./,.,
LearnNoah7Laws (2025)-4/
Seeking YHVH’s Love
*
Rabbi Z Aviner
Noahidesevencommandments.com
We all feel that this Universe is missing something important.
As beautiful as it is, as smart and full of wisdom as it is,
it is yet full of pains, suffering, calamities, diseases, wars,
things that we feel should be corrected. Tikun
For the ancients, this lack of goodness in our World meant
that this world is run by a bad god,
who arrested or killed the good god.
And every springtime, they believed,
The good god is either released or resurrected,
Only to be captured or die again before winter.
Others believe that the good god was crucified,
While others have seen the good god as a
mere invention of the soft hearted weak Jew, designed
to poison the glorious warrior spirit of the
Arian Super-Race.
Moses rejects all those believes.
First, he says, the world is run not by a bad god
but rather by a Truthful, All Mighty Judge ELKM
who operates with Absolute Justice,
paying Measure for Measure with no
Mercy, Compassion or Forgiveness.
Yes, ours is a world full of pains, yet it is a just world
reflecting ELHM’s JUSTICE.
Secondly, Moses addresses a q-
How is it that we, Mankind, born in
such a harsh Universe of ELHM,
Are capable of perceiving something
that does not exist under ELHM’s supervision,
such as MERCY COMPASSION AND FORGIVENESS?
How is it that we don’t only perceive it
But rather Long for it, and pray to see it coming?
The answer is according to Moses,
That Man’s unique perception and LONGING
for a different world full of
Mercy Compassion and Unconditional love,
has been planted in us by ELKM Himself
as a part of our Trial on Earth
To see that, we need to go to Genesis.
Let’s recall that ELHM created Adam
to withstand a trial. According to Genesis Ch1
The world – the Six Days – is a Courtroom
Into which Adam is made to stand in
a trial and judgment before ELHM
.
The HC comprises on that stage of the JUDGE ELHM.
Mo other moral scrutiny is involved
He has set up Hiis Own Moral Standard,
He has built Adam for the Trial
And He has set up the Laws by which Adam is trialed
Let’s recall that ELHM as a JUDGE is harsh and precise,
and very difficult to please. During the Six Days
He created Nature as a sole Dictator,
consulting no one, asking no one’s permission
or inviting anyone to join Him.
He said Let it be, and things happened.
Let there be light and light happened.
Let there be grass and grass came on board.
There was no one to object or reject His Comm.
Now, had He continued that line and built Adam
under such a Dictatorship, Adam would have had
no free will and no option of standing a meaningful trial.
Had ELHM said Let there be an Adam, that Adam
would have had to abide blindly like all other
creatures in nature with no discretion.
Hence, on the Sixth Day, E
Stepped down from His High pedestal as
a sole Dictatorship
and spoke, the first time in the plural, saying
Let Us…
By this, He relinquished His Sole Power of ruling Awesomely Alone and set on the Throne as a KING Who Rules
by the art of listening and consulting.
Only under such a rule of ELHM as a KING,
would Adam have a Free Will and an option
to behave as he wishes.
Only under the rule of E as a KING
would Adam trial have a meaning.
Last class we discussed the way ELHM – as a KING Who Consults – bult Adam to be a small king over his habitat, Earth.
According to Rashi, by speaking in the plural,
ELHM showed Adam that the Superior should always
consult with the Inferiors before deciding.
Hence, He showed Adam how to rule as a king.
. And when the angels wondered
“Our KING, aren’t you aware that by speaking in the plural
you’ve opened the door for idolaters to think there are more than One CREATOR, You?”
ELHM answered: I am aware of the risk oof IDOLATRY,
yet I prefer to speak in the plural to show Adam modesty.”
From here the Angels derived that
A – Adam is born onto the option of IDOLATRY.
B – the foremost powerful drive of IDOLATRY
would be Adam own Ego, his arrogance,
which would need to be tamed. Adam would worship himself more than any other possible idol.
But as we discussed last time,
Adam’s trial involves more than IDOLATRY.
Whereas IDOLATRY is a sin between Man and the CREATOR, there are also sins between Man and his Fellowmen that are a part of Adam trial.
ELHM therefore went on to bult Adam layer by layer, each layer providing a precious gift to Adam, allowing him to enjoy life
and live successfully on planet Earth.
For that, He consulted all the items mentioned in G CH1, inviting them in the plural to join Him in the making of Adam.
These items are
- The Sixth Days,
- The Wisdom by which ELHM created the wolrd
- The Art and beauty by which ELHM created the world – the so- called Spirit of ELHM
- The Self Consciousness, the Ego
- The powerful Sex Drive
- The powerful Drive to dominate and rule over
Those are all powerful gifts, yet they would also drive Adam
to sin against his fellowmen- to commit
ADULTERY, MURDR, THEFT and INJUSTICE, besides IDOLATRY.
To guide Adam, ELHM would give him in Eden the Six Comm, by which he would resist the drive to sin.
He also planted in Adam two powerful drives –
A drive to comply, Yetzer Tov
A drive to rebel, Yetzer Ra
He also set up a system of rewards and retributions,
telling Adam that he fails, he would be terminated
like many creatures before us.
If he wins, he will enter the next Day along with the whole world as it says at the End of the Sixth Day –
ELHM saw everything that He had done
And behold it was very good,
And it was evening, and it was morning
The Sixth Day was over.
The trial was ready to start, yet there was one major problem.
Since those drives to sin are so embedded
in our body and soul from our creation,
they would be very difficult to overcome,
making Adam chance to win his trial very slim.
Standing in front of such a powerful JUDGE
who pays Measure for Measure with no recourse,
the chance of Adam to survive the scrutiny is slim indeed.
In addition, ELHM knew that fearing His retributions
Would not be enough to deter Adam from violating the Laws.
After all, ELHM is unseen, and His retributions are sure to come but only as natural events.
For otherwise, if they are readily seen by all,
who would dare to sin?
Rashi expresses those concerns
in his commentary on G Ch1 V1:
Consultations map (Genesis Ch1)
Six Days Let Us
ELKM ——1—-2—3—4—-5– 6–– ADAM—— (Sabbath)
Wisdom Be fruitful
Spirit of Art Rule Over
He says –
“At the Beginning, it entered His mind
to create the world by JUSTICE alone, din.
But seeing that the world would not last under it,
He participated the Attribute of MERCY.
Indeed, the advent of Mercy in the Heavenly Court
would offer Adam a chance to repent,
ask forgiveness and start all over again.
As a proof for his words, Rashi brings the verse in CH2:
3
“These are the histories of the
Heavens and the Earth
On the Day that YHVH ELHM
re-created Earth and Heavens.”
Here the Name YHVH – the Attribute of Mercy-
Stands Side by Side as a new Heavenly Court of YE
re-creating the Six Days in their Oneness.
To understand that point, think about a human court.
When you enter a human court,
You expect to see a judge who would first attempt to find out the truth about your case, the mere facts. That would bring him to form an un- biased verdict according to the Law and the moral standard of our society.
Only then, as a second step, the judge would also exercise mercy and compassion to your case, to come out with the final ameliorated verdict
Hence mercy and compassion of the court have no meaning and no placewithout the preceding verdict of the truthful judge.
(You would not even elect a judge who brags to be only merciful. Who would take care of the criminals?)
In Genesis, too, the Mercy of YHVH has no meaning and no place without the preceding Truthful verdict of the Judge ELKM
According to Rashi, and BH, (both printed in almost every Hebrew text of the Torah)
the text shows the Attribute of MERCY, YHVH, entering our world to join the HC in two stages. She enters our World from Her Domain, the Sabbath.
Here are the two stages –
4
Stage 1: YHVH entering the Sixth Day (Baal Haturim)
7Sabbath
ELKM – 1—2—3—-4—-5—-6—Adam- YH/VH
Stage 2: YHVH ELKM re-recreated (Rashi)
Sabbath
YHVH ELKM – 1–2–3–4–5–6–Adam- YH/VH
Let’s focus on stage 1.
Stage 1 shows the transition between
the Sixth Day and the Sabbath
In the Torah it looks like this –
.(Baal Haturm 2:1)
…………………The SIXTH DAY……………
ELoHiM (29) said let us make ADAM in our form and our image…
ELoHiM (30) blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply…
ELoHiM (32) saw everything that He had done and behold,
it was very good, and it was evening, and it was morning,
Y om (Day)
H a Shishi, (Sixth) (Genesis 1:31
…………… The SABBATH………….…
V aYechulu (and they ended)
H aShamyim (the Heaves) And the Earth and all their hosts,
ELoHiM (33) finished all the work he had done,
ELoHiM (34) finished on the Seventh Day His work which He had done,
Baal Haturim explains –
Here YHVH is shown entering our Sixth Day
Half of Her Name. –the Front YH – is in our Sixth Day,
the back part–the VH – still Dwells in the Sabbath.
Here YHVH appears first time in the Torah as an Acronym.
It fits. She, an Acronym, appears first as an Acronym
Presiding over a pivotal point –
the transition from the Sixth Day to the Sabbath.
Hence, Her presence in our world acts like a Bridge
connection our Universe to Her Universe, the Sabbath.
HaRav Chaim Brisk from Voloshin,
the fathers of all Yeshivot, also writes that
the Name YHVH designates the interconnection
between the Worlds –
between the Sabbath and our world
and between the Sabbath and other Worlds
Now, what is YHVH?
YHVH is an acronym standing for the Attribute of Mercy
of the Infinite CREATOR. She rules over the Sabbath.
(Pronounced letter by letter as an acronym)
What then is the Sabbath? The Sabbath Day is
The next stage of CREATION,
Also called “Eternal Sabbath”
Or a “Day that is Entirely Sabbath.”
In the Eternal Sabbat, the Attribute YHVH
fills the world with
Joy, Holiness and Love – unconditional Love.
We can think of it as a parallel Universe
run by the Attribute YHVH,
using a different Moral Standard
than ELKM Universe.
In that alternative Universe, unlike in our Universe,
no one is expected to accomplish anything,
or to impress or dominate
or reach a target or gain anything.
That means REST.
It is also a World with no sin and no Judgment,
neither rewards nor retributions.
It is a Day of Joy, Holiness and
Love, pure Love.
You see –
ELKM’s World is bereaved of a true, pure Love.
Creatures in Nature love and mate, only to procreate.
Mothers in Nature seem to love their offspring,
but as a Natural reflex for the preservation of the species.
Flowers bloom to attract insects for pollination
Birds sing to mate. Even young humans bloom
at a certain age – to mate.
Love in this World of ELKM is like anything else,
a tool to achieve a purpose.
A True Love in contrast, stands above
any calculation or gain.
A true love is for its own sake, not as a step.
That also means REST.
The love of YHVH for us is for its own sake,
And so should be our love for Him/Her.
What about YHVH Mercy and Compassion?
In Her Sabbath, where there is no pain or suffering,
there is no MEANING and no need for
MERCY, COMPASSION or FORGIVENESS.
Those features of YHVH are expressed
only here in our world, which is full of
pains and suffering. Only here
Her Love is expressed by
MERCY, COMPASSION and FORGIVNESS.
Only here, in ELHM World,
YHVH assumes the title –
“The Attribute of Grace and MERCY
Hessed and Rachamim.”
Stage 2: YHVH ELKM re-recreated (Rashi)
Sabbath
YHVH ELKM – 1–2–3–4–5–6–Adam- YH/VH
The Diagram of stage 2 shows that
YHVH is in the Sabbath
YHVH was here before ELHM
YHVH is here ruling the HC
Hence Her Name –
5
HaYa- He wsa
HoVeh – He is
Yhyeh- He will be
In short, the Acronym YHVH
It means that the Love of Hashem is everything.
It was here before, it is here now and it will be in the future.
YHVH has not been arrested,
Nor did She die,
She is not resuscitated at springtime
Because Her presence is here everywhere,
even deeper and stronger than the presence of ELHM.
Let’s continue to focus on stage 1
Let’s recall Why did She come?
When ELHM saw that Adam would not win
His trial under Him alone,
ELHM then made another, THE LAST, Seventh consultation,
Turning to the Attribute of MERCY Who reigns on the Sabbath,
He said to Her too –
“Let us make Adam in our Form and Our Image.”
To understand what happened next
let’s go back to the human judge
who has already finished finding the
truth about our case
and is about to exercise his mercy.
He would take that step slowly, carefully.
At first, he would evaluate the person in front of him.
Does he/she deserve my mercy?
What sort of a person this one is?
Is he known to be merciful and compassionate to others
to deserve my compassion and forgiveness towards him?
Has he/she expressed any remorse?
Secondly, the judge would evaluate the sin itself
Whether it merits any mercy
.
Was it a cruel rape of a young girl?
Was it a careless adultery that has destroyed a family?
Was it a brutal merciless killing of an inocent victim?
Was it a careless theft and embezzlement that
caused much sorrow to the owner?
Was it a cruel case of taking advantage
of the socially weak and poor?
Hence, exercising mercy involves a new level of liability
Above and beyond the mere adherence to the dry Law.
If the judge finds out that the case is unworthy of his mercy,
the judge may forgo his mercy altogether.
That final decision depends also on the judge himself,
How much mercy and compassion he/she is capable of exhibiting.
How much he loves MERCY by himself.
There are hard judges who hate to exercise any mercy,
And there are those who cherish mercy and even long
For the opportunity to apply it in their court.
For after all, there are no established rules for how to apply Mercy. As a rule, Mercy is above the Law and can’t be
expressed by law.
ELHM is such a judge, who LONGS
to see MERCY in His Courtroom.
In fact, most countries do not ask the judge to exercise mercy at all. In Britan, and in the USA, there are special courts of mercy or special days dedicated to mercy, throughout the year. In all other cases the judge should follow the Law.
The Torah describes the entrance
of the Merciful Attribute to ELHM’s Courtroom
in a similar way – entering hesitantly, carefully.
At first, at the end of G Ch1, YHVH is depicted entering
the Sixth Day hesitantly, as if assessing our world
from Her perspective.
Does the World deserve Her?
Could she find someone in E world that knows
Mercy, or capable of exercising mercy?
If not, she would have no interest to join E in the HC.
She would rather return to Her Domain, the Sabbath.
The Talmud uses another metaphor, of a Bride entering
the Groom’s home for the first time.
She would wonder whether she
could be happy here and raise a family here.
Sensing Her worries the Groom says to Her –so to speak –
Let us make a child, Adam, in our form and our image.
Our child Adam
would be made from my world, from Nature,
But we will carve out a room in his heart
Capable of hosting you, loving you,
something that other creature here
can never comprehend.
Our child Adam will long to seeing you with me.
For our mutual love in the HC will assure his existence.
In his heart you could Dwell, should he host you in it,
In his Sabbath day of the week, you could rest, should he keep the Sabbath day,
In his Temple he you could Dwell, if he builds it for you,
together we will give him the Torah that will guide him
how to become the ideal Adam, The Very Good Adam,
the one we have as an image and form on our mind
In other words –
The Groom was saying Let Us stay together
in Heavenly Love
For the sake of our child, Adam.
How much YHVH loves us?
Rabbi Bachye says
Look at our mother Eve after she gave birth
To her firstborn son Cain.
She named him Cain, my purchase of YHVH
For along with the unconditional love and hope
she had sensed with her son, she also acquired the
perception of YHVH love and good hope for Mankind
Ch 2 shows that YHVH has already agreed
and has already entered our world,
now siting by E Side by Side to rule over the world
and FROM ADAM IN EDEN FROM THE DUST OF EARTH.
On Her way from the Sixth Day back to the Beginning,
YE has “consolidated our world so that it would not falter”
As the Psalm song for Friday says.
They flew backwards as it says
On the Day that YE re-created Earth and Heavens.
Hence YHVH is here in our world no less than E
Only that She is concealed, “deeper” than E.”
We celebrate the story on every Sixth day of the week
Entering the Sabbath.
We chant –
“Walk my Groom towards your Bride,
Together we’ll welcome the Sabbath.”
But let’s recall that YHVH stays here on contingency.
If Adam accepts Her and loves her
and performs her ways,
She would love him and protect him
And bless him on the Sabbath day to the rest
Of the weekday.
But If Adam ignores Her or rejects her
Or performs the opposite of what She cares about,
Showing cruelty and indifference to other people’s pains,
She would be saddened,
or regret Her coming on board,
As she did at Noah’s Flood.
Or be enraged and act in vengeance
]as She did to Sodom and Gomorrah.
Or simply fly away from Her Dwelling Place
As she did at the Temple destruction.
In all those cases She would
Leave Mankind in the harsh hands
of the harsh Groom, ELKM to exercise
his Truthful JUDGEMENT to our detrimental
Henceforth Her presence in E world
is called the Shechinah, The “Dweller.”
ELHM was pleased since
Loving YHVH would deter Adam from sinning
even more than the fear of ELHM’s retributions.
Her advent, therefore, increases Adam
chance to win his trial and enter the Sabbath
along with ELHM.
Now we know why all Mankind can feel the aspects
Of MERCY and COMPASSION
even though we are creatures of Nature
that knows none of those features.
We feel and long for them
From the time of our inception.,
as a part of our Trial and Judgment
By the HC of YE.
Let’s note that
YHVH’s presence has changed
the moral standard of Adam trial –
While ELHM’s moto has been
Whatever you hate been done to you, do not do it to others
YHVH added a new positive moto –
And you shall love your fellowmen as you love yourself
Not only you should avoid hurting
your fellowmen, as ELHM demands,
But also love your fellowmen
as YHVH expects from you.
The negative moto is that of E
The positive moto is that of YHVH
In summary –
Moses elects to begin his Books by introducing
the Heavenly Attributes and the HC,
the keys for understanding the entire Torah
In particularly the understanding of the HC
Which is needed for the understanding the
various Covenants Between the HC and Mankind
such as
Noah’s Rainbow Covenant
The Binding of Isaac on the Altar
The Covenant between the HC and Israel at Sinai.
In all these Cov, one needs to pay attention to the speaker, as Rabbi Bahyee says –
While YHVH always addresses the Human’s heart, where She wishes to enter and dwell,
ELHM presents the Dry Law and the terms of the Covenant.
If you have missed that, what else could you understand about the Bible?
The prophet Micha says
He has told you, Adam, what is good, and what Hashem seeks from you: only the performance of justice, and the love of Hessed, Grace and Mercy, and walking humbly with your ELHM. (6: 8)
***
Good Very Good
ELKM – -1—2—3—4—5—6—-Adam—-YH/VH (Sabbath)
She is here deeper than E
.
Stage 3: YHVH ELKM re-recreated (Rashi)
YHVH ELKM – 1—2—3—-4—-5—-6—Adam- YH/VH
THEFT and ABDUCTION are also heartless, EVIL deeds against our fellowmen that YHVH hates.
INJUSTICE is not only a sin in ELKM’s eyes but also a cruel deed against the weak and the poor, something that YHVH hates.
That double assessment of Mankind by E and Y
Is the key to all the Covenants
Between the HC and Mankind
Such as Noah Rainbow,
Or Sinai Covenant between the HC and Israel.
You should love YHVH with all your might…
We should perform Her values of good deeds,
Giving Charity and showing Compassion and helping others ,
to be worthy of her Love to us.
For if we disappoint her, She would
escape from us with disgust.
Man should fear ELKM, and Love YHVH .
This way we may become the ideal Adam,
that the CREATOR had On His mind
at Adam Creation.
Whereas ELKM’s standard of morality is
“Thou shall not do to other what you hate to be done to you,”
YHVH standard of morality says
“And you should love your fellowmen as you love yourself.”
If we don’t keep Her here,
She would fly back to Her Domain
Leaving us in the hands of ELKM
To our detrimental.
HER PRESENCE IN OUR WORLDL IIS CALLED THE DWELLER,
THE SHECHINAH
We celebrate the story in many ways.
We celebrate Stage 2
By chanting, every Friday evening as we enter the Sabbath,
Walk my Groom Towards Your Bride,
Together we’ll welcome the Sabbath
We repeat mentioning the story
in the way we bless the sabbath over wine.
.
That is not the end of the Story,
Ch2 continues to describe what happened next:
YHVH ELKM-1—2—3—4—-5—6—Adam- YH/VH Sabbath
Hence Love is before everything
And Love is after everything.
As it says :
“ The World was created by Hessed,”- Grace and Love.
whereas Ch1 says that at the Beginning
ELKM created the Heavens and the Earth
Ch 2 adds that YHVH and Her Love was there
even before ELKM had started to create.
ELHM (35) blessed the Seventh Day…” (Genesis 2: 1-2)