Attributes and Archetypes (3)

-

The Voice Of God: Various Models [1:88-91]

 

 

            In the context of his discussion of revelation as the basis of the Jewish faith, Rihal touches upon the problem of physical descriptions of God.  How do we balance the concept of revelation with our basic belief in God's incorporeality [1:89]?  We will discuss this issue and discover its basic implications, before we move on to Rihal's theory of divine attributes (which is discussed in the beginning of the second book).

 

            As we have seen until now, many of the physical descriptions of God are merely linguistic expressions.  Their interpretation is bound to the framework of language.  Regarding these phrases, religious language approaches the language of poetry.  However, there are phrases which compel us to seek out another explanation; these phrases are connected to the prophetic experience.  What, for example, was the voice of God heard at the revelation at Sinai or by the prophet in his vision?

 

            All that the text permits us to say is that we hear God's voice.  This was indeed a unique voice, which was described in the mysterious form of the verse, "All the nation saw the sounds;" in other words, the text informs us that the Jews perceived an auditory experience through their sense of vision.  Although a literal interpretation of this phrase is certainly possible, and this is what the Ibn Ezra attempts to do, our Sages emphasize the unique quality of this "voice."  The use of the word kol (voice) is surprising.  It is not as problematic as the concept of seeing God, yet it is difficult as well.  When we speak of someone's voice, we refer to a quality of his, or even to a particular physical function which his body performs, which creates the sound of his voice.  Even were we to disregard the mechanism and claim that the presence of a voice does not imply an that God possesses an "anatomy," we are still left questioning the meaning of the voice of God.  Jewish philosophers have attempted to answer this question in various ways; each one is characteristic of each thinker's approach to prophecy in general.  We will discuss this point later on.

 

The Models

 

            Before we turn our attention to the possible answers, we must reiterate one of Rihal's important principles.  Rihal points out that although various options are plausible, the important element here is not the answer itself but the direction it gives us.  The answer itself is merely a building block, a model which helps us on our path to understanding, but does not obligate us exclusively to its content:

 

"We do not know how the divine essence became physical and became a voice which tore our ears.  And we do not know if at that time God created something which was not in existence until that point, or if He used for that purpose something which was in existence, since God does not lack the ability to do either of these things."

 

            Rihal teaches us that various models exist to explain the phenomenon, and we are free to choose among them.  This principle was adopted by the Rambam.

 

            Both Rihal and the Rambam accepted the possibility of the perception of the divine voice as explained by the Theory of Glory, which we will describe shortly.  However, they both offered alternative explanations as well.  In summary, we are faced with three possibilities.

1. The vision is a phenomenon which takes place through a different medium, which is not the regular medium which physics and chemistry research.

2. The vision takes place in the soul of the prophet.

3. The vision is deeper than the reality.

 

The Theory of Glory

 

            The first answer is known as "The Theory of Glory."  It has taken a number of forms, which Rihal discusses.  The classic answer speaks of "the created voice."  Onkelos used this idea of the created voice in his translation.  A person of our generation can illustrate this in a simple manner.  It is similar to the synthetic voice generated by a computer.  A person, whom we will call Moshe, can speak through typing on the computer's keyboard.  This voice is Moshe's voice, but it is not Moshe's voice in the true meaning of the word.  We can speak of a "created voice" and "created light."  These are the realities that God creates and utilizes, which do not express His essence, but constitute a mode of communication with the prophet.

 

            In order to explain this approach, Rav Sa'adia Gaon (Rasag), and various others in his wake, taught that the prophetic vision takes place not in the space-time reality, and not in the prophet's psychological world, but in a distinct reality, which he termed "Ha-avir Ha-sheni" (literally, the other air).  Think, for example, of a hologram, a sort of picture which seems to hover in the air.  Were I to attempt to touch it, I would discover that I was faced with an optical illusion.  I cannot touch it, yet it exists.  In Rasag's view, prophecy is a kind of unique hologram which affects the prophet and has objective existence.  However, in another sense it is not similar to a hologram.  The prophetic picture appears before us, but it is not located in the atmosphere, in the air.  Underneath the physical atmosphere another reality exists.  This is a kind of second atmosphere, Rasag's "other air," which is generally inaccessible and which can open at particular times.

 

            Another version of this approach brings us closer to the second approach, and this is the opinion of the Ramban.  The Ramban accepts the possibility of seeing angels, since they can take on a physical form, although this "physicality" is different than the one studied in physics.

 

            Rihal accepts this approach in principle, but he doesn't try to build theories upon it, as Rasag does.  Rihal placed this problem before us in the a larger context, and gave us a surprising answer.  His answer is that, in essence, even Moshe's real voice is not his real voice.  A good example might be the voice we hear through a telephone receiver.  The voice we hear is indeed amazingly similar to the voice of the speaker, yet it is not really the voice of the speaker.  The voice is not the voice of the speaker traveling, so to speak, across the telephone lines.  It is the result of a change, a transformation.  The voice is coded, passed on in a completely different way, and deciphered.  Only afterwards do we perceive the new synthetic creation.  Rihal teaches us that the same process occurs when a person is standing before us and talking to us.  Here too, encoding and deciphering are the essential tools of communication.  The paradox which we posited regarding God is true of each and every person.  We do not commit a new "sin" of personification when we ascribe to a voice to God.  We have committed the exact same sin by ascribing a voice to Moshe.  Rihal writes:

 

"For what does Moshe use to speak to us, teach us and guide us?  It is not his tongue, not his heart, nor is it his mind; all these are but tools for Moshe, while Moshe himself is a soul with the power of speech and consciousness, which is not a body and has no boundaries." [1:89]

 

            A person's appearance is not what we see.  His body is a vessel, a sort of computer, which synthesizes voices in a marvelously accurate fashion.  This is a process whereby the hidden thought, which is beyond our comprehension, is transformed into an audible voice.  The essence of this process is unknown to us.  Behind the scenes hides "the real Moshe."  Behind the brain is the brain's owner.  There is a hidden being here, which for simplicity's sake we will call the soul.  This is a being which does not exist in space, and it does not push aside other things which share its space.  It does not exhibit the characteristics of physical objects.  The opposite is true as well: "The thing itself would not be strained if all the creatures in the world were contained in it;" it creates a space of its own, and can contain an entire world within itself.

 

The Psychological Theory

 

            As we have seen, Rihal's approach contains the approach developed by Rasag.  According to the "Theory of Glory," the prophet does not see a reality which is inside himself, but a different, incorporeal reality, which is created for him.  This is a kind of private screening which God presents, and which is not part of our daily reality.  This reality of prophecy is not physical, yet the experience is real.

 

            Another option is presented by Rihal at the beginning of the fourth section.  It can be understood in two different ways.  According to one interpretation, prophecy does not occur in an external reality, but in a sort of personal psychological screen belonging to each prophet.  This would later become the Rambam's approach.  According to another interpretation, the prophet sees the true reality, which hides behind our daily experience.  However, in order to understand these approaches, we need a brief philosophical introduction, and therefore we will return to this discussion only after we have finished presenting the theory of Divine attributes.

 

(This lecture was translated by Gila Weinberg.)