[Avodah] Rabbi Noah Weinberg zt'l

[Cantor Wolberg]

One of Rabbi Weinberg's lectures has as its title "If Your Prayers  
Could Be Answered".  In it he points out that when we pray we are  
entering into God's space. What I found interesting is one of the  
names employed for God is HaMakom, which is often translated as the  
Place (or Space). HaMakom is an unusual and infrequently used Name for  
God.

The Rambam writes this explicitly in the Laws of the Foundations of  
Torah (1:11):
Once it has been clearly demonstrated that He is not physical, it  
becomes clear that He has no physical properties or conditions: not  
combination or separation, not place or measure, not ascent or  
descent, not right or left, not front or back, not sitting or  
standing, nor does He exist in time – which would necessitate Him  
having a beginning and an end, and therefore partake of multiplicity –  
and He does not change, for there is nothing capable of causing Him to  
change.
The Sages (Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 27; Bereishis Rabbah 68:9) give the  
following explanation of the name “Ha’Makom”: “He is the Place of the  
universe, but the universe is not His place.”

What I find more fascinating is the following:  The Avudarham provides  
us with one more hint. He writes: “And you will find that the gematria  
of ‘Makom’ is the same as gematria of YKVH according to its cheshbon  
gadol (greater calculation).” The cheshbon gadol of YKVH is the sum of  
each letter multiplied by its own numerical value: (10 x 10) + (5 x 5)  
+ (6 x 6) + (5 x 5) = 186, which is equivalent to the numerical value  
of MaKOM: 40 + 100 + 6 + 40 = 186.

According to this definition of place, the meaning of the Sages  
becomes clear. “He is the place of the universe, and the universe is  
not His place” means that His Existence “supports” the existence of  
the universe, but the universe does not “support” His Existence. In  
other words, He is the Cause of the universe’s existence, but the  
universe is not the cause of His Existence.
Now we can understand what the Avudarham meant when he said that the  
gematria of Makom is equivalent to the cheshbon-gadol gematria of  
YKVH. He means that the idea of the name Ha’Makom alludes to the idea  
of the name YKVH. What is the idea of the name YKVH? The Rambam begins  
the Laws of the Fundamentals of Torah with the statement, “Yesode  
Ha’yesodosV’amud Ha’Chochmos” which clearly alludes to the name YKVH.  
The translation is as follows:

1:1 The foundation of foundations and the pillar of all sciences is to  
know that there is a Primary Existent, Who brought into existence all  
existences, and all of the existences from heaven to earth and  
everything in between only exist by the reality of His Existence.

1:2 And if one could entertain the thought that He did not Exist,  
nothing else would be able to exist.

1:3 And if one could entertain the thought that all of the other  
existences besides Him didn’t exist, He alone would be Existent, and  
He would not be negated by their negation, for all the existences need  
Him, but He – blessed is He – does not need them, nor any one of them.
“He is the place of the universe, but the universe is not His place.”  
He causes the universe’s existence, but the universe does not cause  
His existence. He is the Independent (or Necessary) Existence, whereas  
the universe is a dependent (or contingent) existence.

Excerpted from: Kankan Chadas baruch ha-Makom #1

This was the theme of many of Rabbi Weinberg's lessons.

Eleanor Roosevelt once remarked “that many people walk in and out of  
our lives, but few leave footprints in our heart”. Rabbi Weinberg  
always left large footprints! He rekindled faith in many thousands.  
Now that he is gone, the legacy of his lifetime will do no less.
T'hey Nishmaso Tzruro B'tzror Hachayim..

ri
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