Mitzvah 2; Recognizing the Unity of Hashem

The second mitzva that we addressed is the mitzvah of the Unity of HaShem. The base of this mitzvah finds itself in the abstract but expresses itself in every breathing moment of the Jew. We will address the mitzvah in that order.

The mitzvah is to recognize that the Being of HaShem is One. This mitzvah follows the mitzvah of recognizing HaShem’s existence as the only absolute existence. To best appreciate the notion of absolute existence we will use the analogy of the dreamer and his dream. We will take Sleepy Joe who lays down after a long day at work. After falling into a deep sleep he begins to dream of two people, Mike and Ike. The people in the dream do not exist they are not even representations of people who exist – they are simply figments of his imagination. In his dream both Mike and Ike develop into very successful businessmen. Mike becomes the CEO of a large corporation and oversees 900 employees. One day he turns to Ike and remarks how there is nobody who has been as successful as him. Ike tells him that he shouldn’t talk to loud lest he wake up Sleepy Joe. Ike points out to Mike that neither of them really exist. For that matter, adds Ike, none of the 900 employees really exist nor the corporation, in fact, nothing exists except Sleepy Joe, everything they know is nothing but dream puff.

Sleepy Joe is only a crude example that provides only a window to understanding the relationship between HaShem and His creatures. As Jews we know that HaShem created the universe and everything in it as well as Space in which the universe finds itself as well as Time through which the universe travels.

It is axiomatic that if HaShem created Time and Space then He must exist outside of Time and outside of Space, for if He exists only within Time and Space He could not exist before their creation and hence He could not create them.

Once we understand that HaShem’s existence is dependent on no state of existence and all else that does exists is a creation of His, then we can reduce all of created existence to the dream puff of HaShem. In other words, all of existence is the result of HaShem’s Will that it should exist.

If you are still with me, then we have arrived at the notion of HaShem’s Oneness. When we recognize that HaShem is One and there is none other, we mean to say that there is no other existence. And although we know that we exist as well as all of our employees and all of our employers, nevertheless, their existence is only circumstantial not intrinsic. Their existence is the result of HaShem’s Willing them into existence. Whereas HaShem’s existence is intrinsic – there is simply no way to contemplate HaShem as not existing.

Until now we have only touched the notion of HaShem’s Oneness. Let us attempt to understand the next level; the Unity of HaShem.

Once we have arrived at the understanding of His Oneness, then we understand that all of existence finds its source in HaShem. This means that as varied as creatures are they nevertheless come from the same source. This is true not only with creatures but with physical laws, such as gravitational force, centrifugal force, magnetic force, etc. even though these forces often and conflict each other nevertheless we recognize that the source of all forces is HaShem. The implication is that all matter and energy as varied as they may be come from the same Source and must therefore be understood as working with each other rather than working against each other.

There are other conflicting forces that will be reconciled with this recognition. Within each of the readers of this article there are conflicting tensions. One side of us wants another cookie or another cigarette and the other side of us knows that we should reject to temptation. We all have our upper half which in so many decisions disagrees with our lower half. Using our principle of the Oneness we recognize that both of these internal forces find their origins in HaShem. The implication is that both forces are needed for the common goal that HaShem intended. Hence we recognize the Unity of HaShem.

Let us take the principle of Unity into the realm of history. History is replete with good times and bad times. Some good times were very good while some bad times were very bad. Recognizing the Unity principle we understand that all of history finds its reality in HaShem. The implication is mind boggling.

It is not my intention to reconcile the conflicts that seem to be irreconcilable or to reconcile those that are easily reconcilable. At this point I want to distill the abstract to practical, and we just about there.

Once we acknowledge that all circumstances find their source in HaShem and that all circumstances are parts of HaShem’s grand scheme (if they were not part of the grand scheme, then HaShem would not cause it to happen) then there is no cause for me to get aggravated when the stock market falls 1,000 points. I certainly would be justified to feel sad, however, aggravation or depression would not be justified. Only an ignorant person or perhaps a child would be angry at the doctor who saved his life by amputating his infected leg. An intelligent person would only be sad at losing his leg but would be grateful to the doctor for saving his life.

Being human and thereby being subject to the human feelings, I acknowledge that such a perspective is quite difficult to adopt when serious tragedy strikes. Nevertheless, this attitude of recognition is very applicable when the difficulty or challenge arises which is not catastrophic. Take for example the traffic tie up that you hit on the way to a business meeting and as a result you miss the meeting. The difference between the one who recognizes the principle of Unity and the one who does not recognize it will be most apparent.

Being able to recognize the principle of Unity is an accomplishment of achieving the mitzvah of Unity.