answer this question we must define the term "chesed" and understand what chesed our pasuk (verse) is referring to. The Rambam [1] explains that the term "chesed" literally means "excess," and is typically used to denote an excess of tov (good). According to the Radak [2] this chapter is about the Messianic Era. What chesed (excess) will Hashem bestow upon humanity in the Messianic era?

The Rambam answers this question in two places in the Mishneh Torah. The first is in the Laws of Repentance [3]:

In those days [of the Messianic Era] there will be an increase of knowledge, wisdom, and truth, as it is stated, "For the entire world will be filled with knowledge of Hashem" (Yeshayahu 11:9), and it is stated, "They will no longer teach - each man his fellow, each man his brother" (Yirmiyahu 31:33), and it is stated, "I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh" (Yechezkel 36:26), because that king who will arise from the offspring of David will be a master of wisdom, greater than Solomon, and a great prophet, close to Moses our teacher. Therefore, he will teach all of the nation and instruct them in the path of Hashem, and all of the nations will come to hear, as it is stated, "It will happen in the end of days: the mountain of the Temple of Hashem will be firmly established as the head of the mountains" (Yeshayahu 2:2).

The second source is in the Laws of Kings: 

The chachamim (wise men) and the prophets didn't desire the Messianic Era so they could rule over the entire world, or to dominate the nations, or to be exalted by the nations, or so that they could eat, drink, and rejoice - rather, [they only desired the Messianic Era] so that they could be free to occupy themselves with Torah and its wisdom, without any oppressor or nullifier, so that they can merit the World to Come. 

During that time there will not be any famine or war, jealousy or rivalry, for the tovah (good) will be abundantly bestowed, and all pleasurable things will be available like dust, and the sole occupation of the entire world will be to know Hashem. Therefore, the Jews will be exceedingly wise and will know hidden and deep ideas, and they will apprehend the knowledge of their Creator to the extent that is possible for humans, as it is stated, "For the world will be filled with knowledge of Hashem, like water covering the sea bed" (Yeshayahu 11:9). 

What tov will be bestowed in excess during the Messianic Era? The tov of knowledge of Hashem. This is the chesed which we will experience as "overpowering," as the pasuk states, "For His chesed has overpowered us, and the truth of Hashem is eternal, Halleluyah!" This "truth of Hashem" is the  chesed (i.e. excess of tov) that will be bestowed in the Messianic Era.

In order to understand why this excess of tov will be experienced as "overpowering," we must delve a little bit deeper into the idea of tov. 

Our lives are governed by the pursuit of two different types of tov. The first type is the tov of Bereishis, as it is stated, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. And God saw the light that it was tov" (Bereishis 1:3-4), and "God saw all that He had made and behold - it was exceedingly tov" (ibid. 1:31). This is the tov of God's wisdom as expressed in His universe - the tov of lawful existence. Our tov, as human beings, is the contemplation of this wisdom, which we experience as the ultimate pleasure of ahavas Hashem (love of God) and the ultimate humility of yiras Hashem (awe of God).

But there is another tov: the tov of the nachash (snake), as it is stated, "The nachash said to the woman, ‘You will surely not die, for God knows that on the day you eat of [the fruit of the tree] your eyes will be opened and you shall be like gods, knowers of tov and ra.’" (ibid. 1:4-5). The tov of the nachash is the tov of the god-fantasy: the self-centered, deep-seated belief that the universe revolves around "the Great, Mighty, and Awesome Me." The tov of the nachash is the source of the drive for pleasure and the drive for success, as it is stated, "And the woman saw that [the fruit of] the tree was tov for eating: tempting to the eyes and desirable as a means to success" (ibid. 1:6).

Why will we experience the excess tov of Bereishis in the Messianic Era as "overpowering"? Because the tov of Bereishis is a threat to the tov of the nachash. To recognize the Sovereignty of the Creator in the universe is to forfeit one's own claim of divine sovereignty. To acknowledge the reality of the Supreme Being is to admit that one's own feelings of supremacy and greatness are rooted in fantasy and falsehood. To behold the lawfulness governing the entire universe is to confront the terrifying fact that one's own life is governed by that same lawfulness. The mind's encounter with the objective reality of lawfulness forces one to confront the harsh truth that reality doesn't conform to me, but I must conform to reality.

Contemplation of the wisdom in God's universe leaves no room for feelings of greatness, as the Rambam [5] writes in his explanation of yiras Hashem:

What is the way of loving Him (ahavah) and being in awe of Him (yirah)? When a person ponders His great and wondrous works and creations he immediately loves, praises, and extols and is filled with a great desire to know the Supreme Being, as David said, “My soul thirsts for the living God” (Tehilim 42:3). And when he contemplates these things he immediately is drawn back with great reverence and he realizes that he is a small, insignificant, unenlightened creature standing with a frail intellect in the presence of a Being Who is Perfect in Knowledge, as David said, “[When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that you have set in place, I exclaim,] ‘What is frail man that You should notice him, [and the son of mortal man that You should be mindful of him?']” (ibid. 8:4-5). 

This experience of yiras Hashem - the realization of one's small existence in the reality of God's lawful universe - is utterly despicable to our inner-nachash, as it is stated, "Yiras Hashem is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline" (Proverbs 1:7). It is for this reason that influx of excess Bereishis-tov at the advent of the Messianic Era will be met with tremendous resistance and will be experienced as "overpowering" by all but the greatest chachamim.

But this struggle against reality will only be temporary, as the prophet states, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit within you, and I will make it so that you will follow My decrees and guard My ordinances and fulfill them" (Ezekiel 36:26). What is this "spirit of Hashem"? "The spirit of Hashem will rest upon him - a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and yiras Hashem" (Yeshayahu 11:2). Hashem will assist His servants by releasing us from the shackles of the tov of the nachash and guiding us in the light of the tov of Bereishis.

The Rambam writes that ideally, we should all yearn for the coming of the Moshiach. This perek of Tehilim reminds us that we must begin by acknowledging the part of us which does not yearn for the coming of Moshiach. So long as we are unwilling to face that part of ourselves, we cannot truly yearn for the redemption. 

[1] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Guide for the Perplexed 3:53

[2] Rabbeinu David Kimchi (Radak), Commentary on Sefer Tehilim 117

[3] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Mishneh Torah: Sefer ha'Mada, Hilchos Teshuvah 9:2

[4] ibid. Sefer Shoftim, Hilchos Melachim 12:4-5

[5] ibid. Sefer ha'Mada: Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah 2:2

Parashas Balak: Divine Regret

Unfortunately, I found myself uninspired to look into the parashah in time to write a dvar Torah for this week. But since I felt I needed to write something, I decided to just share an Ibn Ezra on a pasuk in Parashas Bereishis which sheds light on a pasuk in Parashas Balak. It might be a Tier #2 dvar Torah which is only kinda on the parashah, but who knows? Maybe someone will gain something from it. 

Parashas Balak: Divine Regret

Balak, the king of Moav, hired Bilam the prophet to curse the Jews. Time and time again, the king was let down when the prophet blessed the Israelite nation instead of cursing them, explaining that he can't go against God's will. Balak's persisted in his demands, hoping that Hashem would change His mind and allow Bilam to curse the foreign nation. In response to this hope Bilam says:

"God is not a man that He should be deceitful, nor is He a human being that He should regret" (Bamidbar 23:19). 

Seems straightforward enough: God doesn't regret, and will not change His mind about allowing the Jews to be cursed. However, at the end of Parashas Bereishis, prior to the decree of the Flood, the Torah says the opposite: 

Hashem saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every product of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all of the time. And Hashem regretted having made man upon the earth, and His heart was saddened. And Hashem said, "I will blot out Man whom I created from the face of the ground - from man to animal, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky; for I have regretted having made them (Bereishis 6:5-7).

So which is it: Does Hashem regret or not? Furthermore, what does it mean when it says that "His heart was saddened"?

To a student of the yesodei ha'Torah (fundamentals of Torah), the answer is obvious: no, Hashem does not regret, nor be sad. First of all, Hashem does not - and cannot - change. Secondly, Hashem has no emotions, since Hashem is not physical. Thirdly, Hashem cannot make any mistakes which would warrant regret. 

This changes our question: Since Hashem doesn't regret, what does the pasuk mean when it describes Him has regretting having created man?

The Ibn Ezra [1] answers:

It is obvious that He is not a man such that He regrets. Rather, the Torah speaks in human language, and one who destroys what he has made appears as though he regretted [making it]. The meaning of "His heart was saddened" is the opposite of "may Hashem rejoice in His creations" (Tehilim 104:31), for it is good in His eyes that His creations receive His kindnesses.

On the pasuk from Tehilim cited by the Ibn Ezra, the Radak [2] echoes his comments:

Happiness and sadness with reference to Hashem are [to be understood] allegorically, for He has neither happiness nor sadness, and He doesn't change from one mode to another. Rather, just as a person is happy when his actions succeed and is sad when the opposite happens, the same is allegorically said of God (blessed is He), so that the listeners may understand. 

Both Rishonim agree that "regret," "happiness," "sadness" are to be understood as anthropomorphic characterizations of Hashem's actions - not as literal statements about Hashem, Himself. The same goes for all other statements which seem to imply that Hashem has emotions.

Although this approach is expressed unanimously and ubiquitously throughout the writings of the Rishonim, it is too often neglected in Jewish day school education. I have lost count of the number of students I've taught who are shocked to be informed that Hashem has no emotions. The only way I know to remedy this deficiency in their education is to seize every opportunity to explain anthropomorphic passages such as these, and to show them that this entire approach is firmly rooted in the teachings of the baalei Mesorah. 

[1] Rabbeinu Avraham ibn Ezra, Commentary on Sefer Bamidbar 23:19
[2] Rabbeinu David Kimchi, Commentary on Sefer Tehilim 104:31