The Divine Names (4)

 

Until now we have described the use of one word to represent a different word or concept.  In the Scriptures we often find that this can work in both directions.  To use the example we mentioned last week, we often speak of the heart when we actually mean the mind; but many times we speak of the mind and we actually mean the heart.  Imagine a surgeon who jokingly tells his patient before open-heart surgery, or brain surgery, that he is going to operate on the patient's "intellect."  Rihal illustrates this phenomenon with the help of the phrases "a seeing eye" and "a hearing ear."  These phrases are actually absurd, because the eye itself does not see.  Rather, the soul that uses the eye sees, just as it is not the violin that plays, but the violinist.  When we say that the eye sees, we are transferring the traits of the one using the eye to the eye itself.  In the same way, we transfer traits of God to the things which we see.  This is a linguistic form of transferring the cause to the object it affects.  This holds true for the symbols in prophetic visions as well, such as the pillar of fire.  People bow before the pillar; yet, they are really prostrating themselves before the One who commanded the pillar into being.

 

     Another example which Rihal gives, explains the concept "Ish Elokim" [Man of God].  People who reach a certain spiritual level become God's messengers or agents in this world.  These agents become vessels in the hands of God, following all his commands and disregarding their own personal desires and interests.  A person who achieves this level merits the title of "Ish Elokim;" he has reached the highest level a human can achieve.  God uses him as an agent and messenger, and the Divine traits apply, or are passed on to him as well.

 

     In light of these ideas, we can turn our attention to an ambiguous biblical narrative.  When the angels appear to Abraham (Genesis 18), Abraham says, "My lords [Heb: A-donai], please do not leave your servant."  Interestingly enough, the Hebrew vowels used for the word A-donai imply that the word refers to the Divine name, and not to the visiting angels.  This can be  interpreted in many ways.  Our Sages explained that Abraham asked permission from the Divine Presence to go and welcome his guests.  Rashi raises another possibility: perhaps Abraham was speaking to the eldest of the angels.  However, this explanation does not explain the implication of the vowels.  Rihal presents a third possibility: the visit of the angels is actually a prophetic vision.  And since the angel is a messenger of God, the vowels imply that Abraham is indeed addressing the Divine Presence.

 

     When discussing the Divine names, Rihal returns to the topic of the angels.  He explains the phrase "the image of God" to mean in the image of the angels.  The element that people and the angels have in common, is their rationality.  However, there is another dimension to this comparison.  An angel means a messenger.  Both prophets and angels fulfill this role, for prophets are also agents of God.  There are two additional concepts which can help us understand the angels.  The angels are phenomena in the sphere of "kavod," a concept we have referred to earlier.  These are phenomena that the prophets see in their visions.  There are also angels which are spiritual beings.  In the first meaning, the angels are beings whose presence is transient, for the vision exists only for a short time.  In contrast, in the second meaning, the angels are spiritual beings which exist on a higher plane than mortal man; they are a part of "the heavenly company."

 

     When viewing the prophetic vision, the prophet uses the divine name of A-donai, for behind the vision is God.  Similarly, we use a number of phrases which imply that God is in a particular place, although in reality He is beyond all locations.  Since many prophetic phenomena occur in the Temple in Jerusalem, we describe it as God's dwelling place.

 

Kadosh

 

The word "kadosh" describes the concept of Transcendentalism.  "Kadosh" means "separate."  God is "separate," that is, he is beyond the field of human comprehension.  As the An'im Zemirot prayer puts it, "I will tell of your glory yet I have not seen You, I will compare You, name You, yet I do not know You."  In human speech we use words as tools through which we perceive things.  We use our word like missiles, trying to hit our target.  We are often successful, and the missiles reach their target.  However, sometimes this is an impossible task, we want to hit something far and transcendental, which is beyond the range of the missiles of words and thoughts.  Human thought cannot grasp or explain God, he is "kadosh."  God is "too lofty and sublime to be described by humans in their terms."

 

     God is sublime, but not only to us.  It is interesting that Isaiah hears the angels incessantly calling "kadosh, kadosh, kadosh."  According to Rihal, the thrice-repeated formula expresses the idea that the angels repeat their statement infinitely.  It is similar to the current use of the word etcetera.  The angels' cry teaches us that God is higher than everything.  As the Kaddish prayer puts it, he is "above all blessings and song, all praise and comfort which we express in the world."  Rihal's interpretation is repeated in the writings of Rabbi Soloveitchik.  To return to the context of the lecture, let us look at the entire landscape of the vision.  Isaiah sees God sitting on a high and lofty throne.  The throne is another expression of the idea that God is beyond our understanding.  However, the phrase "and its edges filled the hall" teaches us that despite the high and lofty throne, the divine presence is in the hall, in other words, on the earth, and essentially in the entire cosmos.  God's presence is the Kavod: "the whole world is filled with his Kavod [glory]."  If we look closely, we will see this glory not only in extraordinary events such as prophecy, but also in the ordinary events of life.  Thus, Rabbi Soloveitchik teaches us that one can translate the angels' statement into a philosophical creed: "transcendental, transcendental, transcendental is the Lord of Hosts, the entire world is filled with His immanence."

 

     An initial reading informs us that God is separate even from the angels.  Isaiah proclaims that He sits within a nation of defiled lips; He is present within the impurity.  As a response to this, the angels proclaim that God is exalted, and that we, the people, cannot taint Him with our impurity.

 

     The concept of Kedusha [holiness or separateness] teaches us something else.  There is no doubt that the soul is spiritual, in the same way that the angels are spiritual.  However, the soul is an interesting example of a reality which has been an enigma to the human intellect from ancient times until this very day.  The soul is not physical; yet, it is clothed in a physical body.  Thus, it is possible for spiritual phenomena to be clothed in a physical sheath.  This is what distinguishes man from God.  God is purely spiritual, He has no physical raiment.  This lack of physicality is kedusha.  This explanation reminds us of the position Rihal presents which maintains that a connection exists between God and the cosmos.  This connection is an expression of the attempt to clothe God in physicality, which detracts from God's Kedusha.

 

Kedosh Yisrael

 

According to this explanation, the combination of words "Kedosh Yisrael" [Holy One of Israel] is paradoxical.  Rihal tries to solve this paradox.  On the one hand, God is "separate," but on the other hand, He is connected to the Jewish people.  This is not the physical connection which trapped the Christians in a religious snare.  This is a paradoxical connection.  To describe one's relationship to the kadosh is a paradox, as though we had said "my distant one."  We know what distance is, but what is "my distant one?"  This is an expression that only a prophet can use.  For a prophet the distance remains even though the relationship is possible.  We cannot say "my kadosh" or "my distant one" unless we use the language of prophecy.  Now perhaps we can shed more light upon our understanding of the Divine presence in our world.  It is the relationship with someone who is shrouded in the distance.  What is dear to us is far away, and yet we manage to establish a relationship with it, an emotional-spiritual connection, through the letter He sent to us, the Torah.  It is the Torah which makes the paradoxical relationship possible.

 

     On the basis of these ideas, we can try to understand the meaning of the word "kedoshim" when it is used to refer to the Jewish people, particularly in the context of the commandment "kedoshim tiheyu," you shall be holy, or separate.  The commandment "kedoshim tiheyu" is based on the principle of imitating God.  From our perspective, the kedusha describes both the distance which separates Man from God, and the relationship which is expressed in prophecy, and to some extent in the nation which is led by God.  This type of closeness is expressed in the commandments, guidance and supervision which the Jewish people receive, and which create their reality of crime and punishment.  This explains Jewish history, and also its tragic quality.  The other nations are within the natural system, and we are distanced from it by Providential guidance.  This is the type of closeness which, despite all the tragic events in our history, will ultimately bring about our redemption.

 

 

(This lecture was translated by Gila Weinberg.)