YHWH The term Tetragrammaton refers to the Hebrew name of the God of Israel YHWH Hebrew: יהוה‎) used in the Hebrew Bible (Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s: יְהֹוָה‎ Tiberian Tiberian Hebrew designates the extinct canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias in the period ca. 750-950 CE. This written form employed diacritics added to the Hebrew letters: vowel Yəhōwāh) is the proper name of the God of Israel God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism in the Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible is a term referring to the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) as originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some Biblical Aramaic. It is also called the Hebrew Scriptures. The term closely corresponds to contents of the Jewish Tanakh and the Protestant Old Testament (see also Judeo-Christian) and does not include the. The conception of God in Judaism is strictly monotheistic Monotheism is the belief in theology that only one deity exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Druze, the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as the Advaita, Dvaita and. Judaism In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people. To show men the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for them, the scribes of sacred texts used terms of reverence so as to keep maintains that YHWH Tzeva'ot is the God of Abraham Abraham is the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, and the Midianites and kindred peoples, according to the book of Genesis, Isaac Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac is one of the three patriarchs of the Jewish people. According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and Sarah was beyond childbearing years, and Jacob Jacob , also later known as Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Standard Yisraʾel, Tiberian Yiśrāʾēl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ Israēl; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل‎ Isrāʾīl; "persevere with God"), as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the third patriarch of the Jewish people whom God made a covenant with, and, who created the world, delivered Israel Israel , officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info), Medīnat Yisrā'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ‎, Dawlat Isrā'īl), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the from slavery in Egypt Egypt (pronounced /ˈiːdʒɪpt/ ; Arabic: مصر‎ Miṣr, pronounced [misˤɾ] ( listen); Arabic: مِصْر Miṣr [ˈmisˤɾ]; Egyptian Arabic: مَصْر Maṣr [ˈmɑsˤɾ]; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, kīmi; Egyptian: 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 Kemet), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula, and gave the Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue , is a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were spoken by God (referred to using several names) to the people of Israel from the mountain referred to as Mount Sinai or Horeb, and later authored by God and given to or written by Moses in the form of two stone tablets. They. Jewish tradition teaches the true aspect of God is ultimately unknowable, it is His revealed aspect that gave life to Creation, sustains it, and interacts with mankind and the world.

Due to the extreme holiness of the name, Jews The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos traditionally do not pronounce YHWH, and instead refer to God as HaShem In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title. It represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relation of God to the Jewish people. To show the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for them, the scribes of sacred texts took pause before copying them, and used terms, meaning "the Name". In prayer this name is substituted with Adonai In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for them, the scribes of sacred texts treat them with, "my Lord". The title for God most often used in the Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible is a term referring to the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) as originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some Biblical Aramaic. It is also called the Hebrew Scriptures. The term closely corresponds to contents of the Jewish Tanakh and the Protestant Old Testament (see also Judeo-Christian) and does not include the, is Elohim Elohim is a plural formation of eloah, an expanded form of the Northwest Semitic noun il (אֱל, ʾēl ). It is the usual word for "god" in the Hebrew Bible, referring both to pagan deities and to the God of Israel, usually with a singular meaning despite its plural form, but is also used as a true plural with the meanings "spirits,, which is the generic Hebrew The Northwest Semitic languages form a medium-level division of the Semitic language family. The languages of this group are spoken by approximately eight million people today. The group is generally divided into three branches: Ugaritic , Canaanite (including Hebrew) and Aramaic. Semiticists often group the Northwest Semitic languages together term for "god", El ʾĒl is the Northwest Semitic word for "deity", cognate to Arabic ʾilāh and Akkadian ilum. Ancient Hebrew had no written vowels, only consonants. Vowels were supplied by an oral tradition. The name YHWH is known as the Tetragrammaton The term Tetragrammaton refers to the Hebrew name of the God of Israel YHWH Hebrew: יהוה‎) used in the Hebrew Bible—literally, “the four letters." There is much debate over which vowels this name originally carried. This name is sometimes vocalized theoretically by scholars as Yahweh Yahweh is the personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible. This form is a modern scholarly convention, Hebrew scripts write it as four consonants, יהוה, YHWH. The most likely meaning of the name may be “He Brings Into Existence Whatever Exists," but there are many theories and none is regarded as conclusive or Yehovah Jehovah is an anglicized representation of "the proper name of God". It is a transliteration of Hebrew יְהֹוָה, a vocalization of the sacred Tetragrammaton יהוה, the name that, according to the Bible, God revealed to his people. יְהֹוָה appears 6,518 times in the traditional Masoretic Text, in addition to 305 instances.

Contents

Godhead

Main article: Godhead (Judaism)

Godhead is the English-language term which in Judaism is sometimes used to refer to "God-as-He-is-in-Himself."

Rationalistic conception

In the philosophy of Maimonides Moses Maimonides, also known as Rambam, was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher; one of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spain on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204. He worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. With the contemporary Muslim and other Jewish-rationalistic philosophers, there is little which can be predicated about the "Godhead" other than its "existence," and even this can only be asserted equivocally.

“ How then can a relation be represented between Him and what is other than He when there is no notion comprising in any respect both of the two, inasmuch as existence is, in our opinion, affirmed of Him, may He be exalted, and of what is other than He merely by way of absolute equivocation. There is, in truth, no relation in any respect between Him and any of His creatures. ”

—Maimonides, Moreh Nevuchim (Pines 1963)

Mystical conception

In Jewish mystical thought (Kabbalah Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the mystical aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an eternal and mysterious Creator and the mortal and finite universe (His creation). While it is heavily used by some denominations, it is not a denomination in and of), the term "Godhead" usually refers to the concept of Ein Sof Ein Sof (Hebrew אין סוף), in the Kabbalah, is understood as the Deity prior to His self-manifestation in the production of the world, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One" (she-en lo tiklah). Ein Sof may be translated as "no end," "unending," "there is no end," or Infinite. Hence (אין סוף), which is the aspect of God that lies beyond the emanations (sefirot Sephirot , meaning "enumerations", are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which God (who is referred to as Ein Sof - The Infinite) reveals him/herself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms (Seder hishtalshelus). The term is alternatively transliterated into English as). The "knowability" of the Godhead in Kabbalistic thought is no better that what is conceived by rationalist thinkers. As Jacobs (1973) puts it, "Of God as He is in Himself—Ein Sof—nothing can be said at all, and no thought can reach there."

“ Ein Sof is a place to which forgetting and oblivion pertain. Why? Because concerning all the sefirot, one can search out their reality from the depth of supernal wisdom. From there it is possible to understand one thing from another. However, concerning Ein Sof, there is no aspect anywhere to search or probe; nothing can be known of it, for it is hidden and concealed in the mystery of absolute nothingness. ”

—David ben Judah Hehasid, Matt (1990)

Monotheism

Judaism is based on a strict monotheism Monotheism is the belief in theology that only one deity exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Druze, the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as the Advaita, Dvaita and. This doctrine expresses the belief in one indivisible God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism. The worship of multiple gods (polytheism Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities, called gods or goddesses, or both. These are usually assembled into a pantheon, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Many religions, both historical and contemporary, have a belief in polytheism, such as Shinto, Ancient Greek Polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism,) and the concept of a Singular God having multiple persons (as in the doctrine of Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God) are equally heretical in Judaism. The prayer par excellence in terms of defining God is the Shema Yisrael Shema Yisrael (Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל‎; "Hear, [O] Israel") are the first two words of a section of the Torah (Hebrew Bible) that is a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. The first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is, originally appearing in the Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible is a term referring to the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) as originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some Biblical Aramaic. It is also called the Hebrew Scriptures. The term closely corresponds to contents of the Jewish Tanakh and the Protestant Old Testament (see also Judeo-Christian) and does not include the: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One", also translated as "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is unique/alone."[Deut. 6:4]

God is conceived of as eternal, the creator of the universe, and the source of morality. God has the power to intervene in the world. The term God thus corresponds to an actual ontological reality, and is not merely a projection of the human psyche. Maimonides Moses Maimonides, also known as Rambam, was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher; one of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spain on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204. He worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. With the contemporary Muslim describes God in this fashion: "There is a Being, perfect in every possible way, who is the ultimate cause of all existence. All existence depends on God and is derived from God."

The Hebrew Bible The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets& and classical rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. But the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Hazal . This more specific sense of "Rabbinic affirm theism Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists. In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and his relationship to the universe. Theism, in this specific sense, conceives of God as personal, present and active in the governance and organization of the world and the and reject deism Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this (and religious truth in general) can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without the need for either faith or organized religion. Many Deists reject the notion that God intervenes in human affairs, for example.[citation needed] However, in the writings of medieval Jewish philosophers such as ibn Daud and Gersonides Levi ben Gershon, better known by his Latinised name as Gersonides or the abbreviation of first letters as RaLBaG , philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, astronomer/astrologer. He was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, France. According to Abraham Zacuto and others, he was the son of Gerson ben Solomon Catalan, perhaps influenced by neo-Aristotelian philosophy, one finds what can be termed limited omniscience Omniscience (or omniscient point-of-view in writing) is the capacity to know everything infinitely, or at least everything that can be known about a character including thoughts, feelings, life and the universe, etc. In monotheism, this ability is attributed to God. The God of the Bible is often referred to as "The Great I Am," among. [See Gersonides Levi ben Gershon, better known by his Latinised name as Gersonides or the abbreviation of first letters as RaLBaG , philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, astronomer/astrologer. He was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, France. According to Abraham Zacuto and others, he was the son of Gerson ben Solomon Catalan "Views on omniscience"]

The idea of God as a duality Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two". The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages or trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God is heretical in Judaism─it is considered akin to polytheism Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities, called gods or goddesses, or both. These are usually assembled into a pantheon, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Many religions, both historical and contemporary, have a belief in polytheism, such as Shinto, Ancient Greek Polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism,. "[God], the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species (which encompasses many individuals), nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity." This is referred to in the Torah The term Torah , also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: Πεντάτευχος from πεντα- penta- [five] and τεῦχος teuchos [tool, vessel, book]), refers to the Five Books of Moses—the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or: "Hear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."[Deut. 6:4] [1]

While Jews hold that trinitarian The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God conceptions of God are incorrect, there is a minority view which holds that non-Jews The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible, most notably the King James Version who maintain such beliefs are not held culpable.

Creation of the universe

According to the Torah The term Torah , also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: Πεντάτευχος from πεντα- penta- [five] and τεῦχος teuchos [tool, vessel, book]), refers to the Five Books of Moses—the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or, the world was created by God in six days. While many Haredi Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism, also referred to as Ultra-Orthodox Judaism,—though the term is considered pejorative by some—is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi Jews take this literally, some Modern Orthodox, and Conservative authorities view the evaluation of the six days as six "stages" in the creation of the world to be a legitimate opinion.

Divine omnipotence

The Jewish belief in God's omnipotence is rooted in the Bible:[2]

Most rabbinic works also present God as having the properties of omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence[citation needed]. This is still the primary way that most Orthodox and many non-Orthodox Jews view God.

The issue of theodicy was raised again, especially after the extreme horrors of the Holocaust and several theological responses surfaced. These are discussed in a separate entry on Holocaust theology. The central questions they address are whether and how God is all powerful and all good, given the existence of evil in the world, particularly the Holocaust.

Human interrelation with God

Most of classical Judaism views God as personal, meaning that humans have a relationship with God and vice versa. Much of the midrash, and many prayers in the siddur portrays God as caring about humanity in much the same way that humans care about God.

Harold Kushner, a Conservative rabbi, writes that "God shows His love for us by reaching down to bridge the immense gap between Him and us. God shows His love for us by inviting us to enter into a Covenant (brit) with Him, and by sharing with us His Torah."[3]

On the other hand, Maimonides and many other medieval Jewish philosophers rejected the idea of a personal God as incorrect.

According to Judaism, people's actions do not have the ability to affect God positively or negatively. The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible explains:

"Gaze at the heavens and see, and view the skies, which are higher than you. If you sinned, how do you harm Him, and if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He take from your hand? Your wickedness [affects] a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man."

Any belief that an intermediary between man and God could be used, whether necessary or even optional, has traditionally been considered heretical. Maimonides writes that "God is the only one we may serve and praise....We may not act in this way toward anything beneath God, whether it be an angel, a star, or one of the elements.....There are no intermediaries between us and God. All our prayers should be directed towards God; nothing else should even be considered."

Some rabbinic authorities disagreed with this view. Notably, Nachmanides was of the opinion that it is permitted to ask the angels to beseech God on our behalf. This argument manifests notably in the Selichot prayer called "Machnisay Rachamim", a request to the angels to intercede with God. Modern printed editions of the Selichot include this prayer.

The nature of God

God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. A corollary belief is that God is utterly unlike man, and can in no way be considered anthropomorphic.[citation needed] All statements in the Hebrew Bible and in rabbinic literature which use anthropomorphism are held[who?] to be linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be impossible to talk about God at all.

Names

Main article: Names of God in Judaism

Among the observant Jews, the seven names for God over which the scribes had to exercise particular care were, and which one is not allowed to erase one letter of are:[4][5] YHWH, Adonai, Ehyeh asher ehyeh, El, Elohim, Shaddai, Tzeva'ot.

See also

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