Questions for today:
We intuitively ascribe infinite creative abilities to the Creator. Do we also accept that the Creator can be finite?
We are trying to understand a deep paradox.
Individual thoughts are not perceivable when they're in the subconscious intellect, and rays of sunlight are invisible when they're in their source inside the sun.
With that in mind, we are trying to comprehend how there is a distinguished and defined world even though the source, the Creator, is everywhere.
To understand how a defined world can exist even while its source, a singular Creator, is present, we visit some basic understandings of G-d.
There is a verse that says, “Shemesh Umagen Hashem Elokim,” the divine names of Hashem and Elokim act like the sun, and a shield.
We're not talking about a warrior going around with the sun in one hand and the shield in the other, as another verse says, “if you take the shield away, the world will be destroyed.”
From this we see that the ‘sun’ and the ‘shield’ are working in tandem, the sun is giving energy and the shield is making it viable.
Other words we use to describe the same divine capacity are, “gedulah,” greatness, and “gevurah,” strength.
Gedulah, greatness, is the infinite divine capacity to create the world “something from nothing.” Gevurah, strength, is the Divine capacity to limit the perception of that G-dliness so that it becomes palatable.
Tanya book 2, Ch 4, Pt 1
We discussed To understand how a defined world can exist even while its source, a singular Creator, is present, we visit some basic understandings of G-d.
A verse teaches us that the name we refer to when we say "Hashem" and the name "elokim" express divinity that can be compared to the sun and its shield.
The four letter name implies the infinite creative ability to bring reality from nothing (the "sun", elsewhere referred to as "greatness")
The name elokim refers to the the divine power to filter this infinite revelation, to create a perception of limitation. (The "shield", elsewhere referred to as "strength")
Study today’s Tanya in full:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=2/2/2022 ?????
See today’s video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC0D1zgIBo&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSC7FvXJfcTF6vOdJEAABrJ&index=9