Message From The Rabbi

Rabbi Spike Anderson

One of the theological assumptions is that God is everywhere. 

However, our rabbis saw in this statement an inherent contradiction.  If God is everywhere, how can the world, human beings, and even ‘evil’ exist?

The Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (who lived in Safed in the mid 1500’s, and is credited for writing our Shabbat L’cha Dodi prayer) came up with an answer that has permeated Jewish thought.

The idea of ‘tzimtzum’ connotes an intentional withdrawal or contraction of God to make room for everything that is not God in the world (and the world itself) to exist… including human beings and our inherent free will to choose.

The metaphor sometimes used for for tzimtzum is a vast ocean (God) that recedes with the tide to expose an island of dry land.  In this example, the ocean surrounds the island, and it is still the dominant feature.

However, the rabbinic tradition has another way of looking at the concept of Divine tzimtzum, and thus God’s place in the world, which comes from the book of Exodus (25:2,8).  When instructing our ancestors to make a traveling tabernacle (mishkan), God promises us that if and when it is completed exactly right (materials, design, implementation, and everyone helps), then “I will dwell among them.” 

Our midrash (Exodus Rabba 34:1) gives voice to our theological question and adds to it the question of how and why God would choose to contract to fill only a limited space or place.  “When God said to Moses, ‘Let them make Me a Sanctuary,’ Moses responded, ‘Master of the Universe, the highest heavens cannot contain You, and yet You say, ‘Let them make Me a sanctuary!”  God replies to Moses with an explanation, “Moses…I will descend and contract My presence among you below.”    For our sages, this use of tzimtzum explains that God can and will contain God’s self in a specific place for a specific purpose.   The metaphor here is not of an ocean yielding an island, but rather of a small pond surrounded by a vast desert. 

I really appreciate the juxtaposition of these two images of God, and Divine tzimtzum.  The differences are subtle, but if we look closely, they are profound.

Take a moment, if you would, and sit with each of these two metaphors.  Which one speaks to you most at this moment...as an individual… as a Jew… as a human being in the world?

Which of the two images, God as ocean contrasted with an island or God as a small pond surrounded by a vast desert do you feel like you need right now?

And where does Temple Emanu-El fit into each of these metaphors for you?

I would invite you to share your thoughts on this with me (Sandeson@TEatlanta.org) as we move through the month of Elul, and soon into the High Holidays.

B’shalom,

Rabbi Spike