[Avodah] Just one Hashem in Heaven

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Shmuel Weidberg wrote on Areivim:

: It has always bothered me when we say that Hashem is in heaven,
: because as far as science is concerned up contains outer space. And it
: seems that it is meant literally when we say that Hashem is up,
: because we say that the Shechina does not come below ten tefachim.

And it never bothered me to say that HaShem is in heaven, because "heaven" is not the same thing as "sky". Outer space is part of the sky, but I understand heaven and shamayim to be the metaphysical world, which has nothing to do with science.

I admit that Chazal considered the planets and stars to be part of shamayim, but I feel that this was merely because it fit their understanding of what is "not part of this world". As our understanding of "this world" advances, so too does our understanding of the nature of shamayim. For now, I'm satisfied to consider our world as three-dimensional, and shamayim as four-dimensional or higher. (Or, if you want to include time, then as four and five respectively.) If someday the physicists show our world to be more than that, then I'll just set shamayim another bump further up.

As far as the Shechina not coming below ten tefochim, that's not a problem at all, because the Shechina is just one aspect of Hashem. The terms are not interchangeable. Hashem is equally everywhere and everywhen, but His Presence (whatever that means) is more present (whatever that means) in some places and times than in others.

Akiva Miller

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