[Avodah] (1) Re: The Census Numbers In Bmidbar, and (2) Half-Truths

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jul 09, 2025 at 04:32:04PM +0000, Joseph Kaplan via Avodah wrote:
> Saying "Hashem is lemaalah min hazeman" doesn't really answer any
> questions or give explanations because we humans don't understand what
> lemaalah min hazeman means...

Fortunately, we can reason with ideas we barely understand. For example,
I am writing this on a computer which operates based on the behavior of
semiconductors as "explained" by Quantum Physics. You cannot mantally
picture QM's version of an electron, valence levels, or anything else
that goes into the engineering of a chip. But humans were able to take
the scraps we do know and engineer things with it.

Similarly, we don't need to be able to picture existence that is "lemaaleh
min hazman" or even to know the concept in the abstract to significant
extent to still be able to reason with it.

How does Hashem know today what I will do tomorrow?

I cannot tell you very much, because of that whole Timelessness thing.

But, I can tell you there are fundamental problems with the clause "Hashem
knows today". And so a question about it only seems to work. How is the
question broken? Perhaps you are dissatisfied with how much we can say how
broken it is. I think there is more we can say than you seem to believe;
but I don't need to go there. Just knowing the question cannot possibly
work is enough to know it doesn't need an answer.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Integrity is choosing to practice our values
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   rather than simply professing them.
Author: Widen Your Tent                  - Brene Brown
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF