God in Judaism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The conception of God in Judaism is strictly monotheistic. God is an absolute one, indivisible and incomparable being who is the ultimate cause of all existence. Jewish tradition teaches that the true aspect of God is incomprehensible and unknowable, and that it is only God's revealed aspect that brought the universe into existence, and interacts with mankind and the world. In Judaism, the one God of Israel is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is the guide of the world, delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, and gave them the 613 Mitzvot at Mount Sinai as described in the Torah. [God, in true sense is, above everything else, undescribable, since He is only theoretically considered as ‘being in existence’ before creation of the world, since before creation there were nobody and noth-ing to give witness of His existence. In Kabbalah, God before creation is given the characterization of Ein-Sof. His creative aspect is then YHVH (YH as yah and VH as veh) with the meaning of ‘He who brings things into being’ or simply ‘creator’. Look about YHVH below]
The God of Israel has a proper name, written YHWH (Template:Hebrew name) in the Hebrew Bible. The name YHWH is a combination of the future, present, and past tense of the verb "howa" (Template:Lang-he) meaning "to be" and translated literally means "The self-existent One". A further explanation of the name was given to Moses when YHWH stated Eheye Asher Eheye (Template:Lang-he) "I will be that I will be", the name relates to God as God truly is, God's revealed essence, which transcends the universe. It also represents God's compassion towards the world. In Jewish tradition another name of God is Elohim, relating to the interaction between God and the universe, God as manifest in the physical world, it designates the justice of God, and means "the One who is the totality of powers, forces and causes in the universe".
See also
- Shekhinah (divine presence)
- Chokhmah (wisdom)
- Holy Spirit (Judaism)
