Dual Approach

The Torah sometimes describes to God in human terms - such as having human features, like “eyes”, or human sensations, like enjoying pleasing fragrances. These human like descriptions are called is academic English, “Anthropomorphisms”.

The word anthropomorphism means ascribing human traits, character, thinking, emotions and behaviors to a non-human entity. Since God is indivisible and invisible, there is no way to describe Him to a human being. So, anthropomorphic descriptions serve as a kind of shorthand to ease communication about God for human ears.

Traditionally there are two approaches to understand the Torah’s system of anthropomorphic language. One is the Maimonidean approach. The other is a Kabbalistic approach.

To the Maimonides all such descriptions are strictly metaphors which mean that God has all the abilities humans have (plus Infinitely more), but without needing to resort to a body or any other form. Accordingly, a statement that “God sees” means that He’s aware, as one endowed with eyes would be (and Infinitely more so). So, it’s not that He has “eyes”. Rather, He has an awareness that humans would rely on eyes to gather. The same notion applies to the statement, “God hears” or any other similar statement.

The Kabbalistic approach employs a different take. The human styled descriptions of God in the Torah are assigned to the spiritual realms and not to God Himself.

The spiritual realms are a long chain of realms or worlds which span between God’s Infinite Light and the physical universe. Spiritual light pass through these realms on their way down to the physical realm. As this light threads through each realm, it grants life to the structure of the realm and to all of its inhabitants - serving as a soul.  Along the chain, these multiple realms successively filter and weaken the light, so that it’s suitable for the next realm down. The process continues and repeats until the light reaches our physical universe, lodged at the very bottom of the chain.

So, for example, God has “eyes”. He really “possesses” them! They just happen to have a differentiated presence in the spiritual realms and not directly in His Being. Roughly speaking, it’s like the difference between having brains and money. Though one possesses both, brains are in one’s person and money’s in the bank account.

Since the Kabbalistic approach focuses on the spiritual realms and not on God Himself, it allows for more flexibility of interpretation. It becomes much less problematic to say that such human styled descriptions edge closer to being literal. Though such descriptions are not nearly as literal as they sound, they do not need to be immediately swept away as strictly metaphoric either.  

There are actual forces distributed throughout the spiritual realms which behave as parallels to human thoughts, feelings, organs, sensations and actions. Think of the way genes parallel organs or TV waves parallel the picture they’ll present on screen. The human gene which gives rise to the eye does not look like a tiny “eye”. Similarly, the TV wave affecting a picture on a tree on a screen does not already look like a tree of sorts. Similarly and even more so, the spiritual forces which serve as God’s “eyes” do not look like ghosted eyes, or the like. They are precursors which carry from their realms elements necessary to formulate a desired manifestation in physical realm.

God set up these forces to be interactive with human behavior. For example, if a human looks kindly on others and behaves in a more giving way, the “eyes above” are awakened and the person may experience a greater level of supervision by God. Plus, the “hand of kindness” above is also awakened the person may experience kind turns of events.

Truthfully, both the Maimonidean and Kabbalistic approaches co-exist and happen in concert. They absolutely reconcile. The Maimonidean approach is addressing God’s Being, while the Kabbalistic approach is addressing the manifestation of His light within the zone of His creation - be it spiritual or physical.

So, while these forces in spiritual realms are activated another dynamic also occurs; namely, God is aware and behaves in ways that humans rely on organs for. For example, while the “eyes” of the spiritual realms are roused awake, God is also absolutely aware in a way that one endowed with sight would be (and Infinitely more so) - independently of what occurs in the spiritual realms. He does not need a series of spiritual realms to filter or process experiences for him. Also, He could have chosen to relate to humanity without the whole interface of spiritual realms. Though Kabbalah offers reasons why He chose such an interface, Kabbalah also teaches that He is not at all bound by such a choice and can override it at will.  

(To be clear an interface is not an intermediary. An interface is a means which facilitates direct interaction between two entities – like a phone line. An intermediary is a third party who serves as an indirect means of interaction between two parties – such as diplomat, broker, attorney or bureaucrat.)

This reconciliation can serve as one of the probably many examples where Medieval Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah can work together in absolute harmony. If examined with the right set of eyes, each brings along its piece of puzzle to complete the picture. Such harmony of complementary ideas shouldn’t be surprising, as both streams of thought are Torah.

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