Q&A: The Unity of God
The Unity of God
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Maimonides says in his explanation of the unity of God that if there were several deities, then they would have to have an end, because they would necessarily be embodied.
Quote:
If there were many deities, they would be bodies and corporeal entities, because things that are counted and are equal in their existence can only be distinguished from one another by incidental features that occur in bodies and corporeal entities. And if the Creator were a body or corporeal entity, He would have an end and a limit, for it is impossible for there to be a body without an end. And anything whose body has an end and a limit—its power too has an end and a limit. But our God, blessed be His name, since His power has no end and never ceases—for the sphere revolves continually—His power is not the power of a body. And since He is not a body, the incidents of bodies do not occur to Him, so that He could be divided and separated. Therefore it is impossible that He be anything but one.
My question is:
Why must they be embodied? Why couldn’t there be many gods, each one existing in its own space, and each one orthogonal to the dimensions of the other gods?
After all, it is known that a human being lives in a four-dimensional world, while various physical theories speak of additional dimensions.
Best regards,
Rachel
Answer
Hello. I don’t see any connection to different dimensions and spaces. Maimonides’ words are not correct regardless of your suggestion, even within the very same space. There is simply no necessity that multiple gods would be corporeal. Different souls are different without being corporeal. And so are angels.
Discussion on Answer
I didn’t understand what the paragraph beginning “And following up on your answer” is referring to. What is said there isn’t familiar to me.
And as for your question: a Jew can believe whatever he believes. There is no such thing as “can believe.” Everyone believes what he believes.
Even if there are many dimensions, they all belong to physics. So when you are talking about a non-material entity, multiple additional dimensions won’t help you. The question of whether multiplicity entails materiality (as I said, in my opinion there is no connection at all) is a question unrelated to multiple dimensions.
Hello, thank you for the response,
And following up on your answer, what is the significance of God being one, as opposed to other cultures in which there are many gods?
Can a Jew believe in other gods? Be both Buddhist and Jewish at the same time?
My reference to multiple dimensions was meant to point to the possibility of multiple dimensions in the world as God created it, like in string theory.
Best regards,
Rachel