What is God & How the Universe was Created - Rabbi Yitzchak Botton

[Music] there was a guy that had a dream you know he had and in this dream of course he was talking to hashem talking to god and so he says god tell me is it okay if i make a joke so god responds um what's a joke so the guy was shocked like what god doesn't know what a joke is he goes just kidding you know so so that's uh start off on a light note because we're going to get very serious today this is a very deep topic and we're going to start with presenting some of the issues that the early jewish philosophers had and we're going to really explore how the kabbalists how the mystics solve those problems because ultimately today we follow that approach as far as how to resolve these issues the biggest issue is that god being infinite having no beginning no end and this world being finite so how can an infinite god have a relationship a connection with the finite creation man being the essence of of creation where the the purpose of creation how do we establish a relationship with ash and how do we relate to hashem how do we talk to hashem so we live in a world where everything is um you know defined by what it does and what it is so how do we start to talk to hashem how can we have any type of defining characteristics to relate to god is infinite the philosophers early philosophers were very careful to discuss this point that you know you can't say that god is kind because god is not only kind you can't say that he's he's a strong because that's a limited quality and if god is one and god is infinite so he's almost everything and nothing at the same time so how do you start to relate to such a being so to resolve this problem the the kabbalist explained that we have to make a distinction between referring to god's essence versus divine revelation now god's essence the the kabbalah calls it the question is how we can relate to god that's what we're getting to ultimately when we explain a bit about what we understand about god then we'll also understand how we can relate and connect to hashem and how god has any type of involvement in this finite world so they explain like this his essence is above and beyond any grasp and really in when we're talking about god's essence he doesn't go through any exchange nothing changes in hashem this is a famous teaching hashem so it's uh and we know that before creation and after creation enduring creation he's all the same so nothing essentially affects him when we're talking about his essence now since god wanted to create so in doing so the first step was a withdrawal of his infinite light so it's called aimself the infinite or the orange so for the infinite light so god withdrew that light and so to speak created a space where existence could could be and he then caused to come back into that space his divine light the orient soul except when it comes back into this area it comes back in measured and limited and once we have that divine expression when the divine light comes back into the realm of creation since it's limited we say channeled since it's channeled unlimited then we can start to have uh a god expressing himself in different different ways different attributes and and this is in kabbalah called the tense vid the 10 different emanations that we have in the very high spiritual worlds above and so that is how they exist because god took out the infinite light which had no division no type of distinction and then he brings back in a light that is divided and distinguished from it with depending on its characteristics we have the first sphere is sphere of keter crown the second one wisdom third one bina understanding and then we get to the emotional attributes said kindness is a judgment or severity tiferet is beauty or emit and so on you know and ultimately every expression that we have in this world anything that it's talked about in the torah of god relating to us so it's all through these 10th spherehold that's why we define god as merciful compassionate we define him as ishmael hama a mighty warrior and so in fact there's a midrash that addresses this point which is a very fundamental it's uh it's going on when mosh rabbenu ascended on harseenite and he had his first conversation with hashem i'm sure that they didn't make any jokes that time but you know but nonetheless god allows us to have a sense of humor so we're allowed to make a few jokes here and there that's why actually the rabbis would start their discourse with a joke in this conversation between hashem and moshe so moshe essentially asks god what's your name and hashem responds by saying you you want to know my name so yeah it says i am called in accordance with my actions my names will depend on how i'm acting out towards the world when i'm judging the world so then my name is uh elo elokim when i'm being merciful to my creations my name is sheimhavaya yudkevkay you know the great name of hashem the four letter name when i'm ruler ruling over the world when i'm acting as a king it's and other names el-shaddai when i'm what is that he's forgiving of sin through that name and the midrash records all these different names and the expressions how god acts through those names the insight from this midrash is that depending on what he's expressing himself as whatever channel this that this divine energy is coming through that will determine the name that fits and so when it's this particular expression of divinity which is manifest in the world it's this name and if it's a different expression it's another name so if he doesn't have a name then he's not expressing any divinity you could say that and that's what i want to clear up now before we understand it in the wrong way so the implication after this midrash is one could ask himself so when god's acting out in a particular way he has that name but then what if he's not acting out what is his name so then of course god has no name if god's not expressing himself in the world then there's no name that we can apply to god it doesn't mean that god stops existing god's beyond quantifying qualifying by using a name the mystics explain like this letters and words all of these things are ways of qualifying and defining things which are limited it's this and not that that and not this when we talk about god's essence there's no letter no no word no letter not even a dot that could symbolize any characteristic or aspect of god's essence and so god's essence is above all names and all symbols all marks so there's not even a dot that that can express hashem's essence and so really on that level god has no name and that's what he answers mosh rabin he says i will be that what i will be is because it's only when god descends from that infinite level of aimself and he does and channels his divine energy into we say through the tense violet and it's manifest in the world upper worlds all as well not just in this world but through all the worlds then god becomes the god you know of king which is the shame which is mercy or elohim or kell and there's also the characteristics that define him merciful compassionate mighty vengeful all these terms are only representative of the divine manifestation which is limited and that's how we have any connection and relationship with hashem now here's where the tricky part comes superficially a person can make a mistake and say that okay so god's essence is above everything and it's not in connected to anything and it's only this divine manifestation which we have we have a connection to but god's essence is above all that how does god's essence become also invested in this limited expression this this this these different uh characteristics these different names because if god is too big for a name how does he fit into the name of hashem and let me explain very clearly let's make a mistake that unfortunately idol worship has ended up making is don't think that god in his essence is not in the names because that's making separation between god and his only names and that's idol worship that's kira it's a it's blasphemous they made several mistakes which is a discussion in a different class what i'm just just going right to the end result not to learn from their mistakes just we have to understand that the names of hashem are are connected with hashem himself and his essence as well and so are they the sopranos above the tsar says that that god and his spirit are one they're unified in what we call absolute oneness and if anyone separates between god and his attributes his divine manifestations it's peru it's a it's like uh making a crucial mistake of faith to answer this complicated deep concept in kabbalah we're going to bring a very simple teaching it sounds so simple but we have to make sure we understand it clearly and then we'll have the key to this point and we will that we won't be able to get confused it says in the sephora one of the books of midrash it says when all those that want to call out to him to hashem so on that word a love to him they make a point they make a statement like this we must call out in prayer to him i.e to god and not to his middot a love veloli medotav to him to hit rock to hashem only to god himself and the implication here we're going to explain in a moment how it works this way to his essence and not to his attributes god's essence without it becoming enclothed and channeled into the divine realms above is untouchable unaccessible there's no way to talk to hashem on that level or to relate in any way after god is manifest though in the world so we have to understand that he his essence becomes also guard and enclothed in this manifestation because if we divorce his essence from the manifestation then that's not god anymore that's that's false ideologies to believe that it's just an attribute so to pray to the attribute without understanding that god's essence is enclosed within that attribute that's wrong and to pray to god without realizing that he has to be included in the attribute is equally wrong so that's the depth of this teaching a love the lolito tough to him to god's essence and not to his attributes means we have to pray to god's essence as it is constricted and channeled through the divine realms above the 10th spiral which come out as these in these seven names that you can't erase there's a way to make three other names which become ten equal in the tenths philoth and all of the different characteristics that we understand that god writes about in the in the tanakh that is merciful compassionate vengeful they're all expressions of god's essence as they are channeled through the uh this this tense field and when you pray in this way to hashem you're really praying to hashem and this is the only way to pray to hashem to pray to the essence to god's essence as it is expressed through the his attributes and that's the only way you can't make a mistake and very important to realize when and and this is also part of worshiping in the wrong way if we start to try to pray the spiritual realms even though those spiritual realms are powerful and great and made by god lower than this first realm that we're talking about where god unites with his attributes what we call them it's a divine realm any lower than that it's also idol worship praying to any of the spiritual powers that exist even in the holy realms is is forbidden for sure what we see the nations of the world involving sorcery and witchcraft which can have truth to it the gemara talks all over the place about there being real power to these things praying to those things for help that's that's that's for completely forbidden that's uh but even in the realm of holiness it's forbidden to pray to any type of level of intermediary only to hashem himself so now that we have that clear let's get into the specifics you know let's talk about the different names and what they mean and what we should be thinking it could be thinking about when we say these names we'll start with the first the main name of hashem it's called the great name of hashem also the shame the name that represents god's essence the most and that's the name that starts with yud and hey and hey the shame is the way we would pronounce it i'm switching the letters because you're not allowed to pronounce that name as it's written it's absolutely forbidden to pray time in prayer or in any other type of learning to say the letters you'd then hate invading by pronouncing it the way it would read according to the arizona one of the main macabre lists you also can't say the letters you'd and then hey and hey without making it a separation which is what i keep saying you can either say you'd k vavche or you'd then hey or you'd end hey you can't say the letters even because saying the letters in a row is also to some degree like saying hashem's name in a way that's not permissible according to a result you had a question yes is it okay to is it like negative to hear somebody else say it you cannot control what someone else says but if you're certainly listening to it with with the purposeful to that you want to listen to it then that's the wrong type of thing to listen to but if someone says it like a jehovah witness who doesn't know anything about this the real way to have proper reverence towards this great holy name so he doesn't know any better and if you hear him say it you're not sinning but it's absolutely ridiculous to think you could say such a name if the if in the basal mig-dash it was only allowed to be pronounced in certain situations you know from from the kohanim the hong kong then we certainly cannot be using that name and neither can any of these uh you know people that think that they know better certainly are not supposed to be using this name i don't know how to pronounce it i see them pronounce it differently okay so in any of the pronunciations we have to it would be for sure did they pronounce it during the entire reading i mean i've never really listened to it no no one does we never pronounce the name you'd know of k as it's written it's pronounced actually as if it would have been spelled alive which is you know i'll say it once so we all say what i'm saying adonai which is god's kinship lordship that's you know you know all-powerful that's what we pronounce so it's interesting the name is written one way but it's pronounced another way and so for that reason where there are two basic intentions two basic things we should have in mind when we pronounce this name when we read this name we pronounce it as adonai and but we as we're pronouncing it in that way we're looking at the letters you'd keep off case so there's almost two names two different divine um expressions that we're thinking about you know simultaneously and in a deeper sense there's actually a unification going on between these two different uh you know divine names and uh the different uh aspects that we're dealing with but what we're supposed to think about to start with is it's written the way god's name is written which you think about that god was is and always will be and this is connected with the letters yud and hey and because means past that's the hey and the ud hey is present tense and ye and hey so the letters that make up god's name represent past present and future as one and that's why god is completely above time and he's completely in time he's both above and in time at the same time so that's one thing to happen when we say hashem's name when we but the the name adnut that we're pronouncing that's we should think that god is all-powerful and all-able and that he is the source the true source of all all power that exists okay those are the two things we should have in mind this is brought in the shogunate uh simon hey the fifth section of the srinar the first halacha taking it a little bit deeper into you know some of the other commentaries more on the spiritual side they talk about different ideas that are related to the names of hashem the name of kay the is known to represent the attribute of mercy as we perhaps said already but it's brought in many places than the attribute of mercy and in yet another way of explaining the name you'd kvk it points to god being above the limitations of the world and really the source of all supernatural miracles that occur in contrast to this the name elohim or eloheinu as well these names that represents really mainly elokim it represents god as it is guard and and really concealed within nature so the different types of providence that we experience in the world is there's a miraculous way that god interacts with us and then there's a natural way that god interacts with us when we see miracles it's coming from yudkev and when the world runs in its natural way that it was set to run from beginning of creation that's coming through elokim that is why if we look in the beginning of creation the only name used there is elokim because the elohim is linked up with nature and as a matter of fact the the mystics explain the ramak and the kadosh actually credited to the zohar explains that the numerical value for the name elohim is equal to that of nature and so that really nature is only a um it's only a mask for hashem but it's on that level of elokim which is not breaking the rules of nature it's an expression of divinity within nature and then higher level is the yudk which is breaking nature that is why when hashem sends moshe to power to take the jews out of egypt he actually says go there and tell them that god and he uses specifically the name you'd yud kevke has come and said let my people go to worship me at mount sinai para answers moshe like a little bit you know ignorant who is i don't know this god i never heard of him and this is a big question many of the commentators ask what do you mean you didn't hear of god you just said not too long ago to yosef is there any person in this kingdom that has the spirit of god in him like like like yosef you said to joseph you you understand who god and you believe in god so how is he telling to moshe i don't know who god is i never heard of this god the answer is in the different names that he he recognized elokim paro realized existed but elokim doesn't play with nature elokim is limited in that it doesn't change so paul thought okay god which is elokim i'm not afraid of because he doesn't have the we don't see from that divine name that there's any change in nature and right now i got all the power because i'm manipulating the different celestial beings that exist that i learned how to manipulate from this the side of unholiness and i'm i'm powerful and eloquent doesn't intimidate me but this god you're talking to me about you'd give up okay i never heard of this god that god i learned from my my my teachers that that god is gone he doesn't exist in this world he's gone he doesn't have any involvement in the world and i'm not intimidated by that god either and so god said okay we're gonna we're gonna teach you uh unfortunate real lesson ten ten ten ten punishments we're gonna teach you ten times what this real god this name of god uk fk is able to do and that's why in partial bow it says that i'm going to make a mockery of paro in order to put my name my signs and my name within him and that essentially means on a deeper sense that i'm going to teach him that the name yud kevky which represents this higher level of divine revelation and divine manifestation actually is involved in the world and then he took us out with miracles and the whole world even the jews were taught that hashem is elokim that yudkev k and elokim are one two different levels of divine providence but they're both one and they're both true all the time that's the lesson we learned when we left egypt and that's why we always say the god that took us out of egypt the god that took us out of egypt because egypt in a deeper sense egypt means to be limited and so it also means to be limited in our faith in our knowledge and our understanding of what it means that that we have a god that created us and so that that mentality in egypt was was trapped and god freed us from those limitations and taught us that hawaii elokim that god that yud kevke is elohim it's all one and god is in total control of the world all the time and he makes miracles and he can work within nature out of nature any way we want he's he's in charge so that's that's a little bit about the two names of hawaii and elokim um there are another other ways we can appreciate these names the name of elohim also represents judgment and and many times punishment um so that's another thing to have in mind elokim is related to judgment and punishment obviously the opposite of kindness which is uh mercy which is an expression of of kevke so i think that helps us to uh understand most of of of the names we use um just to finalize it with one last point so the name adnut adonai when it's written aleph dalai nunud is specifically speaking about the second half that we mentioned when we talk about the two names that come together it's talking about god as our ruler as our king and uh and it's in the it's in the singular form it's like my master and this is really to emphasize further that god is our god and he's involved in each and every one of our life in a personal way and also with the nation of israel he unifies himself his name together with the nation of israel and he's called the god of israel because he overlooks the happenings of israel in particular and each person as well and this is implied in adonai because it's my god my my king my ruler the rishonim talk about the idea that god is our personal god they learn it also from the ten commandments where it says i am the lord your god see it specifies i'm your god could have said i am the lord god but the fact that i am the lord your god tells me that that i'm specifically looking and taking care of you and that's also for the ten commandments we see the same idea that speaking about calling god my god or god saying to us he's i'm your god shows the deep personal connection between us and hashem and you know it's a beautiful thing when you think about it in our tafilin we wear this feeling it's a sign that we're god's servant that's one of the one of the meanings of the art feeling is the sign that that we belong to hashem and it says we should love god and be completely devoted to hashem in every way we can so the the ghazal the rabbis tell us that god also has to fill in on some level it's a deep concept and the gemara asks what's in regards to filling so it says that who is like my nation israel that i take pride and glory in and obviously that he loves us so much and so it's a very beautiful connection that we have with hashem ultimately this infinite being that is beyond everything the sins so low that he can have a relationship with us that we love him and he loves us and he's there for us and we have to of course be there for him and this is the story of the jewish people it's like in shirashi and from king king solomon you know it's like this love story between a bride and a groom and that's what the rabbis actually say that when we stood under mount at mount sinai it was like as if we were becoming married to hashem and of course hashem will never abandon us he promises that and we await the the the re-strengthening of this relationship that we have had once and we will have have once again you