The G-d of Your Childhood



We all recall the white-bearded G-d of our childhood. For each of us, G-d had a particular image; a great policeman in the sky, a Rabbi writ large or a superhero. As adults we come to appreciate G-d as a transcendent being, the sum total of everything, He as a part of us, and we as a part of Him – and of course, the fact that He is no male. As a child, G-d’s invisibility is an exciting magic trick, an enormous figure concealed by a Harry Potteresque cloak. As adults, we appreciate G-d’s invisibility as a product of His being unchained by time and space, His abode in the realm of the conceptual.

And, along with the transition in thinking, we denigrate our former selves. We bemoan the teachers, texts and tunes that provided us with that immature frame. We lament that we did not start kinder with an appreciation of what we now know. But I’m not so sure about that. If we examine the Torah superficially, G-d in fact does appear quite ‘white-bearded’. He has a large arm (Exodus 14:31) a back and a face (Exodus 33:23) and even eyes (Deuteronomy 11:12). It is clear to an adult (and indeed, it is one of the foundations of the Jewish faith) that these anthropomorphic references are no more than metaphors, however to a child these could be easily misconstrued. In fact, it would appear that they are even designed to be misconstrued.

Why would that be?

Learning is a process. One does not begin with the abstract. For a profound truth to sink in, it needs to be engaged with repeatedly. I’m no expert in Piaget, but I know enough to understand that a child cannot conceive of G-d without ascribing Him some measure of corporeality. This, most outer layer of the onion, is the necessary door to the gradual acclimatisation towards more abstract understanding. It is for this reason that the Avot – our founding patriarchs and matriarchs – are the critical introduction to Torah. Avraham was not a beneficiary of a tradition of abstract values. He, along with Sarah, worked it all out, but by bit, layer by layer until they confronted a dazzling truth. That is the way in which we too should approach even the most sublime principles of Judaism.

Never be ashamed that your G-d once had a white beard, it’s meant to be that way.

Based on Lekkutei Sichot vol 15 pp 75-82


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