Kaisipang Hudyo sa Isaias 43:10: Derekh Hashem & Duties

Two [acts of] daily worship were imposed upon us, in order to worship in front of Him, may He be blessed. And they are the recitation of Shema and prayer; and at the time of the Temple, [also] the daily and additional sacrifices. And now we will explain their content: Regarding the Unity of His existence, may He be blessed, and the Unity of His control: Behold the first is the recitation of Shema - and its content is His unification and the acceptance of the yoke of His Kingship. And the matter is that the Creator, may His name be blessed, brought all the different entities into existence - the higher and the lower, the spiritual and the physical - and placed them in different arrangements and put into the properties of each of them to act and do deeds, to move in patterns and to move many other things in various ways, according to what His Wisdom, may be blessed, distributed to each and every one. Nevertheless, note that He, may His name be blessed, is the only Root and Cause for all of them. And this matter is understood from two angles - from the angle of existence and from the angle of action. Regarding the angle of existence, we have already explained in Part I (On the Creator 6) how all entities are all dependent upon Him, may He be blessed, and extend from His Will; whereas His existence is a necessary existence from Himself, and is not dependent on anything else besides Him. But all other entities only exist from the angle that He, may His name be blessed, wants them and sustains them with His will. Regarding the angle of action, even though He gave into the properties of the creatures to have control over certain things, according to the scope of their capabilities, and to preform great acts - every one according to its properties - in truth, they surely have no power and control besides that which the Creator, may He be blessed, gave to them. For He is the true Master, Controller and omnipotent One. And all that they do is only that which He, may His name be blessed, gave and gives power to them in order that they should act. But He is the Master over them, to add or take away as He wishes at any minute and at any time. And the depth of the matter is that truly according to the arrangements ordered by His Wisdom, may He be blessed, for the refinement of His creatures - as we wrote in Part I (On the Spiritual Realm 8) - see that there are many matters of evil that move in patterns and move other things in the world; whether from the angle of the free choice of people that sin, or whether from that which is decreed about them to punish them. And at first glance, the matter appears as if it is surely the opposite of His will, may He be blessed. For He, may His name be blessed, surely only wants the good; and all of His desire is to do good. And His name is [even] profaned by the domination of evildoers and the increase of evil things and breakdowns. However one who knows His ways, may He be blessed and has a deeper understanding of [these] things, knows that all of this nevertheless only causes that - in a deep way - everything brings about the perfection of the creation and will then end with it, as I wrote in Part I (On Mankind 4). So it comes out that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the One that truly directs everything. And it is only His counsel that stands, such that it will bring His good and His perfection to His creatures, as we wrote there. However according to the truth of the matter, the things must move in these processes according to the foundations of the amazing Wisdom and the true good. And in the end of all the processes, it will be made known that He, may His name be blessed, is one, a Unity, unique and that He caused all of these causes - in their [various] ways - to come to the true goal, which is the true good that we mentioned. And that which is included in the depth of this thing is the matter of the revelation of the truth of His Unity, may He be blessed. And that is because we have already explained that the aggregate of all the causes in the world are such that, behold, the Creator, may He be blessed, created evil in order for people to remove it and to establish good in themselves and in the creation. And note that there are many axioms and great roots that were planted in this matter, so that it will be perfected in all of its parts and aspects. For there are truly many details that will be found about the existence of evil in the creation, its actions and its control. And many details will likewise be found regarding the matter of man's relating to it, and that he is put beneath it and placed among it and in the matter of his overpowering it, opening up his prison and conquering it; and the existence of good and its spreading and its becoming strengthened according to the submission of evil and its being conquered. However the root of the existence of all evil, its actions and its control is the Creator's hiding His Unity, may He be blessed, such that He not reveal His truth in the world to all. And according to the measure of the hiding is the measure of the power of evil, as we wrote in Part I (On the Spiritual Realm 8). And the root of all the nullification and its removal and the establishment of all the creation with good is the revelation of the truth of His Unity, may He be blessed. And that is what the verse states (Deuteronomy 32:39), "See, then, that I, I am He, etc." and it is [also] written (Isaiah 43:10), "in order that you will know and you will have faith in Me and you will understand that I am He; before Me no god was formed, and after Me, none will be, etc." So it comes out that the end of the refinement of all the creation is dependent upon the revelation of His Unity, may He be blessed. But surely He was, is and always will be one, a Unity and unique. However now He is not revealed to all as is appropriat. But in the future to come, He will be completely revealed to all the creatures, as it is written (Zechariah 14:9), "on that day, He will be one and His name will be one." Yet the Israelites who merited to [receive] His true Torah know this truth and testify to it also now. And this is that which is written (Isaiah 43:12), "'and you are My witnesses,' says the Lord." And this is a great merit for us. And note that the general direction of this world is divided into the direction of the day and the direction of the night, as we wrote in Part 3, Chapter 1 (On the Soul and its Activities 6). And every morning and every evening, the arrangements and watches of the angels for their assignments are renewed according to the arrangement of [God's] direction. And [accordingly] we - the Children of Israel - are obligated to testify about the truth of His Unity, may He be blessed, from all of the angles. This means whether from the angle of His existence, that He alone necessarily exists, and all of the other entities exist from Him and are dependent upon Him; or whether from the angle of control, that He alone, may His name be blessed, is the unique Controller, and there is no action that is done without the power and authority that He gives to it; whether from the angle of direction, meaning that although there are many great and deep actors, there is no Source besides the One, and there is no Determinant besides the One. This means that He, may His name be blessed, is the cause of everything [coming] to its perfect true purpose. And even though this is not truly revealed now, this is the truth of the matter; and it will be revealed and known at the end of everything.

The idea of plurality is that of a sum of unities. Plurality therefore cannot precede unity of which it has been formed. If we conceive something plural with our intellect or perceive it through our senses, we will know with certainty that unity preceded it, just like when counting things, the number one precedes the rest of the numbers. Whoever thinks the Creator is more than one, must therefore nevertheless concede that there was a preceding unity, just as the numeral one precedes the other numbers, and just like the notion of unity precedes that of plurality. Hence, the Creator is absolutely One, and Eternal (Kadmon), and none is Eternal but He as written: "Before Me no G-d was formed, nor shall any be after Me" (Isaiah 43:10).

We ascribe to Him Eternity (no beginning), because rational arguments have demonstrated that the world must have a First (cause) which had no previous cause before it and a Beginning which had no prior beginning. It has been demonstrated that the number of causes cannot be infinite. It logically follows, that the Creator is the First Beginning before whom there is no Beginning, and this is what is meant by His Eternity, as written: "From everlasting to everlasting, You are G-d" (Ps. 90:2), and "before Me there was no god formed, neither shall any be after Me" (Isaiah 43:10).