Aug 20/05 - Shabbat Va'etchanan

Commentary by Rabbi Alan Green

“Hear, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”—Deuteronomy 6:4

The power of these very familiar words which appear in every morning and evening service every day of the year may actually diminish through repetition. Because we see and hear these words so often, we may think we already understand them.

But let’s take a second look at what this brief sentence might really mean. For example, in the Hebrew of the Sh’ma Yisrael, the words “Adonai” and “Eloheinu” seem to be superfluous. Word by word, the Sh’ma translates this way: “Hear Israel: the Lord, our God, the Lord, is One.” Why all the repetition? Wouldn’t it have been enough to say, “Hear Israel, the Lord is One?” Or, how about “Hear Israel: our God is One?” Or, we could even do pretty well with “Hear Israel: the Lord, our God is One.”

It must be that the repetition isn’t arbitrary, and that the Sh’ma was, in fact, written in this way to teach us a deep lesson about the nature of God, Man, and Creation. According to the Ba’al Shem Tov, each time we make a B’racha, we automatically include both the transcendent and imminent aspects of God: Adonai—the Lord, God Beyond, who existed prior to His Creation; and Eloheinu—”our God,” that aspect of God Who is “ours”, because He is available deep within ourselves, and deep within every one and every thing that surrounds us.

As with the various B’rachot, so too with the Sh’ma: “Hear Israel: the Lord (Adonai—transcendent, God beyond Creation), our God (Eloheinu—imminent, God within Creation), the Lord (the return of the transcendent aspect of God) is One.” So the least that we can say about the Sh’ma prayer is that it announces that Adonai—God Beyond—and Eloheinu—God Within—in spite of their apparent differences are, in actual fact perfectly, absolutely One.

What difference should such an abstract point of philosophy make for a practical person living in the real world? Let’s take a moment to think about the implications. Let’s say that there is a difference between God beyond, and God within. This distinction—a perfectly common one in the ancient world—opened the door to polytheism (the belief in many gods) and its higher development, pantheism.

For if we detach God Within the universe from God Beyond the universe, everything found in the universe has the potential to become its own deity. Everything becomes an object of worship. The sun is divine, the moon is divine, the stars and planets are divine, and various and sundry trees, flowers, animals, and birds are also divine.

This is exactly how most ancient civilizations conceived of the world. And there is great truth in this perception. Anyone sensitive to the beauty of nature and the grandeur of Creation can understand how one could see the universe in this way. The ancient Israelites also celebrated the wonder of God’s Creation in Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims His handiwork.” However, the other ancient civilizations experienced a real difficulty in their rigid distinction between God Beyond and God Within.

Intoxicated by the beauty of Nature, but cut off from its source, polytheistic civilizations became what they beheld. They became, and behaved like the very animals they worshiped. They forgot about the Transcendent One—Adonai—God Beyond—the complement, and anchor for Eloheinu—God Within the universe. They lost the basis for moral behaviour, and just societies—compassion for “the widow and the orphan”—a human ethos that trumps the ethos of Nature in which only the strong survive.

By contrast, the deep perception of the ancient Israelites that God Beyond and God Within must be One set us apart from the rest of humanity. We would become a people dedicated to curbing its will to power and domination; a people that would go far out of its way to pursue justice, and protect the most vulnerable members of society. It is this above all else that made us a Chosen People—a people of destiny that would influence humanity for all succeeding millennia.

“Hear Israel: the Transcendent Lord, and the Imminent God, are One.” Certainly we are meant to appreciate the beauty and divinity of Nature—Eloheinu—God Within—but only in the light of Adonai—God Beyond—the Transcendent Source. That way, we can enjoy God’s creation without falling into the trap of identifying with it, worshipping it, and becoming its slave. That way, we can remain morally and spiritually free, living humane lives in the face of the harsh demands of the material universe, and the materialistic civilization we create within it.

Shabbat Shalom.