욥기 8:23의 Chasidut
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 12,2. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your reputation great.” The Talmud (Pessachim 117) comments on this verse that “making Avraham great,” meant that when referring to G’d the Creator, people would describe G’d as “the G’d of Avraham.” The word ואברכך is a promise that the Israelites when praying will refer to G’d as “the G’d of Yitzchok,” whereas the words: ואגדלה שמך, “I will make your name great,” refer to the Israelites referring to G’d as the “G’d of Yaakov” in their prayers. I might have thought that when concluding the benediction they would also mention the names of all the patriarchs; in order to signal that this is not so, the Torah continues with והיה ברכה, “be a blessing!” (sing) i.e. that the signature of the benediction contains only the name of Avraham, i.e. מגן אברהם, “(Gd) the shield of Avraham.”
There are three attributes that G’d employs in His continuous relations with the creatures in His universe; they are אהבה, “love,” גבורה, “power,” and תפארת, “harmony, splendour.” When G’d relates to His creatures with the attribute of אהבה, “love,” all parts of the universe are filled with all manner of “good” (welcome) phenomena. When He has recourse to the attribute of גבורה, “power,” the result is that the creatures affected will feel the opposite of comfortable. When G’d employs the attribute of תפארת in relation to His creatures, the world will also feel an abundance of goodness, as it is G’d’s purpose and desire to be able to glorify in His choicest creation, man. When G’d is able to do this, He inundates the universe with love. We must not misunderstand the attribute of גבורה by regarding it as something negative. While the attribute of גבורה, when active, may appear to the people affected by it as something negative, unwelcome in the extreme, it is designed to enable G’d to again relate to all His creatures with love, once that attribute has accomplished its purpose.
This is what we are told in Job 8,7 (by Bildad) והיה ראשיתך מצער ואחריתך ישגה מאד, “though your beginning may be small (painful), in the end you will grow very great.” The overriding function of the attribute of גבורה is to carry out retribution in the world so that G’d will afterwards be able to pour out all His goodness on His creatures. Historically, the person who had realized this better than anyone else, was Nachum, nick-named, איש גם זו, who whenever something happened to him that was unpleasant, painful, etc., immediately reacted by saying: גם זו לטובה, “this too will eventually be revealed as having been a positive, constructive event.” (Taanit 21).).
It is generally known that Avraham symbolizes the attribute of love, whereas Yitzchok symbolizes the attribute of power, and Yaakov symbolizes a merging of these two attributes, resulting in what we call תפארת, harmony. When the Talmud in Pessachim 117 first thought that it would be appropriate to sign the first benediction of the amidah prayer by referring to G’d as the G’d of Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov, it concluded that the reason the sages who formulated this prayer did not do so, was because they wanted to stress that ultimately, what G’d is all about is the attribute of love, the attribute personified best in the personality of Avraham. [The Maharshah on that section of the Talmud points out that the letters in the word והיה are the same as the letters in the tetragram, i.e. the name of G’d symbolizing the attribute of Mercy. Ed.] The other two attributes’ function is auxiliary, i.e. to help G’d be able to fully display His attribute of love.
There are three attributes that G’d employs in His continuous relations with the creatures in His universe; they are אהבה, “love,” גבורה, “power,” and תפארת, “harmony, splendour.” When G’d relates to His creatures with the attribute of אהבה, “love,” all parts of the universe are filled with all manner of “good” (welcome) phenomena. When He has recourse to the attribute of גבורה, “power,” the result is that the creatures affected will feel the opposite of comfortable. When G’d employs the attribute of תפארת in relation to His creatures, the world will also feel an abundance of goodness, as it is G’d’s purpose and desire to be able to glorify in His choicest creation, man. When G’d is able to do this, He inundates the universe with love. We must not misunderstand the attribute of גבורה by regarding it as something negative. While the attribute of גבורה, when active, may appear to the people affected by it as something negative, unwelcome in the extreme, it is designed to enable G’d to again relate to all His creatures with love, once that attribute has accomplished its purpose.
This is what we are told in Job 8,7 (by Bildad) והיה ראשיתך מצער ואחריתך ישגה מאד, “though your beginning may be small (painful), in the end you will grow very great.” The overriding function of the attribute of גבורה is to carry out retribution in the world so that G’d will afterwards be able to pour out all His goodness on His creatures. Historically, the person who had realized this better than anyone else, was Nachum, nick-named, איש גם זו, who whenever something happened to him that was unpleasant, painful, etc., immediately reacted by saying: גם זו לטובה, “this too will eventually be revealed as having been a positive, constructive event.” (Taanit 21).).
It is generally known that Avraham symbolizes the attribute of love, whereas Yitzchok symbolizes the attribute of power, and Yaakov symbolizes a merging of these two attributes, resulting in what we call תפארת, harmony. When the Talmud in Pessachim 117 first thought that it would be appropriate to sign the first benediction of the amidah prayer by referring to G’d as the G’d of Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov, it concluded that the reason the sages who formulated this prayer did not do so, was because they wanted to stress that ultimately, what G’d is all about is the attribute of love, the attribute personified best in the personality of Avraham. [The Maharshah on that section of the Talmud points out that the letters in the word והיה are the same as the letters in the tetragram, i.e. the name of G’d symbolizing the attribute of Mercy. Ed.] The other two attributes’ function is auxiliary, i.e. to help G’d be able to fully display His attribute of love.
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