The 13 Principles of Jewish Faith - Principle #3: The Light of Infinity - Rabbi Akiva Fox

the next of the you'd gimel ikram of the 13 principles of faith is the third one shahab Piraeus parish and my a my goof he is not a body velocity go home a cig a hug off and there's no way to conceptualize him or to comprehend him with bodily functions or bodily structure the English um Damien cloud and there is no comparison to him whatsoever this has a lot of different branches to it there's a lot to understand but let's start from the basics number one Hashem God is not a body he's not a person he doesn't have arms he doesn't have hands he doesn't have eyes whenever we find in the Torah or in the Bible or in the scriptures that there are certain terms that are used like the hand of god or a Shem sees something with his eyes that is just an expression ace ace term of speech that gives us as humans the ability to connect to what it is to what God is doing of course it does not mean that God has eyes or God has hands what it means is that we and our finite limited very restricted intellect are not able to comprehend what it means that Hashem watches us looks out for us keeps an eye on us so therefore the Torah at times uses a metaphor or a term called Hashem's hand or a Shems eyes so that we can understand what it is that a sham is doing that is not what hashemi is it's not his essence but it's just a form of speech that gives us the ability to connect with it so whenever we find written the hand of a xem did this or that the hand of a sham smite this nation or that God saw with his eyes or the heart of a sham again this is a way for us as humans finite limited intellect to connect to what a sham is doing but of course that is not the essence of what a shame is because the essence of what a shame is is completely infinite it is beyond us we have no way to connect to it we have no way to comprehend it so that's the first part of this one of the ikram one of the of this fundamental which is that the times that we find that there is such terminology has nothing to do with the essence of God it is just a way for us to comprehend what it is that a shame is doing this is something that is at times called the shameiess of a sham the names of a Shem the names of a sham what it's coming to represent is the way that he acts or the things that he does that give us an inkling as to his closeness or to how we can conceptualize his existence but again that doesn't define his essence that is something that as we said is a night goofy is not a body below ya see guru marcg i'll go and there's no way for bodily or or or or physical finite way to describe him or to comprehend him because he is beyond physical limits now another thing that this entails is below isagoo whom a cigar Gulf there's no way to conceptualize or to connect to him with our own message a hug off with our own bodily intellect what that means is that we cannot look and observe we cannot have a perception of a shame and what he does in the world with limited finite naked eye there is so much more that's going on so to limit our vision of what Hashem is and what a xem does with our own limitations that is something that we're taught not to do don't limit yourself don't restrain what you see and what you believe to your physical I and to what your physical i sees there is so much more that exists that in order to see it in order to have a true real and pure perception you need to have a deeper vision that d provision comes with intellect it comes with learning it comes with understanding this is something that's called in the Torah is called das intellect but it's also called or it's called light for example the Torah is called Torah or the Torah is light what does that mean it's light it means it's light but it also means that it gives us the ability to look beyond the human limited vision and to have a much clearer vision with our intellect together that will give us the ability to understand what it is I'll try to give an example i have a small child she's about nine months old now i was learning on the couch minding my own business with my feet up trying to relax and i had a safe for a book in my hands and i'm reading and she crawled over and she sat on my lap that's a very special feeling and she spit up that wasn't a special field now as she's sitting on my lap she sees the book that I'm reading and she tried to take a bite out of it now I like to give my daughter everything I can I really do but not my book I don't think books are for eating especially not this one this is a rare copy but you have to understand because she's only 9 months old so she doesn't have the ill intellect to perceive this as a book she sees it as she sees the rest of the world as something that I could put in my mouth but that's not what it is meaning in order to see to perceive something for what it truly is you need intellect there's a physical vision that a child has that animals have but that physical vision restrains you be because you only see things for what you want them to be the non-physical non limited vision gives you the ability to see deeper to see beyond what you want it to be and to see it for what it actually is or actually maybe that is called light that is called shining a light on something that gives you a deeper perception of what it is because a nine-month-old is in the dark to what a book is and an animal laughs do is in the dark for what things are but we people especially those who learn the Torah and connect with hashem's will and connect with the world of Torah they have the orator the light of Torah that illuminates what exists in the world and shows you a deeper understanding of what it is that is called the world of a Shem that is something that you cannot use your finite physical vision for you need a much deeper vision you a much broader vision in essence if you look at the world with the naked eye with the physical human eye you might see a world that's all here for me what can I get out of this you can see a beautiful apple tree and all you're gonna think is I hope the apples taste good you could see people and think what could I get out of them there's a insurance agent who I know who said he left the insurance business because every person he met he thought this is perhaps a future client and he didn't want to see people like that do we look at the world like that do we look at the world and our vision all we grasp is what could I take out of it there's a much better world a much deeper world and that takes light that call or hatorah that takes intellect the physical body alone cannot see it but if you want to see the hand of God if you want to see the way God runs the world you need to purify your heart from all personal desires and temptations and you need to see it with the what the light of intellect the light of the toe that gives you an inkling as to what's really going on to see the world for what God wants it to be not for what I want it to be so in order to have that what we learn in this fundamental is low ya see guru Massey gag off you cannot use bodily limited restrained human capacity in order to comprehend God in his world you need a much deeper vision that vision is something that we get that we accomplish and we achieve and we acquire only if we connect the light of the Torah God's light the Torah's light will give us the intellectual capacity to broaden our horizons to have a more pure perception of God's world of God's hand in the world and hopefully we will see that we are not limited to being human because we are connecting to something that is beyond human we are connecting to a Shem who is a god that is the farthest thing from finite is infinite and only by connecting to that light where we have the ability to see the light of God in the world you