The Hidden God
(9) North—since God is concealed, I do not behold God; South—God is hidden, and I cannot see God.
- God created the world
- God is not involved in our lives today
- God allows bad things to happen to good people
- God is there, but God is silent
The Still, Small Voice
(12) After the earthquake—fire; but Adonai was not in the fire. And after the fire—a soft murmuring sound.
- God is conscience
- God is inside everyone
- God talks to us
- God lets us know what's right and wrong
- God helps us be just
Force of Nature
Yotzer Or
Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu, Melech ha-olam, yotzeir or uvorei
choshech, oseh shalom uvorei et hakol. Hamlei-ir la-aretz v’ladarim
aleha b’rachamim, uvtuvo m’chadeish b’chol yom tamid ma-asei
v’reishit. Mah rabu ma-asecha Adonai, kulam b’chochmah asita,
mal-ah ha-aretz kinyanecha. Titbarach Adonai Eloheinu al shevach
ma-asei yadecha, v’al m’orei or she-asita y’fa-arucha selah. Or chadash
al Tzion ta-ir, v’nizkeh chulanu m’heirah I’oro. Baruch Atah Adonai.
yotzer ham’orot.English
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, Creator of light and darkness, Who makes peace and fashions all things. In mercy do You give light to the earth and to all who dwell upon it, and in Your goodness do you renew every day, continuously, the work of Creation. How great are Your works, Adonai! In wisdom you made them all, filling the earth with your creatures. The Ruler Who alone was exalted before Creation, Who has been praised, glorified and raised on high since ancient days, Eternal God, in Your abundant mercies, have mercy upon us. Our powerful God, our rock-like fortress, our shield of redemption, be a stronghold for us! Blessed God, great in knowledge, prepared and formed the rays of the sun. The beneficent One created honor for God's Name, and placed luminaries around God's might. The heads of God's legions, holy ones, exalters of the Almighty, are always relating the honor of God and God's holiness. May You be blessed, Adonai our God, beyond the praises of Your handiwork and beyond the brightness of the luminaries that You created—may they glorify You!
May You shine a new light on Zion, and may we all soon be worthy of its radiance.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Creator of the heavenly lights.
- God is everywhere
- God is represented in the beauty of nature
- The patterns in the world are evidence of God
- God might not deal with us personally
- God is in all scientific truths
- God is order
Author of Life and Death
Gevurot
You are eternally mighty, Adonai, reviving the dead, abundantly able to redeem us.
during the winter months (between Sukkoth and Pesach) add: Who causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall during the summer months (between Pesach and Sukkoth) add: Who causes the dew to descend
With kindness do You sustain the living, and with great compassion do You revive the dead. You support the fallen, heal the sick, free the captives, and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust.
Who is like You, Source of mighty deeds? Who is like You, O King Who causes death and restores life and causes deliverance to spring forth?
In faithfulness do you revive the dead. Blessed are You, Adonai, Who revives the dead.
- God is responsible for all that happens in the world
- Reward and punishment are given out in the afterlife
- God has reasons for doing things that we will never understand
- Arguing with God is futile
Ruler of the Universe
(who is also our parent)
אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ
Avinu Malkeinu
Our Father, Our King/Sovereign
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech haOlam, hamotzi lechem min-ha'aretz.
Blessed are You, God, Our God, Ruler of the Universe/World . . .
- God plays an active role in our lives
- God protects and cares
- God hears my prayers
- God works miracles
- God gives order
- God is just
- God holds us up in times of trouble
Infinite One
Zohar on Bresheet/Genesis 1:1
Out of the Ever-Existing Essence . . .
- God is the only reason I exist.
- God is the ocean; I am the wave.
- God is everything.
- God is no-thing.
- God is the cause of causes.
- God is the constant breath of the universe.
Partner in Creation
(כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹקִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹקִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃
(27) And God created the human in God's image, in the image of God, God created the human; male and female God created them.
. . . The Gemara also relates that Rav Ḥisda and Rabba bar Rav Huna would sit in judgment all day and their hearts would grow weak from hunger. Therefore, Rav Ḥiyya bar Rav from Difti taught them a baraita (teaching outside the Mishnah) with regard to the verse: “And it was the next day and Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood over Moses from the morning until the evening” (Exodus 18:13). Does it enter your mind that Moses would sit and judge all day long? If so, when was his Torah study accomplished? Rather, surely the verse is coming to tell you: Any judge who judges a true judgment truthfully, even if he sits in judgment only one hour, the verse ascribes to him as if he became a partner to the Holy One, Blessed be God, in the act of Creation, as by means of a true judgment he upholds the world (Me’iri). This conclusion is derived by means of a verbal analogy [gezera shava]: It is written here: “And the people stood over Moses from the morning until the evening.” And it is written there, in the act of Creation: “And it was evening and it was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5). The evening and part of the morning are considered a whole day. . . .
- God created human beings with free will
- We are made in the image of God
- God recreates the world continually
- I am God's partner; we are both fulfilling an agreement
- Arguing with God is welcome and has purpose
- God helps us hold ourselves up in times of trouble
God of Goodness and Compassion
We gratefully acknowledge that You are Adonai, our God and the God of our ancestors for all eternity. You are the Rock of our lives and the Shield of our salvation from generation to generation. We shall thank You and declare Your praise—for our lives which are in Your hand, for our souls which are in Your care, for Your miracles that are with us every day and for Your wondrous deeds and favors at all times: evening, morning and noon. O Good One, whose mercies never fail,
O Compassionate One, whose kindnesses never cease: forever do we put our hope in You.
For all these things, O King, may Your Name be forever blessed and exalted. O God our Redeemer and our Helper, may all who live gratefully acknowledge You and praise Your Name in Truth.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Whose Name is Goodness, and to Whom it is fitting to give thanks.
- - - - - -
The next-to-last prayer in the tefila is called hoda-a. It is an acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and an expression of our gratitude to the Eternal One. The Hebrew root y d h י ד ה carries the dual meaning of “acknowledgement” and “thanks.”
If it were only a prayer of thanks, in anticipation of God’s favorable response to our petitions, it would be inappropriate to recite it on Shabbat and festivals, when petitionary prayers are absent from the tefila.
But hoda-a also means acknowledgement; hence the above translation “We gratefully acknowledge…” This prayer comes to remind us of God’s continuing miracles, which we must never take for granted. Instead, we need to renew our sense of awe and wonder every day of our lives.
From: Learn Hebrew Pods
- God represents potential
- God is a role model for perfection
- God acts through me
- God is the best I can possibly be
- God is our dream for a united humanity
Blessing Formula
What does this add to how we think about God?
In the 3rd Century, Rav and Shmuel, Talmudic rabbis, debated the addition of the word “You” to the b’rakhah formula (Jerusalem Talmud, B’rakhot12:4).
Rav insisted that a b’rakhah include “You,” as he maintained that we turn directly to God when we make a blessing. Rav cites Psalms 16:8 as support: “I have set the Lord before me always” (Jerusalem Talmud, B’rakhot 9:1). Rav’s doctrine is theologically bold, and reflects the desire for a personal relationship with God. We can address our Creator directly. "Blessed are You Adonai."
Shmuel, maintained that a b’rakhah need not include Atah; when it does, it places mere mortals in too intimate a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. He supported the formula "Blessed is Adonai."
Our sages did agree on the need to establish a norm, a legal standard to which all must adhere and ultimately, Jewish law followed Rav’s opinion.
That means if we do not include the word Atah or “You,” we do not fulfill our obligation to recite a b’rakhah. A person who recites words that differ from the established norm may have uttered something admirable, but has not fulfilled their religious obligation.
Still, Shmuel's opinion also found its way into the b’rakhah formula.
To consistently conform to Rav’s opinion, we would state the entire b’rakhah in the second person. But, in the last part of the wording of the b’rakhah, following the mention of God as King of the Universe, we refer to God in the third person.
“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth."
The b’rakhah as we know it is grammatically confusing. It switches from addressing God in the second person (“You”) to referring to God in the third person (“who brings forth”).
Simhah ben Samuel, author of the 11th-century French Mahzor Vitry, compares the wording of the b’rakhah to the wording one uses in the presence of royalty.
First we speak directly to the King (in the second person, as in “Your Majesty”).
Then we use language that shows even more respect, maintaining distance, speaking as through an intermediary in the third person. (as in “His Majesty”).
Simhah ben Samuel chooses the b’rakhah recited before drinking wine to illustrate:
We say, ‘Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe who creates (borei–third person) the fruit of the vine.’…We do not say, ‘Blessed are You, Lord, who has created (shebarata–second person) the fruit of the vine.’
Every time we say a blessing with this formula we balance different ways of thinking about our relationship with God!
With thanks to Rabbi Billy Dreskin, Cantor Ellen Dreskin, and Rabbi Mark Dov.
These study texts are informed by their GODshopping program.