January 1, 2011 | 25 Tevet 5771

It would be heretical to suggest that God’s nature changes.  In the Yigdal prayer that concludes our Shabbat evening service, we sing a poetic rendering of Maimonides’ thirteen principles of faith including these words – “Lo yachaleef ha’El” – “Our God will not change!” No, according to Maimonides’ principles and our own good sense, it would be heretical to suggest that God’s nature changes.  But would it be heretical to suggest that our understanding of God’s nature changes?  Of course not!  As we mature, we understand words and concepts differently.  If one says to a three year old, “Boy, it’s raining cats and dogs out there,” the child might be perplexed when he sees only a heavy rain falling out of the heavens.  If one says the same thing to a thirteen or twenty three year old and sees the person equally perplexed when he looks outside, well…

Our Torah Portion today and the way it has been understood by our interpretive tradition reinforces the notion that our understanding of God’s nature may change as we mature.

God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by name Y-H-V-H” (Ex. 6:4)

The plain sense meaning of this verse must be rejected because the Book of Genesis in which the Patriarchs and Matriarchs are introduced to God and establish a relationship with the divine contains many references to God as Y-H- V- H!  Anne Pettit, a rabbinical student, helps us with a solution to this apparent textual problem by citing Rabbenu Bachya, a 13th – 14th century Spanish biblical commentator.

How can God say “I did not make Myself known to them by My Name Y-H- V- Hi”?  Rabbenu Bahya answers, citing Ramban, that whatever Name God might have been going by for the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, they perceived God through the prism of  El Shaddai, the nurturing and sustaining Presence, parent to child, that they needed as the first small shoots of a new people with a new relationship to God.  Now, God will relate to Moses as an adult, a mature, but much more demanding, relationship.

Rabbenu Bachya’s resolution of the dilemma created by a literal understanding of this verse in our Torah Portion is much more than just a solution to a textual problem.  It provides us with direction and with a challenge. Humanity continues to mature in the sense that it metaphorically stands on the shoulders of the generations that preceded it.  We are no smarter than those who preceded us. But we do have the benefit of their accumulated knowledge and of progressively more information and experience. We should use all of those “data points” as we seek to understand God’s nature.

Does God’s nature change!  No.  Can our understanding of God’s nature change?  Most definitely.

Shabbat Shalom.  I wish you and your loved ones a year of good health and well being in 2011.