Va'etchanan: There Is Nothing But Him

This week’s Torah reading contains two verses whose focus is our faith in G‑d’s unity and the knowledge that “G‑d (Havayah) is the L‑rd (Elokim)”:5 “You were shown [the revelations at Sinai] so that you will know that G‑d is the L‑rd; there is nothing aside from Him,”6 and “Know this day and take it to your heart that G‑d is the L‑rd in the heavens above and upon the earth below, there is nothing else.”7

The first verse states that “G‑d is the L‑rd” without further elaboration, while the second verse adds details: “G‑d is the L‑rd in the heavens above and upon the earth below.”

Simply put, the difference between these two verses can be explained as follows:8

According to the straightforward interpretation, the first verse, “You were shown so that you will know,” speaks about the revelation to the Jews at the Giving of the Torah. At that time, G‑d revealed Himself to the Jewish people and “they saw that He is the only one.”9 The Jewish people saw His absolute oneness, as He perceives it. From that standpoint, there is no difference between heaven and earth, for in relation to His absolute oneness, all existence is equally inconsequential. Therefore, it would be inappropriate for the verse to specify that His oneness exists “in the heavens above and upon the earth below.”

By contrast, “Know this day and take it to your heart” is a commandment to man.10 He is charged with laboring to understand, to know – and take to heart – “that G‑d is the L‑rd.” Thus, this verse is speaking about knowledge and awareness of G‑d’s unity that stems from man’s intellectual labor and from man’s perspective, there is a difference between heaven and earth. From that standpoint, recognizing the expression of His oneness in all the many individual levels of existence “in the heavens above and upon the earth below” involves distinctly different dimensions of knowledge.

These distinctions are reflected in the comment of the Midrash11 on the verse, “Know this day:

Yisro attributed substance to false deities, saying,12 “Now I know that G‑d is greater than all other gods.” [The implication is that they are (also) great, however He is greater than they (Matnos Kehunah).]

Naaman acknowledged [G‑d’s oneness] to a certain extent, saying,13 “Behold, I have come to the awareness that there is no G‑d on earth, other than [the G‑d] of Israel.” [Thus, he acknowledged [G‑d’s uniqueness] on earth, but not in heaven (Matnos Kehunah). ]

Rachav placed Him in [both] heaven and earth, saying,14 “G‑d your L‑rd is the L‑rd in the heavens above and upon the earth below.” [She acknowledged G‑d’s presence not only on earth, but also in the heavens, “which are not apparent to your eyes.”15 However, she made no mention of G‑d’s presence in the empty space [where] the world – both heaven and earth – exists.16 ]

Moshe placed Him even in the empty space [where] the world [exists], saying, “that G‑d is the L‑rd in the heavens above and upon the earth below, there is nothing else.” What is meant by “there is nothing else?” [G‑d is the L‑rd] even in the empty space [where] the world [exists].

In other words, the knowledge that “G‑d is the L‑rd” – which comes through man’s effort and comprehension – is divided into three general categories, a) “in the heavens above,” b) “upon the earth below,” and c) “there is nothing else,” i.e., “even in the empty space [where] the world [exists].”

Clarification is nevertheless necessary: Since the Torah of truth mentions three dimensions within the mitzvah of knowing G‑d’s unity, it can be understood that these three different dimensions of knowledge exist not merely to clear up any misconceptions that might occur because of man’s lack of understanding or inherent intellectual limitations. Instead, these three different dimensions are mentioned to show that, in truth, there exist differences with regard to a person’s appreciation that “G‑d is the L‑rd” as He is manifest in the heavens, the earth, and the empty space where the world exists. When a person “knows G‑d,” i.e., he contemplates G‑dliness and attains a knowledge of Him based on genuine understanding, each of the three dimensions of knowledge provides a novel contribution.

Thus, we must understand: a) What is the intellectual basis to suppose that “G‑d is the L‑rd” applies only “in the heavens above,” b) for which reason is it necessary to explicitly state “upon the earth below” and, c) furthermore, why add a third novel point that “there is nothing else,” i.e., “even in the empty space [where] the world [exists]”?

On the surface, an answer could be given based on the well-known17 interpretation of the verse,18 “G‑d is exalted above all nations,” that the nations of the world assume that “G‑d abandoned the earth.”19 Their reasoning is that they conceive of G‑d as being exalted in nature, so exalted that, according to their understanding, it is a belittlement of Him to involve Himself with created beings on this lowly earth. For this reason, as this erroneous logic goes, He entrusted the control and dominion20 of the entities of the earth to the stars and the mazalos.21 Therefore, it is necessary for the verse to command the Jews to “know… that G‑d is the L‑rd” – not only “in the heavens above,” but “upon the earth below, there is nothing else” – in fact, G‑d also rules over the earth and all material entities.22

However, the Alter Rebbe23 offers a different interpretation. He does not read the verse, “Know… that G‑d is the L‑rd… upon the earth below,” as intending to negate the conceptual error mentioned above – that “G‑d abandoned the earth.” Instead, its purpose is to negate the mistaken understanding that there is “a deity that exists in the water below the earth.” In other words, one might think that, aside from G‑d, there is also a deity that a) exists and b) his location is “in the water below the earth,” i.e., in the actual water in our world. This would imply the verse should be read not “on the earth” but “in the earth.”24

It could be said that the logical basis that compelled such an interpretation is as follows: The command, “Know…,” continues the theme of the previous verses, describing the revelations at the time of the Giving of the Torah, about which it is said, “You were shown so that you will know that G‑d is the L‑rd.” The verse is clarifying that man should not deify the type of entities which the Torah previously warned against serving. Thus, it is written,25 “Lest you become debased and make for yourselves a graven image… the likeness of any beast that is upon the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heaven, or… the likeness of any fish that is in the waters below the earth.” From this, we can understand that the verse which follows shortly afterwards, “Know… that G‑d is the L‑rd… upon the earth below,” is coming to negate that very supposition – to teach that there exists no other deity “in the water below the earth.”

The Alter Rebbe considers the question posed above – why would one suppose that “G‑d is the L‑rd” applies only “in the heavens above” for which reason it is necessary to explicitly state “upon the earth below” – and he asks,¹⁹ “Would it occur to you that there is a deity that exists in the water below the earth, so that it is necessary to caution [you] so strongly [to] ‘take it to your heart’?”

In answer, he explains26 that the commandment, “Know… that G‑d is the L‑rd,” does not only mean that there is no other deity, Heaven forbid, but that there is no existence other than G‑d. “Everything is entirely batel (“nullified”) in relation to Him.”27

The reason28 why the existence of everything is utterly batel in relation to G‑d is that every aspect of creation is exactly that – something that was brought into being from absolute nothingness29 and not from a pre-existing entity or potential.30 Accordingly, created beings continuously require the power of their Creator for their existence to endure. If the power of the Creator would withdraw from a created being31 even for a moment, as a spontaneous and inevitable consequence, the created being would immediately become “void and absolute nothingness,²⁵ exactly as before the six days of creation.”32

Based on the above, we can also understand why the verse mentions “upon (in)²⁰ the earth below” separately. By doing so, it clarifies that “even the material earth,33 which appears… to be a genuine entity, is void and absolute nothingness in relation to the Holy One, blessed be He.”34

However, there is a point that appears to require further clarification: True, the implication of the statement, “in the earth below, there is nothing else” – that “even the material earth, which appears… to be a genuine entity is void and absolute nothingness” – runs contrary to our senses. For that reason, the Torah must include a separate mandate, “Take it to your heart,”35 meaning that this understanding should permeate a person’s heart. Nevertheless, the fact that the verse begins with the command “Know” indicates that not only does taking to heart that “G‑d is the L‑rd” “in the earth below” require a separate mandate, but that the intellectual appreciation of this concept also necessitates a distinct dictate.

For this, further explanation is necessary. Seemingly, the intellectual underpinning for the concept that “there is nothing else” – that there is no existence outside of G‑d because “everything is entirely batel in relation to Him” – dictates that the concept of “there is nothing else” applies equally to all created beings, without any distinction at all, regardless, whether they are part of “the hosts of heaven” or “the hosts of earth.” Every being created from absolute nothingness must have “the activating force of the Creator continuously present within the created entity to give it life and [continued] existence.”36 How then can a distinction be made between “the heavens above” and “the earth below” with regard to the charge “Know,” which commands the intellectual comprehension that “there is nothing else”?

There is further proof that the distinction the verse makes between “the heavens above” and “the earth below” is not only to clarify a mistake that could be made by man, a created being. In other words, it is not only that – because he lives on earth, in a material world – the entities in this world appear to man as having genuine existence and, therefore, he must be cautioned against viewing them as separate from G‑d. Rather, the distinction between “heaven” and “earth” has a place in logic and thus relates to the command, “Know.”

In Tanya, Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, the Alter Rebbe¹⁹ discusses the logic compelling us to say that the existence of the created beings must continually be maintained by G‑d’s creative power. He cites the Baal Shem Tov’s interpretation37 of the verse,38 “G‑d, Your word stands in the heavens for all time” – that “Your words,39 ‘May there be a sky in the midst of the waters…’ – these words and these letters are standing and enduring for all time in the midst of the sky and the heavens… to provide them with vitality.”

The Alter Rebbe proceeds to state that this concept is not only relevant regarding the heavens. Rather, the entire existence of “all the created beings in all the worlds, the lofty [spiritual] worlds and the lower worlds, even this physical earth, including inanimate matter,”¹⁹ is continuously dependent on “the letters of [G‑d’s] speech from the Ten Utterances [of Creation]40 that provide vitality and bring into being inanimate existence, [causing it] to come into being from void and absolute nothingness.”¹⁹

In Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, the Alter Rebbe further states that even the created beings that are not mentioned explicitly in the Ten Utterances of Creation41 receive their life-force from these Ten Utterances as drawn down level by level through the chainlike order of existence (Seder Hahishtalshelus) via the various processes mentioned in that source. Ultimately, the life-force for every created being is “the name to which it is referred in the Holy Tongue,” for that name is “a conduit [which conveys] the vitality that was contracted [and vested] in the letters of this name, which descended in a chainlike order from the Ten Utterances [of Creation].”

Now, this concept is derived from the verse, “G‑d, Your word stands in the heavens for all time.” From the fact that the verse distinguishes the heavens from all the other creations, it is understood that the difference between the heavens and the earth is not only from man’s perspective.42 (Indeed, this verse from Tehillim does not at all mention man’s knowledge or feelings.) Rather, it indicates that also, in truth, there is a difference between the heavens and all other creations in the manner in which G‑d’s word is found within them43 and, for this reason, the verse mentions the heavens specifically. Because of this distinction, there is a novel dimension regarding the expression of G‑d’s unity implied by the phrase, “G‑d is the L‑rd… in the earth below,” in contrast to the expression of His unity as it is manifested “in the heavens above.”

It is possible to offer the following explanation: The new insight contributed by the Baal Shem Tov44 does not merely concern the concept as a whole – that the existence of all the created beings is dependent upon G‑d’s creative power which continuously brings them into being, provides them with vitality, and maintains their existence – it also involves the specific points previously mentioned:

‘May there be a sky in the midst of the waters…’ – these words and these letters are standing and enduring for all time in the midst of the sky… and they are enclothed within all the heavens….

A similar concept applies regarding all the created beings. Within each one of them “are enclothed the letters of [G‑d’s] speech from the Ten Utterances [of Creation].”

The implication is that not only is a created being dependent on G‑d’s creative power for its very existence (although afterwards the created being is separate from the creative power that brings it into being and maintains it), but also that G‑d’s creative power enclothes itself within the created being, is invested in it, and maintains its existence at all times.

To illustrate this point: The light of the sun that shines forth originates – and is continuously dependent upon – the sun, its source. The proof is that if there is an object intervening between the light and the source of light, the light is immediately nullified. Nevertheless, after the light streams forth from the sun, it is a separate entity from the orb of the sun itself. This is not true regarding the created beings; G‑d’s creative force is vested within the created being itself.

This enables us to understand the words “there is nothing else” – that, truly, there is utterly no existence other than G‑d. Since G‑d’s word is enclothed within the created being, within its own existence, the created being is not at all separate from “G‑d’s word.” Indeed, the vitality (and soul) of every individual created being is “the word of G‑d” that is vested in it. Consequently, it is understood “that every created being and entity, [in and of itself,] is truly considered as void and absolute nothingness.”45

It could be said that this also explains why every individual created being must have a separate “word of G‑d” that brings it into being and maintains it, as the Alter Rebbe explains at length,¹⁹ “Even within inanimate matter… there is… a soul and a spiritual life-force.” For G‑d’s creative power to be enclothed in a particular created being, that Divine creative power must lower itself, as it were, from its level, and contract itself commensurate with the level of the created being, adjusting itself to each created being according to its particular qualities and level.

Were G‑d’s creative power to remain on its own inherent level, i.e., as an unlimited power, it would be incomparably loftier than any individual created being and could not possibly enclothe itself within it.46 True, G‑d is utterly omnipotent (kol yachol) and can bring about synthesis between opposite tendencies (nosei hafochim). Thus, He could have enclothed His unlimited power in a limited created being. However, that would defy the laws of logic and G‑d desired47 that the created beings should be able to understand and comprehend – to the degree possible, according to the limitations with which He desired to form them – the order and pattern of creation. Therefore, He did not bring the created beings into existence in a manner in which there would be no point of comparison between G‑d’s unlimited creative power and the limited created beings, and their existence would be maintained solely by virtue of G‑d’s omnipotent potential. Instead, He ordained that existence come into being through an ordered pattern – to refer to the phrase commonly used in Chassidus, Seder Hahishtalshelus, “the chainlike order of existence.”48 G‑d contracted the outpouring of His effluence and the vitality to the extent that it would be adapted to the level – and, therefore, be able to be enclothed within – a created being.

Based on the above, it is possible to explain the new insight into our awareness of “G‑d is the L‑rd” that is contributed by each of the three different dimensions of knowledge implied by the phrases, “in the heavens above,” “in the earth below,” and “there is nothing else,” i.e., “even in the empty space [where] the world [exists].”

Since the concept that “there is nothing else” is associated with G‑d’s creative power being enclothed in the entity brought into existence, there is a logical basis to make a distinction between the loftier levels of existence and the lower ones. One could say: How is it possible for G‑d’s word to be enclothed within a created being? Perhaps, this applies to the hosts of heaven alone? Since they are lofty created beings,49 they are fit to serve as a conduit for G‑d’s power and vitality.³⁸

According to this logic, this does not apply “in the earth below.” One might surmise that G‑d’s word could not be enclothed within earthly and material created beings because they are not fit conduits for G‑dliness. True, they continuously require G‑d’s creative power to maintain their existence, but one might think that such an active force could not be enclothed within them.50

Afterwards, there is an even more inclusive new development – that G‑d’s creative energy is enclothed even within created beings that are not mentioned in the Ten Utterances of Creation related in the Torah.51 The phrase “G‑d is the L‑rd…” implies that He enclothes His life-energy even in those lesser beings that cannot directly receive their life-energy from the Ten Utterances of Creation related in the Torah.52 To convey life-energy to these created beings, the Divine life-force had to undergo a process of descent, level after level “until it contracted [enough so that] it could enclothe itself within and bring into being a given created being.”¹⁹ Even so, there is nothing apart from Him.

All these abstract conceptions of the oneness of G‑d are relevant also in the Divine service of every individual. Since man is a microcosm of the world at large,53 everything that exists in the world at large is reflected within him.

The ultimate expression of every concept in Divine service is that it must be manifest in action, as our Sages state,54 “Deed is most essential.” However, it is necessary to know that for G‑dliness and holiness to reach the earth – i.e., that they can permeate material existence – they must first pass through a Seder Hishtalshelus, which implies many progressive levels of descent.

In general, this involves three stages – and, indeed, these parallel the three categories mentioned in the verse beginning with “Know…”:

a) “in the heavens above,” b) “in the earth below,” c) “there is nothing else,” implying that G‑d is the L‑rd even “in the empty space [where] the world [exists].”

These also parallel the three categories the Alter Rebbe mentions in Tanya, Shaar HaYichud Veha­Emunah, a) “‘G‑d, Your word stands in the heavens forever’ … these words… are standing… in the sky and the heavens”; b) “similarly, in all the created beings… even this physical earth,” c) and even the lesser created beings that are not mentioned in “the Ten Utterances [of Creation] in the Torah.”55

In order for a Jew to serve G‑d daily as He desires, he must prepare himself – and this is an element of his Divine service – through his sleep at night. Then, his soul ascends Above, to the heavens and draws forth vitality.56

It could be said that, therefore, immediately upon rising and awakening from sleep, a Jew begins the order of his daily Divine service by saying, Modeh Ani, “I thankfully acknowledge You… for returning my soul.” He is thanking G‑d for returning his soul with refreshed powers from its source in heaven.

Afterwards, the Jew embarks on another phase of Divine service, working to cause his soul to spread throughout his body. This is accomplished through the Divine service of prayer.57 This enables the soul to be felt within a person’s body, the material dimension – “the earthly part” – of his being.

More particularly, this involves two stages of service:

a) The first stage is Divine service of prayer, from which one proceeds “from the synagogue to the house of study.”58 Through these spiritual activities, the light of the soul spreads throughout the body and its particular elements and components. However, all this involves the realm of holiness. Thus, these activities parallel the created beings which receive their life-energy directly from “the Ten Utterances [of Creation] in the Torah.”

b) A further stage is Divine service “in the empty space [where] the world [exists],” to borrow the phrase,59 “Regarding them, conduct yourselves in the way of the world.” As a whole, this refers to the manner in which a Jew involves himself with activities that are permitted – i.e., they are neither mitzvos nor forbidden, but mere material activities. These resemble the individual created beings that are not explicitly mentioned in “the Ten Utterances [of Creation] related in the Torah.”

Through the proper preparation while carrying out Divine service “in the heavens above and in the earth below,” a Jew has the potential to draw down G‑dliness even in permitted matters. He can carry out his everyday life in a manner where the material dimensions of existence are of entirely no significance for him; it is as if – in and of themselves – they are as nothing. Thus, he reveals that even “in the empty space [where] the world [exists],” there is nothing else.” Everything in his life, including his physical activities, is an expression of G‑dliness.

Adapted from a sichah delivered on the second day of Shavuos, 5745 (1985)