Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Timeless, Formless, Matchless

The most glaring difference between Christianity and Judaism is, of course, the dissenting views on the person of the historical Jesus. Obviously, this was something I'd thought long and hard about going in to my conversion process; however, what I hadn't thought so much about was what fathoming a G-d without form would be like.

Don't get me wrong--Christians believe in the trinity. They believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and of those three parts, two of them are formless. It wasn't that the idea of a bodiless G-d was new to me, it was rather that I had to adjust to thinking of G-d as only formless. Lots of times, when Christians are going through rough times in life, they will comfort themselves by remembering that Jesus knew firsthand what it was like to suffer as a human as well. They compare their temptations to his temptations, their physical pain to his physical pain, and their loneliness to his loneliness. It is, actually, an incredibly comforting thought, and some days I struggle to connect to Hashem, this formless G-d that my human mind can't even fathom.

I've realized, though, somewhere along the way, that my connection to G-d is not based on similarities, but rather on differences. I can trust Hashem not because I know that He has experienced my pain, but because He is so awesome and wonderful and terrifyingly mind-blowing that nothing my human emotions stir up could ever even compare with how amazing He is. Because He is without physicality, He is beyond anything I can dream up. Because He is matchless in power, I have nothing to be afraid of. And because He is timeless, I know there's nothing that can slow Him or stop Him. My fears of being somehow disconnected from a formless G-d have been realized--but it's that same acknowledgement of such an incomparable G-d that is so comforting. He is One, He is second to none.


.שׁמע ישׂראל, יי אלהינוּ, יי אחד


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