Questions About God - Part 3
Q. At my university, a group of students from all religions and faiths, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, meets every week to discuss various topics. A recurring question is often asked: “Did man create God or did God create man?” What do you say about this?
A. Thanks for your question. There’s not much to say. We believe that God created man, as is recorded in the Torah. We believe this not just because “the Bible says so.” God revealed Himself at Sinai to a nation of over two million people, and since then there has been an unbroken tradition from parents to children.
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Q. At a certain point in Bereishit it is written that now “to use the Name of the L-rd became profane….” In contrast, when Hashem spoke to Moshe about His Name, He said that previously He had used other Names but that now He would be known as yud-hei-vav-hei.
At the change point in Bereishit, does it mean that from Adam in Gan Eden the yud-hei-vav-hei was being used, now becoming misused?
At the burning bush, does it mean that Hashem was now reintroducing the Name?
A. Thanks for your question. I assume that you are referring to Genesis 4:26, “then it became common for people to call on the Name of Hashem.” Rashi cites Bereishis Rabbah that people started to call individuals and idols by God’s Name in order to deify them. In other words, this was the start of idolatry.
The Name Hashem was never discontinued. When God told Moshe, “I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov as ‘God Almighty’ but by My Name Hashem I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:3), it doesn’t mean that they didn’t know the Name “Hashem.” We see from sefer Bereishis that this Name was known and used. What it means is that the Avos didn’t get to see God fulfill His promises to them, which is the meaning underlying that Name. (Rashi illustrates that this is the intention of the pasuk through the verse’s grammar.)
I hope this helps!
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Q. It has been suggested by a rabbi on Facebook that the word “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 [that God "makes peace and creates evil"] refers to moral evil and sin. Is this a correct interpretation of the Hebrew text, especially considering the context? Thank you.
A. Thanks for your question. I would have to say that such an interpretation is absolutely incorrect. God isn’t responsible for sin; man is!
I looked in all the major commentaries and only a handful even bother commenting on the word ra (evil), the others taking it as self-explanatory.
Rashi explains that God makes peace for the righteous and evil for the Babylonians (who were antagonistic invaders). The Radak and Metzudas Dovid say that shalom means peace (as it normally does) and ra (evil) means war, which is its opposite. (Again, the recipient of this evil is Babylonia.) Finally, the ibn Ezra expands the definitions of shalom and ra to include peace and evil (i.e., war) not only in the military sense but also in the medical sense, i.e., health and sickness. And that’s all I see in the traditional commentaries.
If you want to suggest that God is responsible for sin - a premise I do not accept - you’re going to need to find a bigger authority than “a rabbi on Facebook!”
Rabbi Jack's latest book, Ask Rabbi Jack, is now available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.