Questions regarding our understanding of God, such as it is. NOT for every question about Jewish beliefs.
6
votes
4answers
191 views
Why is God so hidden from us
Why did God institute a natural order so that His presence would be hidden. I know so many people who are hopelessly convinced of the scientific perspective that the world is basically a machine ...
0
votes
3answers
127 views
Why did God reveal himself only before there were recording devices?
Inspired by this:
For most of what's written in Tanakh, the only evidence that we have of its truth is Tanakh itself. Since many people are skeptical of a book with no independent sources backing up ...
0
votes
1answer
29 views
Is it possible for God to have rejected us, even in theory?
The very last pasuk in Eicha says "כִּי אִם-מָאֹס מְאַסְתָּנוּ, קָצַפְתָּ עָלֵינוּ עַד-מְאֹד.". The translation from the Atrscroll reads something like "For even if you had rejected us, you have been ...
4
votes
0answers
68 views
Writing HaShem's actual name in English
Is it permissible to write out HaShem's actual name (the "Tetragrammaton") in English (or any other, non-Semitic, language)?
Does it make a difference how you spell it, ie., whether you write it in ...
3
votes
0answers
115 views
If my kavanah is towards the Islamic idea of God, am I yotzei?
I have been reading through the various questions about Islam and its relationship to Judaism, and about the Rambam's view that Islam is a monotheistic religion and not idolatry and I am wondering: If ...
3
votes
0answers
48 views
אלקים בגימטריא הטבע and not טבע?
There's a oft quoted saying that "אלקים בגימטריא הטבע." Why is it הטבע and not טבע? Isn't it "cheating" to add the extra "ה"?
3
votes
0answers
88 views
A Mashal of HaShem as a crazy king and Moshe as His weak-kneed friend?
The Gemara (Ber. 32a) quotes R' El'azar that when HaShem wanted to destroy Bnei Yisrael and Moshe intervened, it is comparable to a king who beat his son terribly, and the king's friend was at his ...
2
votes
0answers
50 views
What God must gentiles believe in?
In the Rambam's Mishne Tora, the end of chapter 8 of M'lachim reads:
Any [gentile] who accepts seven commands and is careful to fulfill them is among the pious of the nations of the world and has ...
2
votes
0answers
98 views
Why are there only a finite number of people?
If the purpose that we ascribe as the reason for creation (as stated in the Ramchal's Derech Hashem, Klach Pischei Chochma and other works) is for God to bestow his goodness unto creation (bearing in ...
1
vote
0answers
29 views
Significance of man relative to God
God is totally infinite in space/time and beyond, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-everything.
Compared to God, man, the universe, and everything in it - everything is completely insignificant.
If so, ...
