Commentary: On the Book of Creation (Sefer yetsirah)

Our rabbis said that a person must teach himself the satisfactory proofs that God is one, and that there is no other. As we learned: “Be diligent in the study of Torah and know what to answer a heretic” [m. Avot 2:14]. I have therefore found it necessary at this juncture to clarify a proof that will help a person strengthen himself in the truth that He is the only One and that He created everything. Know that all things that exist and with which we are familiar, from the plants of the ground to all the creatures, were established and fashioned from four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. They were formed from these and will return to these elements when they are again destroyed. This is known by firm proofs.

Now, these elements can be seen and tested, and since their elements are visible and can be examined—as they were fashioned and designed to work together—we can know through our own reasoning that a single Creator formed them. They did not form themselves, as sometimes one of the elements will overcome another, and swallow and corrupt it. For example, water extinguishes fire, and wind dries up earth, and the same applies to each of them in relation to the other. Furthermore, they are sometimes destroyed and returned to nothingness. Likewise, it is known that one Being established the spheres and the stars; they were not created by themselves.

Since we know through our own understanding that every item has someone who fashioned and established it, and that nothing was formed by itself, it is clear and known with truth and certainty, without any doubt or puzzlement, that the maker of the world, its creator, ruler, and leader, is the Lord of everything: He alone is God, who cannot be represented by a likeness or an image, as it is written: To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him? (Isaiah 40:18). Similarly, Moses our teacher stated: but you saw no form, only a voice (Deuteronomy 4:12).

By means of these proofs, it will be firmly established in our minds and clear in our thoughts that God exists and that we know no likeness or image of Him other than the brightness of His glory, as it is written: And he beholds the similitude of the Lord (Numbers 12:8), which is the image of the brightness of His glory. Now, what is this thing that is analogous to His glory but does not resemble it? If one enters a house when the person who built it is not there, we know without any doubt that a builder constructed it, as though we ourselves were present when it was made. Nevertheless, if we were to try to picture to ourselves an image of what the builder looked like—his appearance and height—we would be unable to do so. If we cannot grasp what a person who resembles ourselves looks like from studying his labor, all the more so we cannot achieve an image of the Creator of everything, blessed be His name. I mention this proof so that we can reaffirm in our hearts and know with absolute certainty that every end result of labor was produced by someone who performed that work, as though we saw him carry it out, as it is written: Have you not known? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint, nor is He weary? His discernment is past searching out (Isaiah 40:28).

The second commandment is that we accept the unity of the Creator, and that we believe that He is truly One, without any reservation in our hearts and thoughts, and that there is no other besides Him. We must not think that He has any appearance or image of any kind of body in the world, despite the fact that the Holy Scriptures will mention things such as the “eyes of God” [see, e.g., Deuteronomy 11:12], and “the hand of God” [see, e.g., Exodus 9:3], and that “the earth is His footstool” [see Isaiah 66:1], and many other similar examples. For scripture uses such expressions only because they are familiar from ordinary speech, as in the verse: The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength (Isaiah 62:8). We must believe in truth and with certainty that He Himself is categorically one, without diminution or increase, without the combination or separation of parts, and without change or movement. All other beings apart from Him are susceptible of increase, diminution, division, renewal, aging, combination, and the separation of their parts. They have a beginning and an end; they change; they deteriorate; they are designed. However, none of these qualities applies to our Creator, may He be blessed, as it is written: Hear Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deuteronomy 6:4).

One who wishes to comprehend that there is no one else other than His essence should examine the issue of one and multiples, the nature of numbers and counting. It soon becomes clear that a plural number is comprised of many ones, as taught by the early sages, and since the numbers two, three, four, etc., come after one, it is evident that the number one is undoubtedly the first of every number. Likewise, a plural number is an addition to one, and one precedes [the plural numbers], for we count with the number one, and we say two and three, etc., only after the number one, which comes before them.

Once the truth becomes clear to us that our Creator is the first of all firsts, we know that there is none like Him and that there is no second to Him.