Noahidesevencommandments.com

Rabbi Dr Zvi Aviner

Nov 2021

 

 

Ó copyrights

IDOLATRY-17/Three Kingships

 

 

 

Last class we learned that G-d, ELHM, wishes Adam to excel

beyond everything else that He had created during the Six Days

 

While all creatures created before Adam had to be deemed ‘good’ by ELHM

In order to see the next Day

Adam would have to be deemed Very Good

to see the next Day- the Sabbath

 

Moses also tells us that ELHM wishes Man to win our trial,

and for that, He has made several major concessions towards Man

 

 

First, He passed a premature Judgment in the middle of the Sixth Day,

clearing up the room for Adam to grow and excel in our habitat, Earth

In that Judgment, He eliminated all the pre-historic giant creatures (of Pangea)

that could not live side by side with Adam

He must have also changed the environment in our favor,

allowing us to grow and proliferate and rule the Earth

 

 

Secondly, He came forwards towards Man by changing the way He rules.

Whereas before, He ruled by the upper hand as a Dictator,

giving orders like a Dictator, tolerating no rebellion,

asking no one’s opinion, Consulting no one, ruling “awesomely alone”

 

 

But before making Adam, He spoke in plural, saying Let Us…

In other words, He “stepped down” from His High Pedestal as a Dictator

And spoke in a different tone,

as a “King Who Consults,” a Democratic KING

thereby relaxing His rule, tolerating more our sins and transgressions

 

 

 Thirdly, ELHM then made the greatest concession towards Mankind

by relinquishing more of His sole Power

He turned to another Attribute of the Infinite CREATOR

the Attribute of Hessed, MERCY, COMPASSION, FORGIVENSS and HOLINESS

Whose name is the Beautiful Acronym YHVH

And invited Her to come over and share the new Heavenly Court with Him

 

He did that for us, because Her Advent in the court

would offer Adam the option to repent, ask forgiveness, and start all over again

and give Adam a chance  to become Very Good.

 

 

How would Adam become Very Good?

Here is a surprise.

You would expect that to be Very Good In ELHM’s eyes

Would mean that   Adam would emulate ELHM

that Adam would create new technology, be very wise

and keep all of ELHM’s Commandments.

But that would make Adam only “good” in ELHM’s eyes, not Very Good

 

 

But Moses says that being Very Good in ELHM’s eyes

Means that Adam would do in this world

something that the Attribute of JUDGMENT would not do

and there is only one such thing-

to Bring MERCY, COMPASSION, FORGIVENESS and  HOLINESS

into ELHM’s Word

 

As the text shows,

YHVH then entered our World

as a thin ray of Light, a Shy Dove, or a beautiful Cherub

 

As it is shown here

 

 

 

………………………………..The Sixth Day ……………………………….

 

And ELoHiM made the animals…cattle…and everything creeping
And ELoHiM saw that is was good…
And ELoHim said let us make Adam in our form and our image…
And ELoHiM blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply…
And EloHiM said behold, I have given you all the grass…
And ELoHiM saw everything that He had done and behold, it was

Very good (Tov Meod) And it was evening, and it was morning,

Y  om  (Day)
H a Shishi, (Sixth) (Genesis 1:31)

………………………… The Sabbath Day ………………………………………

V  aYechulu (and they ended)
H  aShamyim (the Heaves)And the Earth, VeHaaretz, and all their hosts,

And ELoHiM finished all the work he had done,
And
 ELoHiM finished on the Seventh Day His work which He had done,
And He abstained on the Seventh Day from all His work which He had done

And ELKM blessed the Seventh Day…” (Genesis 2: 1-2)

 

 

As you see,

YHVH connects, like a Bridge

the Sixth Day to the Sabbath

 

Entering our world

YHVH “Observed” our World,

As a Bride who examines her groom’s home for the first time

Would she be comfortable here? Could she live here?

 

So YHVH said, so to speak, to HLHM

How would I share your world,

Where I see  no PLACE to rest my Wing

Where there is no heart in which I could Dwell?

 

The Y-H “half” of YHVH that has entered our world

is called The Dweller, Shechinah

 

 

Indeed,  you can find MERCY and COMPASSION in ELHM’s world

Only as a natural reflex, shown by  mothers to their cubs,

But only for a short time

only as a tool, made by ELHM, for the preservation of  the species

 

Hearing Her, so to speak

ELHM said in plural voice

“Let Us Make Adam in Our Form and Our Image

I will make him like me, able to emulate me

And I will carve out a room in his heart

Where you can enter and Dwell

So that he would emulate you

 

In other words

In Adam’s heart you could dwell, if he invites you in

Your Light he would spread, if he dedicates himself to you

Your work he would perform, if he accepts your kingship on him

 

We will teach him

to abide by my Laws

and to love you as you love him

to bring your HOLINESS into this world

to do your COMPASSION and MERCY in my world

 

 

YHVH agreed, and like two cherubs in Love, holding Wing against Wing

The two Attributes “flew over CREATION”

From the Sixth Day back to the Beginning

Thereby consolidating CREATION by their Oneness

henceforth the world has a direction

it would proceed to the Sabbath, and would not falter

 

And here lies the big surprise

In order to be Very Good in ELHM’s eyes

Man is expected not only to emulate ELHM

To create technology, conquer the world, and abide by  ELHM’s Laws

But to do more than that:

Since YHVH is very sensitive to our feelings and objection of Her

We need to accept the Merciful YHVH Reign over us, day by day

Twice a day

To keep Her in our heart and our world

We need to invite YHVH into our heart

To unite YHVH and ELHM in our hearts and minds

To Love YHVH and ELHM as One

And to enthrone YHVH ELHM on us

 

 

But since everything that ELHM does is for a trial and judgment

ELHM warns us that if we have failed to become Very Good

Failed to unite YHVH with ELHM in our minds and deeds

She would fly away from us with disgust, disappointment

Angry or fumed,

Leaving us in the Hands of The Attribute of JUDGMENT

only , to our detrimental

 

 

Only if we’ve managed to become Very Good in ELHM’s eyes

We would see the next Day,

The Sabbath.

 

 

But as the Angels noted,

While speaking in plural, ELHM opened the door for idolaters

To think there is more than One Creator

 

There are many types of IDOLATRY,

But the highest and most dangerous one is

Man’s tendency to separate the Attributes

To worship one and not the other

to think that YHVH and ELHM are two different gods

 

 

 

This indeed happen once in Noah’s generation

That split into two competing camps

One camp worshipped only ELHM and His harsh ways

The other camp worshipped only YHVH and Her MERCY

both sides degenerating from their IDOLATRY

into ADULTERY, BLOODSHED and THEFT

committing heinous “hamas” which is a terrible combination

of mugging and murdering under the sunlight with no fear

moreover, they fought  each other to the death

which sealed their fate and brought upon them the Great Flood

 

 

Only Noah and his nuclear family

Abided by YHVH ELHM Oneness

and therefore were saved by the Heavenly Court of YHVH ELHM

 

Noah feared that humanity is destined to make the same mistake again

And that his own children would also split, sooner or later,

Between the two Attributes, so he refused to procreate after the Flood

 

It was only after the Heavenly Court of YHVH ELHM promised him

To be more patient with humanity,

That Noah agreed to start civilization again,

as it is shown in the text of the Rainbow Covenant

under which we still live

 

 

But a few thousands of years later, after Noah,

our generation is showing the same split between the Attributes

Half of humanity today following Allah in harsh way

the second half, following MERCY and Love

while both camps sides are guilty  of so much BLOODSHED

Both sides at the throat of each other

threatening to FINISH our world by an

atomic Flood of fire

 

No wonder why our ocean is rising, like in Noah’s time

Our shores are battered by increasingly more ferocious   storms

Like in Noah time

And our globe is getting wormer

Like in Noah’s time

 

 

Our weeks are set up to RECALL the story

To live by it all our lives

 

 

The Sabbath can’t be replaced by Friday or by Sunday

Since if you do that, you’ve wiped out the entire message

 

 

 

Three Types of Kingship

 

 

 

Thus, Chapter One presents

three types to Heavenly Kingdoms

 

1 The Kingdom of ELHM alone, during the Six Day

  1. The Kingdom of YHVH ELHM under which we currently live
  2. The Kingdom of YHVH alone, ruling over the Sabbath

 

 

We can now identify the Heavenly Court in Moses’ Ten Commandments:

 

 

 

 First of the Ten Commandments

  1. I Am (Essence)
  2. YHVH your ELHM (Attributes)
  3. Who took you out of Egypt Land (Kingship)

………………………………Man………………………………………..

Second of the Ten Commandments

  1. You shall have no other ELHM besides me
  2. You shall not carve out any image

You shall not bow to them nor serve the

 

 

Clearly, we live under the Kingship  of  (line 2) YHVH EL

 

 

 

Lets’ see how the above considerations has been incorporated in our prayer liturgy

 

 

Adon Olam

The prayer book opens by an ancient song that captures the three Kinships shown in Genesis:

Master (LORD) of the Universe

Who reigned before anything was created,  

While everything was created by His Will

His Name was proclaimed a KING

And after everything ended   

He will rule awesomely alone

And He was, and He is, and He will be

In Glory 

And He is One

And there no Second Onecompared to Him

To consort with Him

Without beginning, without end

Power and dominion belong to Him

 

 

 

The song starts by saying that ELHM was  even before the Beginning

And that He became a KING, while creating

And that He rules Awesomely Alone

Then the song mentions the acronym YHVH

He was, He is, He will be

Then it mentions their Oneness,

also called Glory (Tifee-ret) which is YHVH ELHM Kingship

Then the trial of Oneness: He is One…

 

Hence the song, composed more than a thousand years ago

follows G-d’s Three Kingships

 

 

Baruch She-amar  (Blessed is He Who Said)

 

Blessed is He who spoke and the world came into being

Blessed is He

Blessed is He who says the does

Blessed is He who decrees and sustains

Blessed is He who made the Beginning

Blessed is He who has a compassion on the Earth

Blessed is He who has a compassion on the creatures

Blessed is he who rewards well those who revere Him

Blessed is He who is alive forever and exists forever

Blessed is He who redeems and saves

Blessed is His Name

Blessed are

You

 YHVH our ELHM

The KING of the Universe

The El, Our Merciful Father

Who is praised by His people

And with the songs of David your servant

We shall praise You….

 

 

The song starts by praising ELHM as a CREATOR

Who created by orders,

Who still sustains the World by His Commands,

Then the song  mentions YHVH’s Compassion

Then His appearance (in Egypt) as The Redeemer

Then the song Blesses G-d in the way He presents Himself

 in the First of the Ten Commandments

I Am ,  essence

YHVH your ELHM, Attributes

who took you out of Egypt  (The King of the Universe) 

Then it adds a new Tittle of G-d – Our FATHER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shema

 

 

Hear Oh Israel

YHVH is our ELHM

YHVH

Is ONE

 

We accept in the Shema

Todays’ Kingship of YHVH ELHM

And hope to see the futuristic Kingship of YHVH