Scroll of Secrets

Regarding what you asked about what is found in the sayings of our rabbis and about their opinion on form [as opposed to matter], and what we think of this sort of thing, our master Se‘adya already spoke about this issue, correct and perfect words, in his commentaries and compositions. In addition, in the book which is a reply to a claimant and is called in Arabic Kitāb al-radd ‘alā al-mutaḥāmil (A Book in Response to the Stubborn One), he finished his commentary on this issue and explained it with rational claims and convincing proofs that remove doubts and refute delusions.

But even so, I will tell you the things that occurred to me on this issue, since one of the doubters has found it right to ask me about this and requested of me that I remove this illusion from his heart by virtue of the words of our rabbis.

I was asked about what they said in the first chapter of Tractate Berakhot:

R. Ishmael ben Elisha, the High Priest, said: Once, I entered the innermost sanctum, the Holy of Holies, to offer incense, and I saw Akatriel Ya, the Lord of Hosts, [seated upon a high and exalted throne]. [b. Berakhot 7a]

He said: “An object that the eyes see, and which is surrounded by space, can only be a body that has a measurement, and a length and width.” I brought over a copy of Tractate Berakhot. I opened it to the first chapter, until I found this matter, and then I showed him from this very same chapter, just a few pages later, another opinion:

Corresponding to what did David state five times: Bless the Lord, O my soul (Psalms 103:1)? Corresponding to the attributes of God, the Holy One, who fills the entire world, and the soul, which fills the whole body. The Holy One, sees and is not [seen; so too, the soul sees and is not] seen. [b. Berakhot 10a]

I said to him, “You must admit that this explains the matter. God cannot be seen, and the eye cannot perceive Him at all. Now, which of these two things do you uphold and which of them do you put aside, saying [it is written] in the language of man?” He did not find an answer to this but admitted and said, “I know that the first thing is stated as a metaphor, while the second one is true and right.” I replied, “Just as you have no doubt that the verses And they saw God (Exodus 24:10) and I saw the Lord sitting on a throne (Isaiah 6:1) are metaphors, for no man shall see Me and live (Exodus 33:20) is the straight truth. Likewise, the statement that God sees but cannot be seen is also true and right, and it is the opinion of those who say it, and their reasoning. As for ‘I saw Akatriel,’ that was said as a metaphor and was intended to describe how a king should look.” [ . . . ]

And now, in addition, I will explain to you how far God is from having a body. We the Rabbanite community, though we are many, admit and are in complete agreement about, from one end of the earth to the other, one thing, and one custom is known and renowned among us, taken and inherited from the first ones to the last ones, going back to the generations of prophets, may they rest in peace: and that is that we pray quietly without raising our voices. When we come to submit our requests and needs before God, we fall on our faces as we pray in concealed and hidden places that cannot be seen. This is a custom that is practiced among us, in the matter of prayer, without any dissent, and this is a famous and known law in all the great community. We disdain praying in open places, as it says in the Talmud: Rava said, “I consider impudent one who prays in a field.” The exception is our special fast days, when we ask that trouble overtake those who hate us. Then we pray in the town square in order to publicize the matter and abase ourselves in public. We exit the house that has been set aside for prayer, and the special place called “a small Temple” [i.e., the synagogue; see Ezekiel 11:16], to an open place in order to demean our honor, to rectify our state, by breaking our urges, and we repent of our sins so that God will receive our prayers, heal us, and have pity on us, due to the submission of our hearts, as it says: the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart (Psalms 34:19), and as it states: a broken and contrite heart, these, O God, you will not despise (Psalms 51:19). This is also the reason given for this practice by the Talmud [see b. Berakhot 31a]. [ . . . ]

These actions that we do—muting our voices during all our prayers, which is how every one of us prays, and falling on our faces during our supplications and while requesting our needs—prove [the truth of] our opinion, and they are the greatest of claims and the strongest proof, to us, the community at large, that we push away, repel and negate the very idea that there is any form of body to our God. We maintain that He hears and sees but does not hear with an ear or see with an eye. For if we would believe that he hears with an ear and sees with an eye, we would not whisper while we pray and hide ourselves under roofs and behind walls, because one who can hear only with an ear can only hear a voice when it reaches their ear, and one who only sees with an eye can see the object to be seen only when there is no obstacle between them and it. These are the characteristics of those who have been created out of something, in which the signs of their created state can be found, but the First, may His name be blessed, who created them and renewed them, of Him we cannot say that He has those characteristics.