13. One God
The Attraction of Pluralism
It is strange that modern students of religion fail to realize the
constant necessity for the protest against polytheism. The idea
of unity is not only one upon which the ultimate justification
of philosophical, ethical and religious universalism depends, but
also one which is still beyond the grasp of most people. Mon-
oteism, to this day, is at variance with vulgar thinking; it
is something against which popular instinct continues to rebel.
Polytheism seems to be more compatible with emotional
moods and imagination than uncompromising monotheism,
and great poets have often felt drawn to pagan gods. The
world over, polytheism exercises an almost hypnotic appeal,
stirring up powerful, latent yearnings for pagan forms; for it
is obviously easier to an average mind to worship under poly-
theistic than under monotheistic thought.
Yet, while popular and even poetic imagination is fascinated
by a vision of ultimate pluralism, metaphysical thought as well
as scientific reflection is drawn to the concept of unity.
Unity as a Goal
It is impossible to ignore that patent fact that unity is that which
the uninterrupted advance of knowledge and experience leads
us to, whether or not we are consciously striving for it. In our
own age we have been forced into the realization that, in terms
of human relations, there will be either one world or no world.
But political and moral unity as a goal presupposes unity as a
source; the brotherhood of humanity would be an empty dream
without the oneness of God.
Eternity is another word for unity. In it, past and future are
not apart; here is everywhere, and now goes on forever. The
opposite of eternity is diffusion not time. Eternity does not
begin when time is at its end. Time is eternity broken in space,
like a ray of light refracted in the water.
The vision of the unbroken ray above the water, the crav-
ing for unity and coherence, is the predominant feature of a
mature mind. All science all philosophy, all art are a search
after it. But unity is a task, not a condition. The world lies in
strife, in discord, in divergence. We are all animated by a passionate
will to endure; and to endure means to be one.
The world is not one with God, and this is why Its power
does not surge unhampered throughout all stages of being.
Creature is detached from the Creator, and the universe is in
a state of spiritual disorder. Yet God has not withdrawn entire-
ly from this world. The spirit of this unity hovers over the face
of all plurality, and the major trend of all our thinking and
striving is its mighty intimation. The goal of all efforts is to
bring about the restitution of the unity of God and world. The
restoration of that unity is a constant process and its accom-
plishment will be the essence of Messianic redemption.
No Denial of Plurality
Xenophanes, looking at the universe, said: "All is One." Par-
menides, in taking the one seriously, was bound to deny the
reality of everything else. Moses, however, did not say: "All is
one," but: "God is one." Within the world there is the stub-
born fact of plurality, divergence and conflict: "See, I have set
before thee this day life and good, death and evil." (Deuter-
onomy 30:15). But God is the origin of all:
I am the Lord, and there is none else;
Beside me there is no God...
I am the Lord, and there is none else;
I form the light, and create darkness;
I make peace, and create evil;
I am the Lord, that doeth all these things.
(Isaiah 45:5-7)
Whither Shall I Go...
The vision of the One, upon which we stake our effort and
our ultimate hope, is not to be found in contemplations about
nature or history. It is a vision of God who transcends the
scenes of both, subdued yet present everywhere, giving us the
power to aid in bringing about ultimate unification.
Whither shall I go from Thy spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend up into Heaven, Thou art there;
If I make my bed in the netherworld, behold, Thou art there...
And if I say: "Surely the darkness shall envelop me,
And the Light about me shall be night
Even the darkness is not too dark for Thee...
(Psalms 139:8-11)
Mythopoeic thought is drawn to the beauty of the sparkling
waves, their relentless surge and tantalizing rhythm. Abiding
in the fragment, it accepts the instrumental as the final, it has
an image, an expression that corresponds to its experience. In
contrast, they who take the ineffable seriously are not infatuated
with the fraction. To their mind there is no power in the world
which could bear the air of divinity.
Nothing we can count, divide or surpass—a fraction or plu-
rality—can be taken as the ultimate. Beyond two is one. Plu-
rality is incompatible with the sense of the ineffable. You can-
not ask in regard to the divine: Which one? There is only one
synonym for God: One.
To the speculative mind the oneness of God is an idea in-
ferred from the idea of the ultimate perfection of God; to the
sense of the ineffable the oneness of God is self-evident.
Hear, O Israel
Nothing in Jewish life is more hallowed than the saying of the
Shema: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."
All over the world "the people acclaim Its Oneness evening
and morning, twice every day, and with tender affection re-
cite the Shema" (Kedusha of Musaf on the Shabbath). The
voice that calls: "Hear, It is one,"is recalled, revived. It is
the climax of devotion at the close of the Day of Atonement. It
is the last word to come from the lips of the dying Jew and
from the lips of those who are present at that moment.
Yet, ask an average Jew what the adjective "one" means,
and they will tell you its negative meaning—it denies the existence
of many deities. But is such a negation worth the price of mar-
tyrdom which Israel was so often willing to pay for it? Is there
no positive content in it to justify the unsurpassed dignity
which the idea of One God has attained in Jewish history?
Furthermore, doubts have been raised whether the term "one"
is at all meaningful when applied to God. For how can we
designate It by a number? A number is one of a series of
symbols used in arranging quantities, in order to set them in
a relation to one another. Since God is not in time or space,
not a part of a series, "the term 'one' is just as inapplicable to
God as the term 'many'; for both unity and plurality are cate-
gories of quantity, and are, therefore, as inapplicable to God
as crooked and straight in reference to sweetness, or salted and
insipid in reference to a voice." (Maimonides, The Guide of the
Perplexed. I. 57)
The boldness of coming out against all deities, against the
sanctities of all nations, had more behind it than the abstrac-
tion: "One not many." Behind that revolutionary statement:
"All the gods of the nations are vanities," was a new insight in-
to the relation of the divine to nature: "but It made the heav-
ens" (Psalms 96: 5) In paganism the deity was part of a na-
ture, and worship as an element in a person's relation to nature.
A human and their deities were both subjects of nature. Monotheism
in teaching that God is the Creator, that nature and humans are
both fellow-creatures of God, redeemed humanity from exclusive
allegiance to nature. The earth is our sister, not our mother.
The young lions roar after their prey,
And seek their food from God...
Living creatures, both small and great...
All of them wait for Thee,
That thou mayst give them their food in due season.
(Psalms 104:21, 25, 27)
The heavens are not God, they are Its witnesses: they de-
clare Its glory.
One Means Unique
One, in the meaning of "One, not many," is but the beginning
of a series of meanings. Its metaphysical incongruousness with
the spiritual idea of God notwithstanding, it stands forever
like a barrier to prevent the flow of polytheistic nonsense that
always threatens to devastate the minds of people. Yet the true
meaning of divine unity is not in Its being one in a series, one
among others. Monotheism was not attained by means of nu-
merical reduction, by bringing down the multitude of deities
to the smallest possible number. One means unique.
The minimum of knowledge is the knowledge of God's
uniqueness. Its being unique is an aspect of Its being in-
effable.
To say God is more than the universe would be like saying
that eternity is more than a day.
Of this I am sure: God's essence is different from all I am able
to know or say. God is not only superior, God is incomparable.
There is no equivalent of the divine. God is not "an aspect of nature,"
not an additional reality, existing along with this
world, but a reality that is over and above the universe.
God is One, and there is no other
To compare to God, to place beside God.
(Yigdal)
With whom will ye compare Me
That I should be similar?
Saith the Holy One.
(Isaiah 40:15)
The Creator cannot be likened to what the Creator created:
Lift up your eyes on high,
And see! who hath created these!
(Isaiah 40:16)
One Means Only
God is one means God alone is truly real. One means exclusively,
no one else, no one besides, alone, only. In I Kings 4:19, as well
as in other biblical passages, ehad means "only." Significantly,
the etymology of the English word "only" is one-ly.
"What are we? What is our life? What is our goodness?
What our righteousness? What our helpfulness? What our
strength? What our might? What can we say in Thy presence,
Lord our God and God of our people? Indeed, all the heroes
are as nothing before Thee, the people of renown as though they
never existed, the wise as if they were without knowledge, the
intelligent as though they lacked understanding, for most of
their doings are worthless, and the days of their life are vain in
Thy sight." (Morning Service)
God is One; God alone is real. "All the nations are as nothing
before God; they are accounted by God as things of nought,
and vanity." (Isaiah 40:17)
"For we must needs die, and as water spilt on the ground
which cannot be gathered up again." (II Samuel 14:14)
One Means the Same
The speculative mind can only formulate isolated questions,
asking at times: What is the origin of all being? and at other
times: What is the meaning of existence? To the sense of the
ineffable there is only one question,extending beyond all cate-
gories of expression, aspects of which are reflected in such
questions as: Who created the world? Who rules the history
of humanity? And Israel's answer is: One God. One denotes inner
unity: God's law is mercy; God's mercy is law.
"One" in this sense signifies "the same." This is the true
meaning of "God is One." God is a being who is both beyond
and here, both in nature and in history, both love and power,
near and far, known and unknown, God and Eternal. The
true concept of unity is attained only in knowing that there is
one being who is both Creator and Redeemer; "I am the Lord,
thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt." (Exodus
10:2). It is this declaration of the sameness, of the identity of
the Creator and the Redeemer, with which the Decalogue be
gins.
They depicted Thee in countless visions;
Despite all comparisons Thou art One.
(The Hymn of Glory)
God is only a single way: God's power is God's love, God's justice
is God's mercy. What is divergent to us is one in God. This is a
thought to which we may apply the words of Gabirol:
Thou art One
And none can penetrate...
The mystery of Thy unfathomable unity...
(Ibn Gabirol Keter Malhus)
Good and Evil
Moral sentiments do not originate in reason as such. A most
learned person may be wicked, while a plain unlettered person may
be righteous. Moral sentiments originate in a person's sense of
unity, in their appreciation of what is common to all people. Perhaps
the most fundamental statement of ethics is contained in the
words of the last prophet of Israel: "Have we not all one
God? Has not one God made us? Then why do we break
faith with one another, every human with their fellow human, by dis-
honoring our time-honored troth?" (Malachi 2:10) The
ultimate principle of ethics is not an imperative but an onto-
logical fact. While it is true that what distinguishes a moral at-
titude is the consciousness of obligation to do it, yet an act is
not good because we feel obliged to do it; it is rather that we
feel obliged to do it because it is good.
The essence of a moral value is neither in its being valid in-
dependent of our will nor in its claim that it ought to be done
for its own sake. These characteristics refer only to our atti-
tude to such values rather than to their essence. They, further-
more, express an aspect that applies to logical or esthetic values
as well.
Seen from God, the good is identical with life and organic
to the world, wickedness is a disease, and evil identical with
death. For evil is divergence,confusion, that which alienates
a human from human, a human from God, while good is convergence, to-
getherness, union. Good and evil are not qualities of the mind
but relations within reality. Evil is division, contest, lack of
unity, and as the unity of all being is prior to the plurality of
things, so is the good prior to evil.
Good and evil persist regardless of whether or not we pay
attention to them. We are not born into a vacuum, but stand,
nolens volens, in relations to all humans and to one God. Just as
we do not create the dimensions of space in order to construct
geometrical figures, so we do not create the moral and the
spiritual relations; they are given with existence. All we do is
try to find our way in them. The good does not begin in the
consciousness of a human. It is being realized in the natural co-op-
eration of all beings, in what they are for each other.
Neither stars nor stones, neither atoms nor waves, but their
belonging together, their interaction, the relation of all things
to one another constitutes the universe. No cell could exist
alone, all bodies are interdependent, affect and serve one an-
other. Figuratively speaking, even rocks bear fruit, are full
of unappreciated kindness, when their strength holds up a wall.
God is All Everywhere
Rabbi Moshe of Kobrin said once to his disciples: "Do you
want to know where God is?" He took a piece of bread from
the table, showed it to everybody and said "Here is God."
In saying God is everywhere, we do not intend to say God is
like the air, the parts of which are found in countless places.
One in a metaphysical sense means wholeness, indivisibility.
God is not partly here and partly there; God is all here and all
there.
Lord, where shall I find thee?
High and hidden is Thy place;
And where shall I not find thee?
The world is full of thy glory.
(Jehudah Halevi)
"Can any hide themselves in secret places that I shall not see
them? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
Lord?" (Jeremiah 23:24)
God is within all things, not only in the life of a human.
"Why did God speak to Moses from the thornbush" was a question
a pagan asked of a rabbi. To the pagan mind God should have
appeared upon a lofty mountain or in the majesty of a thunder-
storm. And the rabbi answered: "To teach you that there is no
place on earth where the Shechinah is not, not even a humble
thornbush" (Exodus Rabba 2:9) Just as the soul fills the body,
so God fills the world. Just as the soul carries the body so God
carries the world.
The natural and the supernatural are not two different
spheres, detached from one another as heaven from earth. God
is not beyond but right here; not only close to my thoughts
but also to my body. This is why a person is taught to be aware of
God's presence, not only by prayer, study and meditation but
also in God's physical demeanor, by how and what to eat and
drink, by keeping the body free from whatever sullies and
defiles.
"An idol is near and far; God is far and near" (Deuteronomy
Rabba 2:6) "God is far, and yet nothing is closer than God."
"God is near with every kind of nearness" (Jerushalmi Bera-
chot 132)
It is God's otherness, ineffable and immediate as the air we
breathe and do not see, which enables us to sense God's distant
nearness. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy
place, with those also that are of a contrite and humble spirit, to
revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones" (Isaiah 57:15)
Unity is Concern
Unity of God is power for unity of God with all things. God
is one in Itself and striving to be one with the world. Rabbi
Samuel ben Ammi remarked that the Biblical narrative of cre-
ation proclaims: "One day...a second day... a third
day," and so on. If it is a matter of time reckoning; we would ex-
pect the Bible to say: "One day...two days...three
days" or "The first day...the second day...the third
day," but surely not one, second, third!
Yom ehad, one, day, really means the day which God de-
sired to be one with humanity. "From the beginning of creation
the Holy One, blessed be God, longed to enter into partnership
with the terrestrial world." (Genesis Rabba ch. 3,9) The unity of
God is a concern for the unity of the world.