Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site homxa.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!edsel!bentley!hoxna!houxm!homxa!bds From: bds@homxa.UUCP (B.STERMAN) Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Elohim Message-ID: <514@homxa.UUCP> Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 10:26:00 EST Article-I.D.: homxa.514 Posted: Mon Dec 3 10:26:00 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 19:28:06 EST References: <331@stcvax.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 95 >Recently I have heard some things about "Elohim" and I would like >to find out some more. Supposedly it was Elohim that created man. > > - Who or what is Elohim? > > - What is the difference between "Elohim" and "GOD"? > > - Elohim is suppose to be a 7 aspect(?) man/woman entity. > What does this mean? > > - There is suppose to be a relation between Elohim and the > kabalistic tree of life. What is this relation? > > - Do people pray/worship/praise Elohim specifically? > Why? How is these different from those to GOD? > > - Are there any good books that I can read to find some > detailed information about Elohim? >-- >Jeffrey P. Snover - STC StorageTek (Disk Division) >uucp: { hao, ihnp4, decvax}!stcvax!jps > { allegra, amd70, ucbvax }!nbires!stcvax!jps >USnail: Storage Technology Corp - MD 3T / Louisville, CO / 80028 >DDD: (303) 673-6750 The word `Elohim' comes from the root word `el' which means strength. The phrase `el yadi' found in the bible meaning the might of my hand is an example. In jewish theology the one God has many manifestations. Let me reiterate, there is never any doubt that this is one God, He is seen or experienced differently by different people in different situations. Elohim is the name of God that cannotes `the sum total of all the powers'. God as the cause of all nature. (Quite similar in fact to Spinoza's natura naturata). This name of God is used when it is the appropriate way of understanding His actions. Thus, for example, Elohim is generally used in the creation story, which is of universal interest. When God deals with non-Jews in the bible it is used, as opposed to the name Adonay, which cannotes the personal relationship between Jews and God (in biblical theology). It is also used when God is acting in a way inconsistent with that personal relationship and when His power is seen - namely when He is punishing the Jewish people. Hence kabbalistically the name Elohim is synonymous with God's `middat ha'din', His attribute of justice. Again, Elohim is certainly not a different god or godhead. Some scholars claim that the fact that the word elohim is in the plural form shows that it is a sort of pantheon. This is incredulous since the bible will say, for example, `vayivra Elohim', and Elohim created, where the verb created is in the singular. Rather the definition is, as I have stated, the sum of the powers. For more on the biblical choice of the names of God to suit the context, see the extremely important essays on the documentary hypothesis by Umberto Cassuto. Also I would suggest your reading Yehezkel Kaufmann's `The Religion of Israel', which deals with both the particular problems of the biblical sources as well as the general background of ancient Jewish monotheism within the genre of the ancient world's mythologies. Please feel free to continue this discussion personally. Baruch Sterman !ihnp4!homxa!bds (201)949-3821