Article
The Meaning of Divine Goodness (1968)
Why did God create the world? I do not ask this question in an ultimate metaphysical sense. For despite the various aggadic, philosophic, and Kabbalistic answers proposed in our tradition – for the sake of man, or Israel, or Torah, or “to create a dwelling place for Him in the lower worlds” – the most convincing of all remains that of Maimonides in his Guide – namely, that the purpose of the creation and existence of the Universe is to fulfill the Will of the Creator. This, of course, is another way of saying that we have no access to an intelligible answer, that it is both vain and arrogant to attempt to capture the great Creator in the limited vessels of a teleology conceived by the creatures. My question, rather, relates to the character of God: which of His middot did He exercise in order to bring the cosmos into existence? The problem is not an innocuous and fruitless theological speculation for, as Maimonides taught (Hit. Deot 1:6, based on the Mekhilta), the purpose of describing God by attributes is to inform man how he must live. Imitatio dei (or, in the language of the Torah, ve’halakhta biderakhav) cannot be achieved unless we know something about Him. When we ask, therefore, what is the source of the divine creation, we are in effect inquiring as to the source and hence meaning of human creativity. In the Yiddish manner, let us answer this question with yet another question. Throughout the account of the creation, after each major step, such as the creation of light and water and grass, the Torah tells us that va-yar Elo-him ki tov, “and God saw that it was good.” Now, taken literally, these passages strike one as grossly anthropomorphic: as if the Creator of the universe is a kind of cosmic artist who, after every significant addition to his composition, steps back to admire his painting or sculpture and cannot refrain from an expression of self-gratulation. But from the days of Onkeles and on, the Jewish tradition has assiduously attempted to reinter…
