human1111 said:
My humble 2 cents,
Yes you are right that there are more names of G-d in the Torah. But don't forget that great Rambam has said that thr entire Torah are the names (qualities) of G-d.
Rambam lived at a much later time. While he's a brilliant man, if you're looking for a historical source you might as well quote the Chofetz Chaim.
2) Remember as I've said, a line from Torah ("Old" testament) says that "There is none else but him".
This is the first time you've said that. That is your understanding of the verse out of context. And just so you know, Torah does not equal old testament. That would be Tanach(Torah, neviim, ketuvim.) And they're still not exactly the same. Now I will supply verses.
...Have you not discerned
How the earth was founded?
It is He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth,
So that its inhabitants seem like grasshoppers;
Who spread out the skies like gauze,
Stretched them out like a tent to dwell in.
Isaiah 40:21-22 says that God is enthroned above the vault of the sky. This vault appear synonymus with the dome or firmament.
The shades tremble
beneath the waters and their denizens.
Sheol(or the grave) is naked before Him:
Abaddon has no cover.
He it is who stretched out Zaphon(used for heaven cf: Isa.14.13;Ps 48.3) over chaos,
Who suspended earth over emptiness.
He wrapped up the waters in his clouds;
Yet no cloud burst under their weight.
He shuts off the view of His throne,
Spreading His cloud over it.
He drew a boundary on the surface of the waters,
At the extreme where light and darkness meet.
Job 26:5-10 again mentions that God has a throne up where we can't see.
3)It is forbidden to draw G-d or angels.
What's your point? There's a difference between banning idols and not believing God has a form in the heavens. Banning idols forces all of the people who want to worship God in their own way to obey the centralization and only pray at the Beit hamikdash. I'm not saying that's what happened, but it's more likely than any theory that encorporates triumphalist supernaturalism.
4) All divine attributes attributed to G-d would logically be impossible if we consider "G-d" as a being or a creature.
Nope. You forget that God is still God. He's not a creation. He's the Supreme Creator who sits above the clouds and can be met only at the hight places, like the Temple Mount and Mount Sinai. Isn't it miraculous for a God to meet His people in the high places like that? You're also probably forgetting that the attributes didn't fall into place all at once based on the order in which they appear. They developed over time.
And about Pardes and its "persian" origin. Abraham the founder of Jewish people, was from Persia or atleast lived there.
Then why doesn't he speak Persian? Why does he speak Hebrew instead? Incorporating Persian is a corruptian of the holiness of the Torah. Lashon kodesh only please.
Understand before speaking with me any further that I am a far left liberal Jew. I reject supernaturalism (defined as God interfering with the laws of physics) and doubt the historicity of the events of the Tanach. I don't believe it's necessarily true that Abraham was a real individual, but I don't believe he has to be in order for me to find meaning. I tend to keep kosher and Shabbos in my own liberal way, but I don't feel commanded to do so. I reject finite revelation. I just want to make sure you know what my position is before you engage me further. I don't want you to expect I'll give certain answers when in reality I won't.
Dauer
