Why Does G-d Have So Many Names? - Rabbi Yitzchak Botton

[Music] when talking about prayer we normally think of us praying to Hashem but the talmud in fact tells us that God also prays now this idea is very shocking you know what does it mean God prays god is God what does he pray for who would God pray to so let me first ask another question before getting to those answers if God is one why does he have so many different names you know when you look in the consider and pray in Hebrew there's a lot of different names and they all represent the same Gods so let us appreciate the two main names we see coming up a lot in prayer is the name that begins with the letters yud hey and B and he which represents the divine attribute of mercy and the name Elohim which represents the attribute of judgment now these are the two main functions of Hashem when Hashem is Manifest in the world it's through these channels the channel of mercy and the channel of judgment now with this we could start to appreciate a little bit more about what's going on in the dynamic of praying to Hashem it's not so simple but I'd like to add a story to help us appreciate it even more so there's these two friends that worked together for many many years and one of them is in a jam he asks his friend can I borrow $10,000 for 30 days I promise to have it back to you in time so of course good friends he wants to help him he says but I have to ask my wife first so he goes home and as soon as he starts asking his wife you know Michael needs a loan she's like Michael no way I don't trust him never forget about it so he has no choice but to go back to his friend and say listen Michael I want to help you but my wife said no this can help us appreciate a little bit about what it means that Hashem has many names because really when we talk about talking to Hashem there's the Hashem that is talking to the attribute of mercy and then there're talking to the attribute of judgment now let's get back to our first two questions so who does Hashem pray to when he prays well he prays to himself it's this inner battle or this inner dialogue between both of these attributes of hasem the the mercy and the Judgment now what does Hashem pray for so interesting the gamar actually tells us what Hashem prays for May It Be My will that my Mercy conquer my anger and may my Mercy overcome my attribute of strict judgment and may I act towards my children with the attribute of Mercy judging them favorably from here we can gain a glimpse of the most astonishing fact wherein lines the immeasurable power of our own prayers God is on our side he wants to be good to us he wants to give us good that's why he gave us prayer he gave us the chance to approach him and to ask him and towak in his attribute of mercy so he can give us the good even when we are not so deserving of he prays for it as well