What is God? Existence

 

Understanding God’s Oneness in Judaism and Kabbalah

In Judaism, the concept of God transcends all human comprehension and definition. Central to this belief is the declaration made in the Shema, one of the most important prayers in Jewish life, which states: "Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad"—"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4). This simple yet profound statement encapsulates a rich and complex understanding of God’s absolute oneness. Through the lens of both traditional Jewish thought and Kabbalah, the Shema conveys a vision of God that is radically different from common Western depictions of God as an anthropomorphic figure.

God as Existence Itself

In Judaism, God’s name is considered to carry profound meaning. The sacred name YHVH, often just referred to and vocalized as "Hashem" (meaning “The Name”)  represents more than just a title or merely an attribute. The meaning of this name is linked to the phrase revealed to Moses in the burning bush: "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh"—"I Am That I Am" (Exodus 3:14). This phrase can be interpreted as "I alone exist" or "I am existence itself." God is not just one being among many, nor a supreme entity in a hierarchy of existence. Rather, God is the very foundation of all being—existence itself. Everything that exists does so within and because of God’s will and essence.

In Kabbalah, a mystical dimension of Jewish thought, this understanding of God goes even further. It teaches that all of creation is but a transient manifestation of God’s infinite light, or Or Ein Sof (the Infinite Light). The world and everything in it is not a separate, independent reality from God, but rather a reflection or emanation of God’s divine light. As such, all things that appear to exist in creation are expressions of God’s oneness, and ultimately, they are impermanent, fleeting aspects of His infinite being. This is what it means when Jews declare in the Shema that God is one—His oneness is total, all-encompassing, and infinite.

Beyond Anthropomorphism: God Is Not "The Man Upstairs"

In contrast to some common Western depictions of God as "the man upstairs," or an old man with a beard sitting on a throne in the sky, Judaism staunchly rejects any attempt to humanize or anthropomorphize God. Assigning God human attributes or characteristics is considered a form of idolatry in Jewish thought, as it limits the infinite nature of the Divine. God does not have a physical form, nor is He bound by time, space, or matter. The Torah explicitly emphasizes this when it states, "You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb" (Deuteronomy 4:15).

The imagery of God as an old man sitting in heaven—an idea familiar in many Christian and popular Western conceptions of God—is a sharp deviation from Jewish theology. In Judaism, God is described as transcendent, beyond form, and beyond the limitations of human experience. The Kabbalists use the term Ein Sof (The Infinite) to emphasize that God is beyond all human categories and conceptions. Any attempt to reduce God to human-like attributes risks distorting the true, infinite nature of the Divine. This is one of many reasons why a Triune God or Trinity is rejected in Jewish thought. The three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are three distinct forms or anthropomorphisms (persons) of a Godhead–which is a distorted view of the God revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The Perfect Unity of God's Oneness

The Jewish conception of God’s oneness, as articulated in the Shema, reflects a vision of perfect unity. God’s oneness is not merely a numerical oneness, but a profound unity that permeates all of existence. All that exists is a single, unified reality, and that reality is God. From a Jewish perspective, there is no division in God’s essence, no parts, and no multiplicity. Therefore, the idea of a trinity or division of persons within God is inherently incompatible with the Jewish understanding of divine unity.

This belief in absolute divine unity also makes the concept of God becoming incarnate in human form—such as in the Christian belief of Jesus as God in human form—fundamentally impossible in Judaism. The idea that God could be divided into distinct persons or take on a physical form contradicts the Jewish conception of God as an infinite, indivisible unity. In Judaism, God’s nature is beyond incarnation because God is not a being among other beings; God is being itself, the very essence of existence. Any finite form would limit God, contradicting the infinite and eternal nature of the Divine.

The Unity of Existence and the Illusion of Separation

The Kabbalistic tradition further elaborates on this understanding by explaining that the perception of separate entities, people, and things in the world is an illusion. While creation seems to be made up of countless distinct beings, in reality, everything is interconnected and unified within the divine source. What we perceive as individual objects or people are merely limited manifestations of God’s infinite light, filtered through the "vessels" of physical existence. These vessels create the illusion of separation, but in truth, there is only God, and everything exists within the unity of His being.

This mystical vision has profound implications for how Jews relate to the world and to each other. If all of creation is an expression of God’s oneness, then every person and every creature is an expression of the divine. The diversity of life and the multiplicity of forms in creation are merely different aspects of the same singular reality—God’s infinite existence.

Absolute Monotheism and Divine Unity

In conclusion the Jewish understanding of God as expressed in the Shema and further elaborated in Kabbalistic thought presents a radically different vision of God than that found in many Western religious traditions. God is not a "man in the sky" or a distant father figure; rather, God is existence itself, the singular reality from which all things emerge and to which all things return. To assign God human attributes or to divide Him into distinct persons is to misunderstand the fundamental truth of His perfect oneness.

In Judaism, God’s unity is absolute, indivisible, and infinite. Everything that exists is but a transient expression of His divine light, and the ultimate reality is that God alone exists—the One who declared, "I Am That I Am." I exist and I alone exist–I am existence.