Q&A: Tzimtzum in Its Plain Ordinary Sense or the Dimensions Model
Tzimtzum in Its Plain Ordinary Sense or the Dimensions Model
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I’m listening to your series “The Holy One, Blessed Be He, and the World” on YouTube, and in the discussion of tzimtzum you support an approach that is a synthesis of the different sides (the world exists, but within a reality in which it does not occupy any part of God, similar to a plane within a volume. Sorry if the wording isn’t precise enough).
The reason is that you think there is real substance to the Hasidic claim that “the whole earth is full of His glory,” and it is reasonable to assume that God did not become diminished.
Why is that assumption reasonable? If you already reached the conclusion elsewhere that God needs us in order to become complete, and that is why He created us, then why not say that He is indeed actually lacking, and therefore this is ordinary tzimtzum in its plain sense?
(Or perhaps you only suggested this as another possibility that could explain the Hasidic view in accordance with the “principle of charity,” and you do not yourself support it as the primary possibility.)
Thank you,
Nathan
Answer
Good question. First of all, this is a proposal that offers a resolution for someone who adopts the assumption that “the whole earth is full of His glory” and that He is infinite.
Since there is fairly good evidence for His infinity from the Bible and from reason, I tend to think there is something to it, and therefore I tend in that direction as well.