Da'at Tevunot, a work of Jewish philosophy, grapples with this very idea. It tells us that the Master of the Universe, the Creator, is utterly beyond our comprehension. God is "certainly bereft of all that we find in his creations, whether deficiency or completeness, and only he alone is the perfect with true perfection." In other words, everything we experience – the good, the bad, the incomplete, the whole – doesn't apply to God. Our categories simply don't fit. It's a mind-bending thought, isn't it?
So how do we relate? How do we even begin to understand the divine?
Da'at Tevunot offers a fascinating answer. It suggests that God, in wanting to create, to guide, and to bless us, essentially established a "rule and law of straight interaction." Think of it like this: God, in an act of incredible generosity, created a framework for us to connect. It's "as if it could be, types of influence and characteristics of interaction, to grasp them and to utilize them towards a choice and good intended purpose for all his creations."
These “characteristics and descriptives” – these ways we perceive and interact with the divine – are, in a sense, connected to God. But here’s the crucial point: they aren’t necessary for God. "For he does all of this, even if they are not things that are compulsory to him at all, rather all are intended from him, and there existence is dependent only on his interest and will." God chooses to interact with us in these ways, but God could certainly act without them.
This reminds me of a story. Imagine a master sculptor who, out of love for their students, creates tools and methods that allow them to learn and create. The master isn't limited by those tools, but they offer a pathway for the students to connect with and emulate the master's artistry.
Da'at Tevunot pushes us to consider the nature of divine will. It's saying that even the ways we understand God, the characteristics we ascribe, are ultimately expressions of God's own desire to connect with us. It emphasizes that God's existence and power are not contingent upon those characteristics. God could, even now, change them "per his will."
What does this mean for us? It means that our understanding of the divine is always partial, always filtered through our human experience. But it also means that God has intentionally provided us with ways to connect, to receive blessings, and to experience a glimpse of the divine light.
It’s a humbling and inspiring thought. We can never fully grasp the infinite, but we are invited, through the framework God established, to draw closer and strive toward a deeper understanding.