Age of the World

There are some opinions that believe evolution had something to do with Briyas Holam. Like one day in the eyes of Hashem is like 1000 and all those fossils they dig up and date back to millions and gazillions of years ago, can be older than the amount of year that passed in the Jewish calendar. Or, the idea that the continents fitted together works because before Dor Enosh there was an equal amount of land and water...ideas like these are becoming popular now.

There is a similar thought expressed by the Tiferes Yisroel. It's a controversial idea. Other Rabbonim have said this is actually Kefirah.

But two things: One, we're not talking about evolution itself. The idea is that each of the 6 days of creation could really have taken like millions of years, since nobody says that a "day" has to be 24 hours, and therefore the world could really be millions of years old.

The others hold that we have no right to concoct new definitions of a "Day", and that with such logic - that we can re-define terms - we can change a lot of the Torah c"v.

In any case, the whole idea is totally unnecessary. When Hashem created the world, He created it as a full-blown, fully developed world. Adam was created an adult; trees were already grown. The light of the stars, which take gazillions of years to reach earth, were already shining on the earth.

So if you would have looked at the world right after creation, you would have had "proof" that the world is much more than 6 days old, because for instance, Adam was obviously not just 6 days old, but a full grown man!

But the answer is that Hashem created a mature, adult, functioning world all at once, so even though the world was created 5761 years ago, it has the characteristics of a world much, much older.

So if you find let's say a tree with 8,000 rings in it, and you now a tree grows one ring each year, it doesn’t contradict the Torah 'cause the tree was created with 2,000 rings from the beginning.

Same thing with fossils and all other seemingly very old parts of the world. They were here from the beginning, already created "old" with all symptoms of being here maybe millions of years already.

So there's no need to say that the 6 days were anything but regular 24 hour days. The fossils and everything else can be adequately explained as is.

It is also true that the dating systems are highly inaccurate and subject to great controversy.

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The Torah says the world was created in 6 days. And Rashi says explicitly that when the Torah says Vayehi Erev Vayehi Voker Yom Echad it means 24 hours.

And if someone tells you a day isn’t really a day, please thank them for agreeing with you that evolution never happened. Because when they say they believe evolution did happen, tell them that according to your interpretation of their words, when they say "evolution" they don't really mean "evolution", and maybe even when they say "did" it doesn't really mean "did". And if they say you’re wrong, tell them that "wrong" doesn't really mean wrong.

The 6 days of creation were in fact 24 hours. How could they not be? Aren't days 24 hours now? So when did this change? Where does it indicate in the slightest that the first Sunday after creation (or the first Shabbos???) was suddenly shorter than previous days??

And if the days were 24 hours, would you understand why Hashem took that long? And not 2.4 seconds?? We don’t know why Hashem decided to take as long as he took, but whether it was 24 hours or 24 million hours, he could have done it in less.

When we say 1 day is like a million years, we don’t mean that Hashem is living within time. It means that the word "day" does not mean intrinsically 24 hours and could randomly mean anything.

The sun, which measures time, was created the 4th day, but time was created at the first second of creation.

It’s clear that on the fourth day Hashem said the sun should shine during the time-period that was called "day" and the stars/darkness should rule during the time-period called "night". Since then, that hasn’t changed, and obviously, as we can see today, the sun and the stars have decided that the time period called day plus the time period called night, are 24 hours.

The Gemora says this explicitly. It describes 10 things that were created on the first day of creation, one of which is the "length of the day and night" - as it says, "vayehi erev vayehi voke yom echad". So the time span of the day was created on the first day of creation. And, as Rashi states, it means "[the day and night together] - i.e. 24 hours between them".

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The world "yom" has 2 different meanings - (a) daytime, as in Yomam Valylah - in which case the Yom" is longer in the summer than the winter, using shaos zemanios; and (b) a day - an entire day, i.e. the sum total of the daytime and nightime, as in "vayehi erev vayehi voker yom sheni". That "yom" is always 24 hours, no matter what the season, shaos zemanios notwithstanding.

And so there is no reason to believe that the length of the days changed on the 4th day from what they were on the first 3.

Please note that among the Meforshim that I quoted, who address the issue of natural phenomena that need more than 6,000 years to happen - the Yaaros Devash, Divrei Chaim, Divrei Yoekl, and the unnamed Godol in "in the days of the Arizal and perhaps even earlier" - none of them saw fit to accept that the tens of thousands of years needed for that star to fulfill its orbit actually occurred. Although that answer was sitting there "on a silver platter" for them, it was not an option.

And, because of what they say, there is no reason to even want it to be an option. You gain nothing.

And the Gemora says the world is (nearly) 6,000 years old.

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Regarding answering scientists and those who have blind faith in them about the age of the world, first, just like the flaw in their "vestigial organ" logic, the entire concept of measuring the age of the world the way the scientists do is based on the assumption that the world was not created by a Creator. But if you say that the world was created the way the Torah tells us it was, that is, a full-blown world, complete with starts visible in the sky, full-grown trees and animals (and a human), a totally, fully developed and mature world, then their logic falls apart.

Because when the world was created, it already had an age. In other words, when Adam for instance was created, he was an adult, even though he was one day old; there were fully grown trees; the sun's light already reached the earth; an entire world existed, full-blown and OLD. How old was the world at the moment it was created? I don’t know -- it doesn’t say. But we do know that it didn’t start from scratch. And so lets say a "scientist" would chop down a tree 1 week after it was created and find maybe 50 rings inside - would that prove that the tree was 50 years old? To the scientists it would, and the "tree ring" concept is used as one of their "proofs" that the world is over 6,000 years old. But the truth is it proves no such thing, because when the tree was created it was created as an adult, 50 year old tree.

So even if dating would be accurate, it still doesn’t prove that the world was not created 6,000 years ago - because when it was created, it already could have been thousands or millions of quadrillions of years old.

That is the first thing to understand when dealing with the "true believers" of science. But even if they will come up with something that cannot be explained by the above, there is a Torah principle that you must know that has been used long before any of today's scientists or their grandparents were born, that tells us that although the world was in fact created 6,000 years ago, we know that it possesses all and every characteristic of a world that is much, much older. The Torah actually expects scientific measurements of the age of the universe to return an age of much, much more than 6,000 years. And we have known this for centuries.

Says the Divrei Chaim (Chanuka p.45 col. 4), “The scientists found a star whose orbit takes 36,000 years, yet the world is only 6,000 years old, as is stated in Avodah Zorah (9a) – so did He create [this star] for nothing? So the scientists ask... However, I found in a sefer of a great man, who was of the holy ones in the days of the Arizal and perhaps even much earlier than that, who brings this question and answers: It is known that the universe was once in its most perfect state, but Adam corrupted it and caused a weakness in all of creation. And therefore, at the time of creation, if not for the sin of Adam our father, the movement (orbits) would have been fast; but now, because of the flaw caused by the Sin, the orbit has to wait 36,000 years. A similar idea is expressed by the Yaaros Dvash.”

The Divrei Chaim does not tell us the location of the Yaaros Dvash. But the Divrei Yoel (Simchas Torah p.613) identifies it as being in 2 places: Vol. I, Drush 1 and Drush 15. There, it quotes a Medrash (Rabbah 10:4) that before the Sin of Adam the Mazalos operated much more rapidly. After the Sin, the Mazalos operated much slower and longer. With this Medrash, he explains the fact that we pasken that both the opinion that the world was created in Nisan, and the opinion that the world was created in Tishri, are true. Says the Yaaros Dvash: because the Mazalos operated much more rapidly before the sin, between the time the Mazalos were created on the 4th day, and the time Adam was created, on the 6th day, the Mazalos had already run their course from Nisan to Tishri.

So there you have it - the world was created only 6,000 years ago as it says in the Gemora, but according to Chazal’s statement about the pre-chet rapidity of the Mazalos, we would a measure of history to have transpired during the 6 days of creation that would currently take much, much longer than 6,000 years.

So of course the scientists are going to think the world is much older than 6,000 years. We expected they would “discover” that, long before these scientists were ever born. All the scientists are doing, if indeed their dating methods are accurate, is picking up the billions of years worth of events that transpired before the sin of Adam. But we know that all took a few days.
The mistake in their system is that they are not measuring the amount of time itself that occurred. They are identifying various events that already happened and are saying:

1) We measured the amount of time it would take this event to occur
2) And this event has already occurred
3) Therefore, the amount of time it would take to make it occur has already elapsed.

The flaw on that logic is that they only measured how much time it would take if those events would happen NOW, in the post-chet world. But since those events took place before the Chet, they took much less time, and so the occurrence of those events does not indicate the elapse of nearly as much time as the scientists think.
If they would find a way to measure time itself, meaning the amount of moments that transpired during the course of history, they would come up with 6,000 years.

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The Rishonim state explicitly that the fact that there was no sun or moon does not present a problem regarding the hours of the day, since (a) as I mentioned above, you can have a length of a day without the luminaries, and (b) the sun and stars were actually created on the first day but merely put in place on the fourth.

In any case, the fact that there was no sun or starts during the first three days does not indicate in the slightest that the days were anything other than 24 hours days.

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Carbon-14 dating rests on two assumptions. (a) that the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere has always been constant, and (b) its rate of decay has always been constant.

Neither of those assumptions has been proven or close to proven. And since the world was created in six days, who knows how the cosmic radiation in the atmosphere was fluctuating then.

There is another issue that makes the carbon dating useless. When the world was created, it already had an age, as discussed previously. We don't know how old it was when it was created.

So even if dating would be accurate, it still doesn’t prove that the world was not created 6,000 years ago - because when it was created, it already could have been thousands of years old.

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There are no documented civilizations going back hundreds of thousands of years. Recorded history goes back to Egypt about 4,000 years ago, before which things get murky and unknown. On the contrary - this coincides perfectly with the 5760 plus years since the creation of the world, since it would take about that long to develop a civilization like Egypt. The fact that there are NO recorded histories older than this is in itself a marvelous confirmation of the Torah, not that it needs confirmation.

Other dating techniques such as Carbon 14 and other such methods are all based on assumptions and speculative at best. No - they have not yet proven a single civilization or even artifact as being older than 5760 odd years. They won't, of course, but they can keep trying.

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If the word was always here then the sun would have already exploded and destroyed the world. This argument – that if the world is infinitely old then no matter how much time it would need for any event to happen, it already would have happened, since there was an infinite amount of time in the past, is a good argument against kadmu haolam – that opinion that the world was always here. The Ralbag in milchemes hashem uses it, as do others.

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Creation: why wasn't it done in one instant?

The question of why didn't Hashem create the world in one step is asked by Chazal. Hashem created the world in 10 steps (maamoros). Why did Hashem need 10 steps? The answer is He didn't, but He used 10 steps so that we can realize how monumental the world is. We need to realize the greatness of the world in order to understand the greatness of our Mitzvos - and the seriousness of our aveiros. Our Mitzvos maintain the world - not just any world but a world so grand that it took Hashem 10 steps to make it! Our Aveiros destroy the world - not just any world, but a world so grand that it took Hashem 10 steps to make it!

Not that Hashem needed to take 10 steps. He did it on purpose so that we can realize the impact of our actions.

It’s the same principle for creation taking 6 days as opposed to one.

As for whether there were 6 days of creation or 7 days, both are true. Sometimes Chazal use the phrase "sheshes yemei bereishis" and sometimes they use "shivas yemei bereshis". It's semantics. Technically, the world took 7 days to become what it is now, but the first 6 days were a totally different process than the 7th. The first 6 days were creation of gashmiyus, of Hashem "hiding" Himself, so to speak, making "room" for material things. On the seventh day, the opposite happened. Ruchniyus was injected into the world, Hashem "revealed" Himself instead of "hiding". The first 6 days Hashem made more and more gashmiyus, and on the seventh, He created the limitations of that Gashmiyus so that it doesn't become more material than He intended. So depending on what you mean, you can say the world was created in 6 days or in 7.

Is it worth it to us to have been created?

In the Gemora it says " . . . They counted (or voted) and concluded it would be better for man to have not been created than to have been created. Now that he is created, let him take charge of his actions."

How do you reconcile this Gemora with the Chazal that says "everything Hashem does is for the good" (Kol d'avdim min shamaya l'tav)? And since "against your will were you created", G-d is responsible. If so, how could we say it would have been better for you had G-d treated you differently?

Or even better: What about the posuk "And Hashem saw all He created and it was very good"? That includes the creation of man too.

The answer to all this is clear according to the Maharsha. He says there that all the Gemora means is that they "counted" the Mitzvos Aseh and Lo Saaseh, and found that there are more Lo Saasehs, which means that the odds of success are against a person when he is born, since there are more things that will cause him to be punished than give him reward.

However, that is why the Gemora continues "and now that he is created let him control his actions," which means that a person was given a gift from Hashem that can help him overcome the odds, namely, Free Will, which allows him to live in the world not randomly according to the odds, but according to how he wants to live.

So all the Gemora means is that the "count" of Mitzvos puts him at a disadvantage - which can be overcome by a separate advantage, i.e. free will. However, when you consider all the advantages and disadvantages, that is, his ability to overcome the odds, then it is great for him that he was created.

It's not selfish to work for Olam Habah. The Yismach Moshe says since G-d wants you to get Olam Habah, then by you doing so, you are fulfilling the will of Hashem.

"For Hashem's sake" does not mean to benefit Hashem - chas vsholom - He does not benefit from our Mitzvos. It means, rather, to do Mitzvos in order to fulfill Hashem's will. And Hashem's will is that we should get Olam Habah. Therefore, doing Mitzvos for Hashem's sake means that we have in mind that the reason we want to go to Olam Habah is because Hashem desires that.

Thus, the ultimate goal of Hashem - for us to go to Olam Habah - and the ultimate goal of ours - to do Mitzvos for Hashem's sake, go hand in hand.

The highest level is to do Mitzvos lishmah. Doing Mitzvos because you want the reward is also valid, and a high level, but just not as high as lishmah. The ultimate goal is to do mitzvos lishmah.

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What makes creating the world "good"? In order for that to be true, someone would have already created some framework for good and bad that would define creating the world as "good”, where did this framework come from?
We are mixing up two definitions of "good". When we say G-d wanted to do "good" and so He created the world we do not mean good as opposed to bad, as in morals or values. We mean good as in desirable. G-d wanted to bestow upon others that which would be desirable to them. And since what G-d would give to His creations by creating them would be a connection to Him, that by definition is desirable. G-d is Perfect, and by definition perfection is a desirable state, certainly more desirable than non-existence, but since there can be only one perfect being, G-d arranged a plan whereby others would have a desirable state of perfection a desirable state of perfection by being connected to Him.

G-d did this not because He had to in order to fulfill some kind of obligation, or because He had to "pander" to some kind of value system, but simply because it makes others happy.

So if G-d had bestowed money or some other kind of benefit on people, you would have a right to ask why is it that creating people and giving them things is something that would make G-d decide to do it, but because what G-d is giving is a connection to Himself, you have your answer right there: G-d's existence is itself perfect, meaning it is desirable, which itself creates the framework for the definition of desirability.

A beneficial, desirable prize - something people would want - already existed before the world, namely, G-d's state of existence. All G-d did was allow people to benefit from it.

If, for instance, you had the ability to put your son in a stitch where he can either (a) make a billion dollars or (b) lose $20, worst case scenario, you would be remiss in your duties as a father NOT to make him do it.

So too, we must understand, the reward for our Mitzvos - even a single Mitzvah - is soooo great that it justifies even a lifetime of doing aveiros. It’s not a question of "success" or "failure", which are black-and-white terms - it’s a question of gain vs. loss. We gain some, and we lose some. As long as do one Mitzvah on this world, your gain makes it worth your trip here, regardless of what else happens to you. If your Mitzvos count - meaning, if you are a maamin and believe in the Torah then you have accomplished so much that any price you had to pay for that mitzvah is worth it.

Of course, it would be much more pleasurable for you if you didn't have to pay such a high price.

So if Hashem created you and put you on this world, that means He knows that it is worth it for you to be here. "Risks" and all.

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The prohibition of delving into pre-creation events is not because we aren’t supposed to have questions but because we are unable to have answers. We are unable to comprehend anything outside of time and space and surely not what it was like before the word was created (indeed, there no "it" to be like anything), and chazal are telling us that if you go into this topic, you’ll end up knowing less than you do now, not more, because you will invariably misunderstand whatever it is you find. But where answers are available, they are always a good thing, not a bad thing.

But where answers are available, The Rishonim write that it makes no sense that Hashem would put us in this world, give us brains and then obligate us to be confused and doubtful. If you have no questions, that’s one thing; but if you do, you should get the answers. It is a Mitzvah to do so.

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Creation of the world: How

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

It isn’t a simple matter to create something. In fact, it is not possible.

Before the world, there was only Hashem. In fact, Hashem WAS the world. There was no space, time, dimensions, only Hashem. We can’t even say Hashem was “everywhere”, since there was no space to say “where.” There was only Hashem.

And there can only be Hashem. Being that Hashem is perfect, it means He is, for lack of a better term, every "where”. And every “thing”. It can’t be any other way.

So you can’t really create a world, because then there is something in existence BESIDES Hashem. And if there is something besides Hashem, that means there is a “place” where Hashem is not. A physical world is not a spiritual, Perfect G-d. So where one is, the other is not.

Yet, if Hashem is every “where” (and every “thing”), how can there be “room” for a physical world?

The answer is that Hashem had a way to “make room” for the universe. This is called the “Tzimtzum” (something like “constriction”, or “limitation”). Exactly how it works is a subject of big time controversy, and it was THE primary dispute between Chassidim and Misnagdim in the days of the Vilna Gaon. (Moderator’s Disclaimer: The following explanation is not intended to touch upon this disagreement, but rather to explain, in the simplest terms possible, the basic idea. If it seems for some reason that I have “sided” with one opinion or another, it is purely unintentional.)

Basically, Hashem did not need to “make room” for the universe because the universe does not “take up” space. The universe was created not through adding something to the world, but rather by removing, or even better, by HIDING something. Hashem created the world by hiding His presence and making it APPEAR as if imperfection (that is, physical, material stuff) exists. When you create something, that usually means that you produce something where previously it was not. The “after” is more, better, than the “before”. But when Hashem created the world, it was the opposite: “Before”, there was Hashem’s light, His essence, all over. Hashem hid some of that light, made it “invisible”, blocked it from the eyes of the universe, so that where there was Perfection, there now appears to be imperfection. Where there was G-d, there now appears to be sticks and stones. Where there was infinity, there now appears to be time and space.

G-d created the universe out of darkness, or rather, the lessening, “constricting”, “limiting” of His light. The “after” of the universe is on a lower, lesser level, than the “before”.

G-d hid a certain amount of His light in a certain way, and there appeared a mountain. A different amount of light, in a different way, and there appeared a horse. It’s kind of like scratchboard – you create shapes and sizes by scratching away the ink, not by adding something. Or like making shadow images by blocking light. So too the world was created by concealment and constriction, not by additions or improvements.

Therefore, the world seems like an imperfect place, but that’s only because we are only granted the ability to see part of the light. The word “physical” really means: “where only part of G-d’s light shines”.

As an example: Where Hashem is, there is no such thing as time. Past, present, and future all happen at the same, well, for lack of a better term, “time”. Time only seems to be there because Hashem hides from us the future and the past. Imagine a piece of cardboard, with a tiny hole in it. Look through that hole at the world. You can only see part. Now move that cardboard to the right and the left. You see different parts of the landscape, one after the other, even though all parts are always there. That’s time. G-d allows us to “see” part of the picture now, another part later, another part later, another part later, like one of those binocular-machines on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. As you move it, you get different views. To us, what we view is all that exists. To Hashem, Who lives on the other side of the cardboard, kaviyochel, the entire view – past, present, and future - is visible at once.

So everything in the universe – the universe itself – is created through hiding and blocking of Hashem’s Light (i.e. His visible presence). Hashem Himself, Who exists outside of His creation, is not bound by time, place, or any physicality whatsoever.

Creation of the world: Why

WHY G-D CREATED THE WORLD

Once upon a time, there was only G-d, The Perfect Being.

Part of being G-d, part of being perfect, is being Perfectly Happy. Happiness beyond all happiness, pleasure beyond all pleasure. Something we can’t even imagine.

And G-d, being Good and Benevolent, wanted to bestow this feeling of perfect happiness on others. So He had a plan to create others that can enjoy this infinite, amazing G-d-Pleasure, just like He Himself does. But there was a problem.

You can’t enjoy this pleasure unless you are G-d Himself. It’s too great, too much, too G-dly, for anyone or anything but G-d Himself to relate to. So how can G-d give to others this pleasure that only G-d Himself can enjoy?

The answer: Create beings that have the ability to connect to G-d in such a way that they can actually be part of G-d, but with their own individual identity. Since they are part of G-d, connected to His essence, they will be able to enjoy the G-d pleasure, but only to the extent that they are connected.

So this is what He did:

He took pieces of His own essence, kaviyochol, and gave it sentience. This is called a neshomah. Since it has Hashem’s essence, it has the potential to connect back to Hashem, the same way it was separated. He gave this neshoma sentience, so it is no longer G-d, but a thinking, acting, personalized individual in and of itself. This being has the ability to connect to G-d. This being is man.

Then G-d created the means of that connection. He extracted from Himself His own essence, kaviyochol, the secrets of what makes G-d, G-d. This is the blueprint, so to speak, of Hashem Himself. If the man will develop himself, on his own, according to the blueprint, he will then be able to reconnect to G-d, and enjoy the awesome G-d pleasure that only Hashem, and, now, those who are connected to Hashem, can enjoy.

This blueprint is called the Torah.

The connection with Hashem is called Olam Habbah.

But there was more work to be done. In order to fulfill the Torah, man needed tools. There is a Mitzvah in the Torah of honoring parents. That means man will have to have parents. There is a Mitzvah to fast on Yom Kippur, so man will have to have a need for food. And the food itself would also have to be created.

In order for man to fulfill the Torah, an entire world will have to be created, and man will have to be given a physical body with which to do Mitzvos.

So Hashem created the whole, entire, physical Universe.

And then He created man. He gave him the Torah and said, “Here. This is what makes Me, Me. Nobody can be Me, but if you fulfill this, you can have what I have. All the infinite, perfect pleasure that I can create as the infinite, perfect being, can be yours. You can enjoy it through me, by becoming, once more, a part of me. You can have pleasure beyond imagining. Just do what it says here.

“This Torah, it is not just instructions. It is My holy essence. It used to be, before I gave this to you; that if someone had a she’ailah, if a woman washed a milchig dish with a fleishig sponge, she could ask Me, through a navi, what the Halachah is. I had the privilege of owning this perfection, alone.

"Now, I am giving that up. I am giving it to you. In order to enable you to connect to me, you have to own that ability. You have to be able to learn Torah, pasken sheailos, and become lamdonim. So from now on, I no longer have the privilege of ruling Halachah, of applying Torah, perfection, to the world. From now on, Torah lo bashamayim he, this ability that was Mine, that was a direct result of my being the Perfect Being, is now given to you. I gladly part with it in order to enable you to benefit from the infinite pleasure that is awaiting you.”

And so Hashem gave us the Torah.

Giluy Kavod (Hashem "hiding" His face)

Giluy kavod means the fact that Hashem runs the world, that there is no power in the world except Him; indeed, there is nothing that happens in the world except by His will. It means NOT that G-d is the strongest power but that He is the ONLY power --- NOT that He can put down all rebellions but that there can be NO rebellions against Him. G-d wants people to understand this – that nothing in this world can go against His will.

So it’s not enough for G-d to make a perfect, painless world and then tell people: “See how far my domain goes? I control everything!” That would not work, since it would not show the extent of G-d’s power – that His Oneness extends even to seeming darkness and pain. The fact that we understand Hashem’s control in a world of good is NOT enough – because it doesn’t mean that we understand Hashem’s control when things seem bad.

It's like a King who wanted to show his son that he controls everything; that he knows everything that happens in his kingdom and that nothing transpires without his direct say-so. So he sends his son out into the kingdom to see and recognize his absolute control over his kingdom.

The son sees people obeying the king, people praising the king, people following the king’s laws, and he thinks to himself, yes, the king does control this land.

Then one evening in a bar he overheard 2 people plotting a revolt against the king. They even approach him asking him if he would join! Suddenly he thinks to himself, hey, maybe the king doesn’t control everything in this kingdom.

So he talks to them, “feeling them out”. Trying to find out where they’re coming from and to what extent their plan is accepted in the kingdom.

During the course of the conversation, they try to recruit him into their plans. They promise him the world if he joins them. No more taxes, no more laws; their “kingdom” will be so much better than that of the current king.

In the end, he falls for their plan. He agrees to join their rebellion – the king lied to him anyway, saying that he controls everything. Obviously there’s something to what these people have to say!

Right then and there (this is going to be anachronistic), the “rebels” pull out their badges. CIA! The King purposely sent them to test him to see if he really believed in the king’s dominion over his kingdom! The king’s son failed the test by believing that an anti-king force could exist in the king’s domain.

It’s easy to believe in the king’s power when everything’s going according to the king’s plan. But the real test of belief in the king’s power is when there seems to be a rebellion against the king – that’s when we will see if you really believe in the king’s omnipotence.

So too, G-d created the world and He created Adam and He asked Adam to understand His Oneness, His power, His dominion, His absolute authority over everything that happens in the world. Had Adam recognized that Oneness in the world, Moshiach would have come immediately.

In order to demonstrate His Oneness, He sent the Snake to Adam disguised as a rebel against Him. Would Adam tell the snake: “Snake! You’re a faker! Ain ode milvado! Nothing can go against G-d in this world! I know you’re really here to entrap me! I will not fall for your tricks!” or would Adam believe that what the Snake had to offer was really of substance?

Adam failed the test. He failed to believe the extent of G-d’s Oneness in the world. He failed to see through the evil and understand that even when something seems to go against G-d’s wishes, still, ain ode milvado.

So now, in order to demonstrate the extent of His power, G-d says to us: “You did not believe that I held sway to the world even when only one simple rebel appeared on the scene. Everything was following my plan except for one little being, one little detail, one little temptation, and even that you could not understand was really Me behind the scenes. Obviously you do not understand the extent to which my Oneness reaches. You do not understand, yet, what my Oneness really means. You are not yet ready, then, for the ultimate Pleasure – the Geulah Sheleimah - when you bask in that Oneness for eternity. So I will make you understand what My Oneness means do that you can finally merit benefiting from it. I will send out into the world NOT one rebel among a properly run world, but rather, I will create anarchy in the world. I will make endless rebellions and endless seeming contradictions to My Oneness. And then you will see – those who want to see – what Oneness really means. It means that even in a world of seeming anarchy, where darkness holds sway, where the evil prosper and the righteous suffer, where My plan and My justice and My program do not seem to function at all – you will see that even there, even in such a world, I am still in control. When you say to all the evil and the darkness and the pain and the suffering and the injustice: “NO!” because you know that all they are offering is nothing but a test of G-d’s Kingship, and that they are really agents of Hashem, “undercover” angels posing as rebels against the King to test our belief in the King’s Oneness and Dominion over the world.

And then, one day, G-d will Reveal all His Kovod and all His oneness and we will see that all this time, all of this evil and darkness and materialism that exists in this world was really G-d’s doing, and that everything was Gam zu L’Tovah, and that it only SEEMED like evil and that is what is called “hester ponim” in this world.

Hester ponim means, basically, “G-d working undercover” as opposed to G-d working out in the open. It’s not merely “hiddenness” but disguisedness, like an undercover agent making believe he is a rebel in order to seek out insurgents against the King.

G-d’s Giluy Kvodo happens in one of two ways: For those on the level to recognize it in this world, it’s like walking down the street in the city and watching a drug deal taking place. But the buyer is 6 foot two, wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, and comes out of his 2001 Park Avenue, with black tinted windows. You smile, because you know another drug dealer’s about to get busted.

Someone else walking down the street witnesses the same scene and laments the fact that the drug lords run around unafraid of the law, and how could you smile when such a terrible thing is happening right under your nose in your neighborhood yada yada.

Some people are able to recognize that everything that happens in this world is G-d. That’s Giluy Kvodo to them. It’s just happening undercover. And every time something bad happens in this world, you smile, say “Gam zu l’tovah / ain od milvado / Hashem melech” because you know that Hashem is just setting things up so that one day He will show to the world not only His Oneness but the extent of it as well – that even in a world seemingly teeming with anti-G-d activity and activists, its all just a way of G-d preparing to show us that EVEN IN THIS MESSED UP WORLD, His Oneness rules.

Some of us may have to wait until the secret agents pull out their badges and the sting operation is over in order to understand Hashem Echad. That will happen when Moshiach comes. Then, we will be so shocked and impressed and bedazzled by the extent of how much G-d’s hand played in our lives. It's like a Mission Impossible where one day you wake up and everyone around you takes off their masks and you realize your whole life and everything in it was controlled by Someone you weren’t even aware of.

When everybody removes their masks – the Yetzer Horah, the pain, the evil – at the end of the “story”, then we will see what Power and Dominion G-d really has. In the meantime, it is up to us to recognize that Ain Ode Milvado, and that everything that happens in the world is His agents at work.

Does Hashem have emotions?

Hashem is not physical - people are, and that's why we "feel" happiness, sadness, etc. Hashem has no emotions. He does not feel headaches or cold or anger or gladness or any emotion or feeling at all.
When it says "Hashem got angry" it is not meant literally. Hashem (a) is perfect, which means, among other things, that He is perfectly Simple (kulo poshut), and thus has no aspects, parts, attributes, or anything that is incidental or accidental to His essence. Emotion is therefore not possible for Hashem, since emotion is an incidental attribute, (b) is above time and therefore He cannot change, for change means you are subject to "before" and "after". And that means He cannot be at one moment happy and at another sad; He cannot have any emotions because emotions by definition require change; (c) cannot be affected by anything at all (bilti nitleh bizulaso) and so you cannot cause G-d to feel anything, get angry, or have any impact on Hashem whatsoever, because that would mean you affected Him.
It is no more literal than when it says Hashem has an outstretched arm. G-d does not have feelings. If someone believes that Hashem has emotions, it is the same as if someone believes that Hashem has a nose. Such a belief does violence to Hashem's Simplicity (i.e. His Oneness), His independence, and His non-corporeality. We use the feelings metaphor for us to better relate to the will of Hashem, in the sense that is someone fulfills my will, like you mentioned with parents, I feel good, and vice versa. But regarding Hashem none of that is real. Hashem's chesed means that Hashem gains absolutely nothing from our Mitzvos, not even a sense of satisfaction. The Mitzvos are totally and completely for OUR sake, not His. (When we say G-d has "happiness" we don't mean emotional happiness, we mean "perfection." G-d promises us that perfection for us will be infinitely pleasurable -- I assume it feels good to be perfect -- and G-d gets it because He is perfect.) It's like, for instance when you put the wrong software in your computer and it acts up. You may say, as a figure of speech, that "the computer doesn’t like the software" or even "the computer got angry". The computer doesn’t really have any emotions or likes, but it acted in a way that metaphorically can be described as "anger".
So too, when we say Hashem got "angry" we mean that Hashem acted in a way that seems to us angry. But there was no emotion of anger involved. Our emotion that we call anger is only a moshol for Hashem's behavior.
So if we had a real Loshon Hakodesh dictionary there would be an entry like this:
an•ger n.- Hashem's actions toward us that that seem as if He would have a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility.
"Anger", when it refers to our emotion, is only a figure of speech.
The Shelah and Ralbag hold that real "strength" only applies to Hashem, and when we speak of humans or other creations having strength it is only a moshol. The Rambam and Ramchal hold the opposite: When we say literal strength we refer only to our strength, but when we talk about G-d, "strength" is just a moshol.
Either way, we have no understanding of what we mean when we talk about G-d. This whole disagreement is only regarding which words are literal and which are metaphors. Even if the terms are literal, however, we still have no comprehension what they mean when they refer to G-d.
The same thing for "hand." In Loshon Hakodesh it refers to Hashem's Midah of direct control in this world. The reason why we refer to our hand as a "hand" is because its function - grabbing and holding things - is similar to the real meaning of the word "hand", that is, Hashem's directly controlling things in this world.
According to the Rambam, the opposite is true: "Hand" refers to our physical limb, and when it is used in reference to Hashem, then it is a moshol.
But the only disagreement here is regarding the literal definition of the word "hand". Everybody agrees that there is no part of Hashem chas vsholom that is called a "hand". Neither in a physical nor non-physical way. Hashem, according to everyone, is "kulo poshut", completely simple - He has no parts, and no aspects. Hashem Echad - he is not two, nor is He two halves, or three thirds, etc.

G-d has no mercy in the emotional sense. He does, however, act in a way such that the results are the same as if He would have had mercy.
That’s what we mean when we ask G-d for mercy. We mean He should act in a way that seems merciful to us, although mercy is not His motivation.
When we say G-d has no "desires" it does not mean that G-d makes no decisions; it also does not mean that G-d is always indifferent to all outcomes; it also does not mean that G-d has no reasons for making those decisions. He does. In that sense, G-d certainly has "desires", meaning, there are certain things that G-d wants and others that he does not, and there are reasons why. However, when we say G-d has no "desires" it means that those reasons for G-d's decisions are not self-serving. The reasons, whatever they are, can never have to do with G-d benefiting in any way. G-d does things - He wants certain things to happen and certain thing not to happen, but not because He loses anything or gains anything either way.
This is perfectly reasonable to a rational mind. It is not the skeptic who will not accept it, but the cynic, who will say, "Well if there's nothing in it for G-d why should He do it?" This question is based on the fallacious and narrow-minded notion that because our motives always involve some gain for us, therefore G-d's motives also must do the same.
The mistake in this is that there is no reason to assume that there cannot be an entity that can act out of purely altruistic reasons. The fact that our motives always involve some benefit - does not mean that motives without benefit cannot exist. There is no logical reason that "reason for doing something" always has to involve "personal benefit." It is in our personal experience that this limitation exists. That does not mean that the limitation exists outside of our experience as well.
The question is narrow-minded because the particular error that allows the question occurs because the questioner does not consider the possibility that there are other realities that exist outside of his own experience. He thinks that, "Well, if I have never seen totally altruistic motives, then they cannot exist anywhere". The projecting of your own experiences on the entire universe - even, in this case, on G-d! - is narrow-minded.
For the record, though, answers are not designed to satisfy people - they are designed to negate questions. If the answer objectively negates the question then it is a valid answer. If any particular human being - skeptic or whoever - does not want to accept the answer, that does not diminish the validity of that answer. It diminishes the validity of the opinion of the skeptic.

As for how we are supposed to "act like Hashem"; when we say Hashem is "strong" it means He does not need strength because even without the attribute of strength He is never weak; when we say He is wise it means He does not need the thing we call wisdom because He is never ignorant, even without it; when we say Hashem is merciful it means that He does not need the emotion of mercy - even without it, His perfection demands that He is not cruel. It is Hashem's perfection that causes Him not to have any of these traits - He is so perfect that He does not need any of them. Traits such as wisdom, mercy, and the like are only positive things if you need them. We do. Hashem does not.
So when we are commanded to be like Hashem, we are not expected to use those traits that Hashem does not need, in order to mimic the actions that Hashem performs without them. As for knowing what “traits” Hashem has that we are supposed to try to follow, we know from a combination of Torah shebal peh, and tradition that was handed down from generation to generation.

Infinity III

The past cannot be an infinite amount of time because the past is finished, and an infinite amount of time never finishes.

What you have to remember is, infinity is not a very large number which is you keep counting you will eventually reach. Even if you count forever, you will not reach "infinity". When we say that there are an infinite amount of finite natural numbers, we mean that no matter how long you were to count, you will never get to the end of those finite numbers. But each and every number will be finite, no matter how much time you spend counting.

So therefore, if you did count and reached a certain number, that number cannot be infinity.
Thus, if the past would consist of an infinite amount of time, it would never be over. At no point would you be able to say "we have reached infinity", since that point is unreachable. The past, however, is over. Therefore, the amount of time that has already transpired in the past could never have reached infinity.

As a syllogism:

If the amount of moments in the past is infinity, those moments would never be finished.
But the past has finished.
Therefore, the amount of moments in the past is not infinity.

This is the answer to the spoon-football field paradox, which is a problem because even an inch can be divided up an infinite amount of times. Which means an inch and a mile - which also is divisible an infinite amount of times - are really the same length.

But this is wrong, obviously, and the reason is, because you can never divide up an inch, or a mile, an infinite amount of times. No matter how many times you divide up the distance, the resultant amount of parts will always be a finite number. So you will never, ever have an infinite amount of parts in any given line.

Infinity cannot be reached in real life, ever. You can never count until infinity. You can never have an infinite amount of anything that has magnitude. Therefore, if we already had a certain amount of moments in time, since each moment does take up time, the total amount of moments cannot be infinity.

If any partition of time would be infinite it would never end. Since the time-partition was finite it therefore can not be comprised of an infinite amount of parts.

In theory and in reality, infinity cannot be reached. The time period from the beginning of time until today HAS been reached. Therefore it cannot be infinite.

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Infinity II

The Chovos Helevovos says that because something has a PART of it which is
finite, the whole thing must also be finite, since all infinities are the
same size and there cannot be an infinity which has a finite part and an
infinite part. There seems to be a Kasha with this. The set of numbers (0,1,2...) is
infinite. A part of the set is (5,6,7), that set is finite, and the other part
which is left over, (0,1,2,3,4,8,9,...) is infinite, and it is a smaller
infinity than the original infinite set. Certainly in mathematics they talk
about infinities of different sizes, the infinite number of points on a line is
smaller than the infinite number of points on a plane, for example. So how does
his proof work, that there were a finite number of people from Noach to Moshe so
therefore the total number of all people ever was finite? Why is that true?

You can have a theoretical, imaginary infinity, such as the set of all numbers - which represents the idea that you can always add more numbers to whatever amount of them you already have. But you can never reach that amount called "infinity" (since you can always add more), and therefore, we conclude that any quantity of measurable things that you have already reached, in real life, cannot be infinity. Because you can always add more to whatever quantity you already have. In other words, you cannot have, in real life, an already accumulated infinite quantity of any measurable, finite, things. That includes grains of sand, or moments in the time stream.
The set of numbers is infinite because it represents a progression that can never be completed. But if a progression of numbers WAS completed, it is not infinite.

You can say that the set of numbers never ends, meaning, no matter how many numbers you’re going to add to that set, you can always add some more. It is the process of adding to the set that never ends. But that means that if you finished adding numbers to the set, then you do NOT have infinity, since infinity here means that you can never finish adding.

The set of infinite numbers represents infinity, but in real life, you can never have that quantity of anything by simply adding more and more until you reach that point that we call infinity - that point is never reached.

Therefore, infinity can exist in the sense that a certain concept or progression WILL never end, but if the progression ended, then it cannot be infinity.

So if you take grains of sand, for instance, you can never have an infinite number of them in real life, because no matter how many you pile up, there can always be more added.

You could, however, make a set of {an infinite amount of sand grains} because that set represents a theoretical number. But in real life, if you have a pile of sand, no matter how big it is, it does NOT contain an infinite amount of particles.

Therefore, you can never have in real life, an infinite quantity of anything. Since any quantity of finite things means a completion of the group of things in that quantity, it cannot be infinite.
Same thing with time. You can say, in theory, that time will never end, meaning, no matter how much time has progressed in the past, you can always add more, all the way into the future with no end in sight.

But you can never finish an infinite amount of time, and that means that you cannot have had an infinite amount of time in the past, since that would mean, as of yesterday or today, an infinite amount of time has ALREADY passed. That can't be. It would mean that an infinite amount of time has already been compiled. And that’s impossible since at you can always add more time to whatever has already occurred. At what point are you going to stop the compilation of time and say "Okay - we have an infinite quantity of moments here."?

In any case, when we talk about an infinite amount of "points" we means points that do not actually take up any measurable space in terms of inches or fractions thereof. And that’s exactly what the Chovos Halevovos means: If you have an infinite amount of things already here, then you cannot measure by any yardstick each of those things individually. Like the points between 2 spaces. And when I say they cannot be measured, I mean they too are infinite - i.e. they can be infinitely divided over and over again. Because they do not take up physical space. Or time.

In short: You cannot have already accumulated an infinite amount of finite things.

So there’s 2 types of infinity - (a) infinity "on paper", where you deal with the "fact" that things can theoretically be endlessly added (such as the set of numbers) or endlessly divided (like points between spaces), and (b) real life infinity - where an infinite progression has HAPPENED already, or an infinite amount of divisions has ALREADY taken place.

If the past was infinite it would have to be type (b) infinity; the future can be type (a). Type B cannot exist in real life. Since infinity/X=infinity, each divided part of the infinite set must also be infinite - and that's not going to happen.

What Is Hashem

Since nothing makes Hashem, Hashem, He cannot have a real definition in the strict sense of the word. A definition explains what makes the thing being defined, that thing. Like if I give you the definition of a table, I will tell you it has legs and a base and it is designed to have things placed on it. So the definition of table is a list of the things that makes it a "table."

If I ask you the definition of yourself I mean to ask what makes you you.

And if you ask me what is the definition of Hashem you are asking what makes Hashem, Hashem.
But since G-d has no things that make Him, Him, therefore, He cannot have a definition.

The most important thing we can know about Hashem is that He is causeless.
This means that, whereas everything in the world has a cause, a reason for why it is the way it is, Hashem has no such cause. Nothing made Hashem the way He is, there are no reasons for why Hashem is the way He is, there is nothing out there that caused Hashem, or makes Hashem, Hashem.

If I ask what makes you you, you will give me a list of things. If I ask what makes me, me -- same thing. But when we ask what makes Hashem Hashem, there is no answer.

All the components, reasons, and things that you think make up "Hashem" are really not so at all. You may think you can say that what makes Hashem Hashem is His "infinite power", "infinite wisdom", etc., but that is not correct.

This is the second thing we know about Hashem, and it is really not a second thing but an offshoot of the first (His having no cause), and that is His simplicity.

This means that indeed, there are no "components" that makes Hashem Hashem, because when we say that Hashem has infinite strength, wisdom and goodness, to mention just three, we do not mean that literally, any more than we mean "G-d let the Jews out of Egypt with an outstretched hand" literally.

Just as G-d has no hand, so too He has no strength, no wisdom and no goodness. He has no components. If He would have components, those components would be the cause of Him, and He has no cause.

G-d has no strength because He doesn’t NEED strength; no wisdom because He has no need for wisdom; no goodness because He has no need for it.

Strength is only necessary when there is something for you to pit your strength against. If someone can lift 400 pounds it means he can overcome 400 pounds of resistance.

If nothing resists Hashem, then what’s the point of strength?

Wisdom is a way to figure out things; knowledge is the thing that you use to overcome ignorance.
G-d doesn’t need any of these things. Indeed, He CANNOT have them; they make no sense in the context of Hashem.

G-d is not ignorant even though He has none of what we call "knowledge" - He doesn’t need it. He is not weak even though He has none of what we call "strength".

Which brings us to the third thing we know about G-d - which is really the next logical step of the first two - and that is, Hashem Echad! G-d is One. This does not only mean that Hashem is not two, but also that He is not two halves, that Hashem has no components. He is Whole - indivisible. Non-composite. Not made up of any ingredients or elements - not strength, not wisdom, not knowledge, not goodness, not even form or substance.

Hashem is something that cannot be divided into parts. Something uncomposed of other things. Something with no cause, and therefore no definition.

That’s what it means: Hashem Echad.

We know things with our knowledge; we do things with our strength; we memorize things with our memory, etc. G-d "knows" things and "does" things and "memorizes" things with the SAME mechanism: Him.

Not His this or His that. He has no this or that. If He did, they would be components, and then having those components would be His cause, which is false, since He cannot have a cause.
G-d "has" nothing - no parts, no abilities, nothing. He doesn’t "have"; He only "is." The mechanism by which G-d knows, and does, and gives, and makes, is Him. His essence. Not His talents or His strengths.

G-d and His knowledge and His strength therefore are One and the same.
Hashem Echad.

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Hashem cannot become a man. Because if He does, then He's not Hashem anymore. To explain, let's say someone is asked: "Can Hashem blow His nose?"

"No!", he will answer. "Hashem has no nose"

Then he is told that just like Hashem cannot scratch his nose, (even though Hashem can do "everything") because only people can scratch their noses and Hashem is not a person, so too He cannot become a "man" because then he would not be Hashem.

Becoming a man would reduce Hashem's capabilities, make Him weaker, and it is not a strength to be able to make yourself weak, nor an "ability" to be able to make yourself disabled. On the contrary - an inability to disable yourself makes you more "able".

So Hashem not being able to disable Himself is not a disability. On the contrary, it means He is immune to disability.

Even more precisely, consider asking someone the following question:

"Can Hashem make a "mlxplk"?"

"A what"?

"A mlxplk. Can Hashem make it?"

"There's no such thing," he will say. "You made that up."

"True, there is no such thing. So can Hashem make it?" you ask.

"Of course not!" he'll say. "There's no such thing how can Hashem make it?"

"Aha! So you admit there's something Hashem can't do!"

"No, you're crazy! There's no such thing. It's not a 'thing' that Hashem can't do, there's nothing for Him to do! The whole thing makes no sense", he will say.

So it's the same thing when you ask can Hashem make Himself a man. 'G-d as a man' is just words, but it makes no sense as a concept. It's an oxymoron. Its like 'danger without peril', Can G-d do that? Of course not! There's nothing to do! So too, to say 'Hashem being a man', equally makes no sense. There's nothing to do. The words sounds like words, but it makes no sense."

The same applies, by the way, to "can Hashem make a rock too heavy for Him to lift". It's an oxymoron. It's like saying "can G-d make a mlxplk?"

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The First Cause

There is a law of physics called "causation." It means, in a nutshell, that everything in the world must a cause. Even accidents have reasons why they ended up the way they did. If someone throws the dice and they land on 9, there were reasons why that happened. The force of the throw, the angle, etc. There is a reason for everything.

And there are reasons for the reasons, too. And reasons for those reasons. Nothing happens without a cause.

Now we have a question: If everything has a cause, and the causes also have a cause, and the causes of the cause also have a cause, etc – are the amount of causes in the chain of causes going all the way back infinite or finite?

Finite. Because it would be impossible that there were an infinite chain of causes without a beginning, for, as we learned, an infinite amount of things cannot happen - infinity is not the "biggest number"; rather, it is a number that can never be reached. Therefore, you can never have an infinite number of anything in this world.

And if so, if we cannot have a chain of causes without any beginning, there had to be a beginning - a First Cause, which itself had no cause at all.

This means, that this first cause has no reason or reasons for why it is; nothing created it, nothing makes it what it is. This First Cause is what we refer to as “Hashem”.

Infinity I

Take a six-inch spoon, and divide it in half. Now divide those halves in half. Keep dividing it over and over again. How many pieces can you divide it into?
Infinity, right? OK, now take a football field, and divide it into half, and then again in half, and again and again. How many pieces can you divide it into?
Infinity, right? This means that a spoon and a football field are comprised of the same amount of points: Infinity. And that makes no sense.
If A/B=C, then C*B=A. So if 6 inches divided infinitely equals an infinite amount of pieces, that means that if you take an infinite amount of pieces and line them up side by side, you'll get a 6 inch spoon. But you'll also get a football field.
The answer to this is that infinity is not a large number, which you can reach if you count a long time. Infinity is unreachable. Therefore, no matter how long you chop up that football field, or that spoon, the number of pieces you have will always be finite. You can keep chopping them in half forever, but no matter how long you chop, you will never get an "infinite" amount of pieces.
You can never reach infinity.

Another cute illustration of this is the case of the hotel with an infinite amount of rooms, fully occupied. Someone comes to the hotel and asks the receptionist for a room. She says there are no rooms, the hotel is fully occupied. The customer then says "I have an idea. Since you have an infinite amount of rooms, and infinity plus 1 is also infinity, all you have to do is move the occupant of room number 1 to room number 2, then move the person in room number 2 to room number 3, etc, ad inifinitum, and then room 1 will be empty!" And you can keep doing that endlessly. In other words, a hotel with an infinite amount of rooms, all occupied, also has an infinite amount of vacancies?! The answer is that it is impossible for a hotel to have an infinite amount of rooms. Infinity cannot be reached, it cannot be contained, it cannot be collected - it is unreachable. Thus, if you have already collected it, reached it, or stored it, it cannot be infinity. You may say that infinity exists as potential, but not as actual.
So now the question is: The amount of seconds that have already happened from the beginning of time until now – are they infinite or finite?
Finite. Because you can’t have already reached an infinite amount of seconds.Time can go on and on forever, meaning, it may never end, but you will never reach an infinite amount of time-moments. That is not possible. And so, the past must be finite. And if the amount of time in the past is finite that means it had a beginning. Which means it had to have a cause that made it begin, since nothing can start itself. And that cause had to exist outside of time, obviously, because if it caused time that means it has to be able to exist without time. Because it caused time to come into existence. And if it exists beyond time, it exists beyond space because all space exists within time.
And if it exists beyond time, it cannot ever change, since change means before and after, which is the result of time.And since it cannot change, it can never disappear; never die; never get weaker, stronger, angrier, wiser, or different in any way. This entity that caused time and space --- this is what we refer to as “Hashem”.