This is largely based on Zohar Atkins's [_Creation is Great, But Have You Tried Revelation?_](https://etzhasadeh.substack.com/p/creation-is-great-but-have-you-tried). In fact, that essay is poetic and profound that you should just read that and skip this shiur.
>Theologians and philosophers have long puzzled over the question, “Why did God create the world?” “Why is there something and not Nothing?”
>
The Torah does not give us an explicit answer to this age old question. We are not permitted to read God’s mind, assuming it were even legible—though this hasn’t stopped us from speculating. Seemingly, this is the great metaphysical question, the alpha of all searches, the vanishing point at which all disciplines converge.
>
But this week’s Torah reading—Yitro (Ex. 18:1-20:23)—raises a question that I find equally (if not more) compelling. Why does God reveal Godself to us? Why doesn’t God simply place a chip in our brains in which the Torah is pre-installed? Alternatively, why doesn’t God rule by an Invisible Hand, allowing us to derive all that the Torah contains through a combination of reason and experience? Why—according to the Torah—does God appear, and appear at Sinai? Numerous solutions have been proposed over the years. One common answer offered by rationalist theologians is so that we should know that God—and not the human mind—is the source of all knowledge. That seems somewhat weak, though. After all, couldn’t God simply program us to know that?
--Zohar Atkins, [_Creation is Great, But Have You Tried Revelation?_](https://etzhasadeh.substack.com/p/creation-is-great-but-have-you-tried)
There's a famous argument about the first "Commandment":
{:he}
>אנכי ה׳ אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים׃
--שמות כ:ב
Is is a commandment at all? The Torah never refers to them as Ten Commandments, just Ten Statements:
{:he}
>ויגד לכם את בריתו אשר צוה אתכם לעשות עשרת הדברים; ויכתבם על שני לחות אבנים׃
--דברים ד:יג
The question is, can ה׳ command belief? If you don't start with faith in ה׳, then a commandment to do so has no force.
{:he}
><b>א</b> יְסוֹד הַיְסוֹדוֹת וְעַמּוּד הַחָכְמוֹת לֵידַע שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁם מָצוּי רִאשׁוֹן. וְהוּא מַמְצִיא כָּל נִמְצָא. וְכָל הַנִּמְצָאִים מִשָּׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ וּמַה שֶּׁבֵּינֵיהֶם לֹא נִמְצְאוּ אֶלָּא מֵאֲמִתַּת הִמָּצְאוֹ.
>
...<b>ו</b> וִידִיעַת דָּבָר זֶה מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ ב) "אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ".
--משנה תורה, הלכות יסודי התורה א
{:he}
>והנראה מדעתו של בעל ההלכות שאין מנין תרי"ג מצות אלא גזירותיו יתעלה שגזר עלינו לעשות או מנענו שלא נעשה, אבל האמונה במציאותו יתעלה שהודיע אותה אלינו באותות ומופתים ובגילוי השכינה לעינינו הוא העיקר והשורש שממנו נולדו המצות לא ימנה בחשבונן.
--השגות הרמב"ן על ספר המצוות, מצוות עשה א
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Atkins argues that it *is* a commandment, but not so much to *believe* in G-d, as to accept a personal relationship with G-d.
{:he}
>אמר ריש לקיש, מאי דכתיב (בראשית א:לא): וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי, ה׳ יתירה למה לי?—מלמד שהתנה הקדוש ברוך הוא עם מעשה בראשית ואמר להם: אם ישראל מקבלים התורה—אתם מתקיימין, ואם לאו—אני מחזיר אתכם לתוהו ובוהו.
--שבת פח ע,א
>I think of this passage as analogous to an artist who says that if their artwork is not appreciated, they will destroy it.
>
To speak of a God who takes people out of slavery is philosophically absurd. But more philosophically absurd, I would argue, is a God who not only liberates, but seeks to be *recognized*, as a liberator—which is what we find in the First Commandment, revealed in this week’s /parasha/.
--Zohar Atkins, [_Creation is Great, But Have You Tried Revelation?_](https://etzhasadeh.substack.com/p/creation-is-great-but-have-you-tried)
>[A]s I understand it, the commandment is not an abstract theological requirement, but an existential insight into the nature of Torah. The Torah is to be understood, fundamentally, as God’s self-expression, God’s entrusting of Godself to us as readers and listeners.
--Zohar Atkins, [_Creation is Great, But Have You Tried Revelation?_](https://etzhasadeh.substack.com/p/creation-is-great-but-have-you-tried)
>Learning Torah proceeds from intense faith, but it is not merely a matter of faith. The encounter with the Divine takes place through lifelong intellectual engagement with God’s infinite mind, which surpasses all praise and, by implication, all belief.
>
...What, then, makes the Torah, as the psalmist says, “sweeter than honeycombs”? The answer lies in the joy of discovering God’s mind. Talmud Torah demands intense engagement with God’s will in order to bring to light new facets of the Divine Mind. To study Torah leads to new insights. And with every insight there emerges a deeper sense of the infinity of insights still hidden, waiting to be gleaned. Truly, as the infinite horizons of the Torah bring us to see, the mind of God is without limit.
>
The Torah was given as an invitation into the infinite expanses and depths of His mind, precisely because God refuses to present Himself in finite form. The Torah is not God incarnate; it is not a finite embodiment of God; it is a bridge to divine infinity. God does not make Himself finite through the Torah; he gives finite, fallible human beings the means to commune with His infinite mind. Through the nature of the law and its sanctifying regard for even the most minute of human actions, we can conceive of the loving nature of the Lawgiver; in the infinitude of the Torah we are given a glorious glimpse of the infinitude of the Almighty.
--Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik, [_Torah and Incarnation_](https://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/10/torah-and-incarnation)
The
first Commandment not so much to believe that ה׳ exists, Rambam's מָצוּי רִאשׁוֹן, but that ה׳ is not simply the unthinking universe, not Spinoza's God, but One Who can have a relationship with mortal human beings, and *wants that relationship*.
It comes down to the difference between מדת הדין and מדת הרחמים, between יקוק and אלוקים. The key word in the first דברה is not ה׳ אלקיך, but אנכי. It is about accepting הקב״ה as an "I".
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And that is what the second half of the דברה is: אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים.
{:he}
><em>אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים</em>: כדאי היא ההוצאה שתהיו משעבדים לי (מכילתא).
--רש״י, שמות כ:ב
>Apparently, Rashi and the Mechilta were bothered by the old problem...why didn't the Almighty introduce Himself as the creator of heaven and earth?
>
Rashi answered that the fact of creation is the source and basis of the universal relationship between G-d and man...With creation, G-d is the ruler, G-d is the master...Within the covenantal community, G-d is not only the ruler, law, and creator, but also teacher, comrade, friend and counselor.
--Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, [_שיעור על עשרת הדברות_](https://www.ybt.org/Shavuos/Noraos_HaRav_05-Shalosh_Shiurim_Al_Aseres_HaDibros_Chag_Shavuos_VeGeulas_Yisrael-Prepared_and_edited_by_B_David_Schreiber-Rabbi_Y_D_Soloveitchik.pdf), p. 47
Rav Soloveitchik cites the Yershalmi, that ה׳, as it were, went into exile with us and came out of Egypt with us:
{:he}
>תניא, חנניא בן אחי ר' יהושע אומר: אנכי ה׳ אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים--הוצאתו כתיב.
--ירושלמי סוכה ד:ג
{:he}
>ר"ל שכביכול גם הוא בעצמו יצא משם וכמש"כ עמו אנכי בצרה...שדריש מדלא כתיב ”הוצאתי אותך“ הוי כמו דכתיב הוצאתי אִתְּךָ.
--תורה תמימה, שמות כ:ב
>We both were oppressed. We both were in bondage. We both gained freedom. This singular relationship which binds G-d with man, within one fellowship, is a result not of creation, but of יציאת מצרים.
>
...It is interesting that this passuk of the Decalogue represents the first time that G-d took His name, changed it to a possessive noun, and said אנכי ה׳ אלקיך, I am *thy* G-d; you own Me; I am your property. I own you as creator; you own Me as a member of the covenantal community.
--Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, [_שיעור על עשרת הדברות_](https://www.ybt.org/Shavuos/Noraos_HaRav_05-Shalosh_Shiurim_Al_Aseres_HaDibros_Chag_Shavuos_VeGeulas_Yisrael-Prepared_and_edited_by_B_David_Schreiber-Rabbi_Y_D_Soloveitchik.pdf), pp. 48-49
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That's a deep idea, but Atkins takes it in a different direction. There is a lesson here for us, in our relationship with others. Our purpose in existence is {:la}/imitatio dei/:
{:he}
>מה הוא נקרא חנון, אף אתה היה חנון; מה הוא נקרא רחום, אף אתה היה רחום; מה הוא נקרא קדוש, אף אתה היה קדוש.
--משנה תורה, הלכות דעות א:יא
And the fact that ה׳ “needs” recognition tells us that we all need recognition:
>The inner sense of dignity seeks recognition. It is not enough that I have a sense of my own worth if other people do not publicly acknowledge it or, worse yet, if they denigrate me or don’t acknowledge my existence.
--Francis Fukuyama, [_Identity_](https://www.amazon.com/Identity-Demand-Dignity-Politics-Resentment/dp/0374129290), cited by Zohar Atkins, {:la}/idem/
>But revelation only works if there is recognition to meet it...God lets Godself be recognized by ex-slaves, by those who have lived unrecognized. In so doing, God also shows the Israelites that they matter, they have dignity, they are seen. If we follow Reish Lakish’s reasoning, it’s not just that God would destroy the world if God were unrecognized, it’s that God needs ex-slaves to be the ones who recognize God.
--Zohar Atkins, [_Creation is Great, But Have You Tried Revelation?_](https://etzhasadeh.substack.com/p/creation-is-great-but-have-you-tried)
>It is not coincidental that the Revelation of God at Sinai occurs right after the liberation of the slaves from Egypt. The first commandment explicitly ties the two events together. Slaves are denied recognition and dignity by their owners. Who better than newly liberated slaves to grasp the power of being recognized? In revealing Godself to us, God reveals to us the need to reveal ourselves to—and be recognized—by others. In receiving divine epiphany, we practice receiving the epiphanies of others. If we can listen when “God speaks God’s truth,” we can surely listen when our fellow earthlings speak theirs.
--Zohar Atkins, [_Creation is Great, But Have You Tried Revelation?_](https://etzhasadeh.substack.com/p/creation-is-great-but-have-you-tried)
אנכי ה׳ אלקיך gives meaning to ואהבת לרעך כמוך.