Jewish Response to Anti-Semitism

Dear Jewish Response,

It is one of the fundamentals of Jewish belief that G-d is not a physical body, is everywhere and is not bound by any physical laws.

So how can the Torah say that Moshe saw G-d's back (Shemos 33:23)? How can the prophet Yechezkel claim to have seen a vision of a man sitting on a throne (Yechezkel 1:26)? How can the Torah talk in many places about the voice of G-d (Bamidbar 7:89)?

And why do the Talmud Sages speak of an angel who ties crowns on his Master? The Gemara in Chagigah 13b reads: "There was an angel standing on the earth and his head reached the level of the Chayos. A teaching from the Mishnaic period says that his name is Sandalfon, and he is higher than his colleagues by 500 years' journey. He stands in back of the chariot and ties crowns onto his Master. How could this be? Does it not say, 'Blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place' - implying that no one knows where His place is? - He pronounced a name over the crown and it went on its own and sat on His head."

I would appreciate it you could clarify these things for me.

Chaim F.

Dear Chaim,

At first, I was not sure whether to write about this subject at all, much less to post it on this website. It is a subject that involves the central beliefs of Judaism, and can be easily misunderstood. As Scripture says (Iyov 11:7), "Can you understand G-d?"

But on second thought, I realized that this subject is important to many mitzvos, such as the mitzvah to love G-d. How can we love Him if we understand nothing about Him? And as the Rambam says at the end of Hilchos Teshuva (10:6), "A man can only love the Holy One, blessed is He to the extent that he knows Him. Therefore, a man must dedicate himself to the study of the wisdom that will make his Creator known to him, in accordance with his ability to understand."

The love of G-d is not just a subject for abstract contemplation. It comprises many practical commandments, such as saying Shema, praying, putting on tallis and tefillin and reciting blessings.

The Jewish sources address your questions. In particular, the verse in Yechezkel is addressed by the Midrash, Bamidbar Rabbah 19:4.

The Midrash opens with a verse from Koheles 8:1, "The wisdom of a man lights up his face, and the strength of his face is changed." The Midrash explains: The wisdom of a man lights up his face - great is the power of the prophets, who compared G-d's mightiness to the form of a man. Daniel (8:16) said, "I heard the voice of a man." Yechezkel (1:26) said, "And on the form of the throne was a form like the appearance of a man on it above." And the strength of His face is changed - from the attribute of strict justice to the attribute of mercy on Israel.

The Midrash is saying that since we cannot understand G-d, we don't know how to address Him, how to pray to Him, how to ask Him for forgiveness. The prophets therefore compared G-d to a human form, so that we should be able to address Him and influence Him to deal with us mercifully. But we must remember that these are only metaphors and we can never truly understand G-d.

The reason why the Midrash says that the Prophets "compared G-d's mightiness to the form of a man" is that true mightiness is mercy and slowness to anger. "One who is slow to anger is better than a mighty man, and one who rules over his spirit is better than the conqueror of a city" (Mishlei 16:32). The Prophets described G-d's mercy in human terms and thus they described His true mightiness.

The meaning of Yechezkel's words "a form like the appearance of a man on it above" is that just as man is above the other levels of creation, so too G-d is above man. But by the same token, there are similarities between the various levels of creation: inert objects, the plants, the animals and humans. A tree looks similar to an inert object, but after watching for a long time one will notice that it grows. Animals need water and grow like plants. Humans eat and sleep and can fight like animals. This led the Prophets, with their "wisdom of man," to understand that although G-d is far above us, He has certain similarities to us that allow us to understand Him a little.

By the way, the Rambam says (Yesodei Hatorah 2:7) that the Chayos are the highest level of angels. The word "chayos" usually means animals. The commentary there explains that these angels were given this name because they are just below G-d, in the same way the animals are one level below humans.

It is "the wisdom of man" - the wisdom of comparing G-d to man, His creation - that allowed the Prophets to make this deduction. Hence: "The wisdom of man lights up His face, and the strength of His face is changed."

(The above Midrash interprets the beginning of the verse, "Who is like the wise..." to refer to G-d. But elsewhere the Sages interpret it in line with the later words "the wisdom of man," and say, "Who is like the wise Prophets, who knew how to make a compromise (pesher davar - translated above as "the explanation of a matter") between Israel and their Father in heaven.")

This is the key to understanding all the human language used in reference to G-d in the Torah and Prophets. The Prophets did this to make us feel closer to G-d and gain a stronger belief in Him.

But it is clear that in truth, G-d is boundless and non-physical. The Rambam opens his Mishneh Torah with the words, "The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of all branches of wisdom is to know that there is there a Prime Being who causes everything else to exist." Rabbi Yosef Karo in his commentary Kesef Mishneh questions the Rambam's use of the Hebrew words "yesh sham" (there is there a Prime Being...). Is the Creator "there," only in a specific place? He resolves this problem by saying that the word "there" means that the Creator is everywhere at once. Wherever one turns, He is there.

The Rambam writes (Yesodei Hatorah 1:11), "Since He is not a body, no bodily occurrences can occur to Him: not connection nor disconnection, not place nor size, not ascent nor descent, not right nor left, not front nor back, not sitting nor standing. He is not subject to time, that He should have a beginning or end, or an age."

G-d is also totally different from all other levels of existence in His oneness, and in His truth. A person might consider himself one, but he is actually made up of hundreds of limbs and organs, each of which in turn is made up of myriads of cells. Similarly, everything in this world can be broken down into parts, but not G-d. Everything comes in numbers - there are a certain number of people, a certain number of elements - but G-d is unique. As we say in Yigdal, "He is one, and there is none unique like his uniqueness." And as we say in Adon Olam, "He is one, and there is no second."

G-d's truth is also unique. Everything else is in a constant state of change: here today but gone tomorrow. "All men are false" (Tehillim 116:11), because something that will one day be gone is considered false. Only G-d is eternally true. That is why a Jew begins Shma with the declaration that G-d is one, and ends with the declaration of His truth.

The Rambam in Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah 1:10 addresses your question about Moshe seeing G-d's back: What did Moses wish to comprehend when he asked, "I beg of You, show me Your glory"? Just as one can recognize a particular person's appearance and know him to be different from other people, so Moses wanted to understand G-d's existence and to be able to differentiate Him from everything else. G-d replied to Moses that it is beyond the strengths of a living man, whose body and soul are as one, to understand the nature of His existence. Still, G-d made known to Moses things which no man before or since had known, so that Moses understood G-d enough to tell Him apart from other things in existence, just as it is possible, based on differences in dress and build, to tell one person apart from another by seeing only their backs. This is the meaning of the verse, "And you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen".

The Raavad (quoted by the Kesef Mishneh) disagrees with the Rambam's explanation of the verse "show me Your glory". If the Rambam were correct, why did G-d say in reply, "I will be kind to whomever I will be kind, and I will be merciful to whomever I will be merciful to"? He explains it in the context of the preceding verses, in which Moshe requests that G-d lead the Israelites on their journeys in the desert. G-d promises He will do so, and then Moshe says, "Show me. Allow me to see that You are with us." G-d replies, "I will pass all My goodness before you" - you personally will be able to see that I with the Israelites, but among the people, who angered Me with the golden calf, some will see and some will not -"I will be kind to whomever I will be kind, and I will be merciful to whomever I will be merciful to."

The Rambam, however, might have answered the Raavad's question by saying that Moshe's request to understand G-d really meant to understand His attributes. Therefore, G-d's reply that "I will be kind to whomever I will be kind" is an explanation of those attributes (as are the Thirteen Attributes in the following chapter).

G-d is infinite and unfathomable to humans and even to angels. For more on this, see our article on the size of the universe.

Humans have an innate desire to know G-d, although He is unknowable. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 41:1) explains this with an analogy to a palm tree, which is used in the Bible as a simile for the righteous (Psalms 92:13). There was once a date palm growing in Chamsan, near Tiberias, and it bore no fruit. A palm expert passed by, saw it and said, "This tree wishes to grow in Jericho." They transplanted it in Jericho and it bore fruit. The tree longed for the soil of Jericho, although it had never seen Jericho. Similarly, the righteous long for knowledge of G-d.

A righteous person can really only have one longing, the longing for G-d. This longing cannot coexist in a person's heart with worldly desires. In the analogy, this is represented by the palm tree, which saw the other trees producing fruit but had no desire to emulate them. Its only desire was to be planted in Jericho.

Now we can understand the prophets' expression "seeing G-d". No one can see G-d, but seeing can be used in the sense of understanding and longing, as it is used in the Talmud, "I see the words of Admon" (Kesubos 108b) - meaning I understand and agree with the words of Admon. Similarly, the Rambam (Yesodei Hatorah 1:9) writes that Moses perceived G-d "bemareh hanevuah" - through a vision of prophecy.

We can never really satisfy this longing, but we can come closer to G-d by understanding His attributes and ways. The human terms used by the Prophets are for the purpose of helping us understand these attributes.

With this, we can understand the words we say in Kedushah of Musaf, "Holy, holy, holy is the L-rd of Hosts, His glory fills all the world." Then, we say, the angels ask of their superiors, "Where is the place of His glory?" This seems strange. Why do they ask where He is, when we have just said that the whole world is filled with His glory? The answer is that they want to know how to worship Him. If He is everywhere and unknowable, how can we serve Him and have a connection with Him? The only answer the superior angels give to this is, "Blessed is the glory of G-d from His place" - wherever that place may be. Even they do not know.

Kedusha continues with a prayer for the future redemption: "From your place, our King, may You appear and reign over us, for we are waiting for You..." How does this fit in? This prayer, and the concluding verse "Hashem will reign forever, your G-d, O Zion" has nothing to do with the praises spoken by the angels. Furthermore, there is a rule that in the first three blessings of Shmoneh Esrei, we don't make any requests of G-d.

The answers is that Kedusha ends with our expression of hope for the future redemption because that is the real answer to the angels' question, "Where is the place of His glory?" At that time, it won't be "nobody knows" anymore. The righteous Jews will know.

Kedushah ends with the prophecy that one day, the Jewish people will reach a higher level of perception of G-d than the angels, and it will be said, "G-d will reign forever, your G-d, O Zion." The righteous Jews in the messianic age, who live in Zion, will be the closest to G-d, and the angels will have to call them "holy," as it says, "And it shall come to pass, that whoever is left in Zion, whoever remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy" (Yishaya 4:3).

Of course, this is not to say that the angels will worship Jews or even use them as intermediaries to G-d. Whoever worships G-d through an intermediary is a heretic (Rambam, Hilchos Teshuva 3:7). Rather, the meaning is that the righteous Jews will be the closest to G-d and the angels will have to ask them where G-d is and what He is doing. "Your eyes will see your Teacher" (Yishaya 30:20). "It will be said to Jacob and to Israel, What is G-d doing?" (Bamidbar 23:23). May that time be soon.

Jewish Response Staff

This entry was posted on July 21, 2011 at 4:26 PM and has received 124 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

"G-d chose you to be His treasured people from all the peoples on the face of the earth." (Devarim 14:2)

Anti-Semites sometimes claim that Jews are racists and supremacists because they refer to themselves as the chosen people. But this defining of Jews by race is an error and in no way reflects the true Jewish belief. Membership in the Jewish people is not dependent on race. For the Jews, peoplehood has always been defined only by acceptance of the Torah. In the words of the famous philosopher Rabbi Saadiah Gaon (882-942), "This people is only a people through its Torah." Any Jew who rejects the Torah is not part of the Jewish people. Any individual of any race can become a Jew and be part of the Jewish people. Thus it is clear that the term chosen people is a misnomer and a more proper rendering would be chosen religion.

But this still leaves much to be explained. What is the chosen religion? What was G-d's purpose in choosing a particular group of people who had particular beliefs?

Judaism teaches that man's purpose in this world is to recognize G-d as his Creator and to thank G-d for creating him. Before He created man, G-d already had angels who sang His praises, but He chose to create humans, who despite being hampered by their own physical needs and surrounded by a world of distractions, and despite not perceiving His existence directly, would believe in Him and praise Him. The world is like a factory full of amazing machines, each one with a purpose in keeping the factory running. But what gain, what profit does the factory Owner get out of it? Those people who believe in Him and praise Him.

After creation, G-d waited for the right people to come along, people through whom He could teach the world about its purpose. At first there were enlightened individuals - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - who understood on their own that the world must have one all-powerful and benevolent Creator. G-d appeared to them and spoke to them.

But this was not enough. G-d wanted to give His law to a large group of people, who would then live by this law and thereby teach the world about G-d's greatness. He chose to give His law to the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, who had been the first to proclaim G-d's existence to the world. Abraham's descendants continued to believe in what their ancestor had taught, and they stuck with it despite the adversity of Egyptian slavery. G-d called them the "people I have created for Myself, so that they might speak My praise" (Isaiah 43:21). This was their function on earth.

However, no one should make the mistake of thinking that G-d was choosing one race and their descendants for all time, for better or for worse. The Jews in ancient times were a very numerous nation. What happened to all descendants of those Jews? The answer is that many Jews have gone lost - left the Torah behind and assimilated into other societies and cultures. They may have Jewish blood, but when we speak of the Jewish people we do not mean them. Just as many have left the Jewish people, many have joined. Some of the greatest names in Jewish history have been converts: Zipporah, wife of Moses; Rahav, wife of Joshua; Ruth, great-grandmother of King David; and Onkelos, compiler of the most authoritative Aramaic translation of the Torah. Great Talmudic sages such as Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Meir were descended from converts. The Talmud even says that the entire purpose of the Jews' exile and dispersal over the face of the earth was so that converts should join them.

So we see that the Jews can really be defined as those individuals who chose G-d, not a race or ethnic group chosen by G-d. To those individuals who chose Him, G-d gave laws and teachings to show them how to spread His word and His praise in the world.

Many people know about Biblical verses like the one quoted at the outset of this article, which proclaim that G-d chose the Jews from all the nations. What they might not know is the following verses, which show that the choosing is a two-way street:

"You have chosen G-d today, to be your G-d, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, commandments and ordinances, and to listen to His voice. And G-d has chosen you today to be a treasured nation for Him, as He has spoken to you, and to keep all His commandments." (Devarim 26:17-18)

Let the anti-Semites clarify their position. If they are against a particular race, let it be known to them that Jewry is a religion, not a race. Those of Jewish extraction who do not practice Judaism are not to be considered Jews at all. They may use their Jewish identity or even parts of the Jewish religion to further their own agenda, but they are not Jews, neither are Jews responsible for their actions. Thus, for example, the Bolshevik revolution may have been led to a large extent by men who were born Jewish, but since they were atheists who fought ruthlessly against their mother religion, they were actually not Jews. They were even further from Judaism than Christians or Muslims, who believe in the Creator.

On the other hand, if their complaints are directed at the Jewish religion, they have a legitimate right to make their arguments heard and receive substantive answers from Jews. But that is no longer anti-Semitism - hatred of particular people. It is a religious doctrinal debate.

Anti-Semites often allege that Jews are greedy and money-hungry. Of course such people exist among all races and creeds, but those among the Jews have been mostly weeded out. Why? For centuries, Jews lived under Christian persecution, and were forbidden from having all but the most menial occupations. Any Jew who was greedy by nature had only to convert to Christianity in order to move up in the world. And there were many who did - otherwise we would have a much larger number of Jews today. Given the Jewish people's large numbers in the ancient world, there should be billions of us today. But Jews today are those who chose G-d - not those whom G-d chose - and chose Him above all other material concerns.

Another common anti-Semitic tactic is to focus on the Zionist movement, criticize it and then lump all Jews together with the Zionists. This distortion is particularly painful because Zionism has embraced some of the key concepts of anti-Semitism: that Jews are incapable of coexisting with gentiles around the world, and that Jews must therefore have their own country. In fact, true Judaism teaches the exact opposite: Jews are to be loyal citizens of their countries and must live in peace with all their neighbors. Zionism is a departure from Judaism and it is wrong to hold traditional Jews responsible for what Zionists do.

We hope this elucidation of the concept of the chosen people will help our readers understand better who Jews are and what they stand for. May we see the day of the redemption, when all nations will join in serving G-d together, as the prophets says, "For then I will change the nations to a clear speech, that all of them will call in the name of G-d, to serve Him with one shoulder." (Zephaniah 3:9)

This entry was posted on October 24, 2008 at 11:13 AM and has received 424 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.