Q&A: The Deficiency of the Place That Needed Creation
The Deficiency of the Place That Needed Creation
Question
Hello and blessings, Rabbi Michael.
Does the creation of man and the world not necessarily indicate that the Holy One, blessed be He, had some deficiency?
Does not every act of will or creation indicate that there was some lack?
Thank you for all your extensive activity online. I don't think you can imagine how much benefit you bring to people like me.
Answer
This has already come up here more than once. There is definitely no necessity for that. See Column 120 about altruistic actions by human beings, and all the more so with regard to the Holy One, blessed be He. But even if it does indicate a deficiency, there is no problem with that. He had a deficiency, and therefore He created the world and man. His perfection stems from the fact that He is able to deal with His deficiencies. And finally, who said He has no deficiencies? See Column 170.
Discussion on Answer
No, it is not meant to fulfill a need. That is why it is called altruism. It is an action done for the sake of another and not for my own sake.
And indeed, the Holy One, blessed be He, is egoistic. He created everything for His honor. In His case, egoism is not a flaw, because He takes care of Himself, and by doing so also takes care of the world that was created from Him.
2. I didn't understand. You yourself assume that He is perfect and are looking for an answer. Now you are suggesting that He not be perfect. So that is what I answered you afterward. He does not assume that becoming perfected is part of perfection. It is a fact that it is part of perfection. If He Himself determines what counts as perfect, then the statement that He is perfect is emptied of content.
And I already explained that if something can fulfill all its needs, it is perfect. What He created is considered part of Him, and therefore man's becoming perfected completes Him. So what is the problem?!
He was not lacking for as long as He had not created a world. You are evaluating Him at each moment separately. But the perfect entity is an entity that creates a human being who becomes perfected at some point in time over the course of history. Perfection itself is defined as a function that changes over the axis of time.
But we are repeating ourselves. It seems to me that we've exhausted this pilpul.
Thank you very much
Column 120—
I find it hard to accept absolute altruism, but even if it exists, it is meant to fulfill a need; whereas with regard to the Holy One, blessed be He, before creation, what “need” would it fulfill?
And if He created man deficient so that he would need His great goodness and He would bestow from His goodness upon him, then that is a form of pure egoism.
Column 170—
I very much enjoyed the article and Rabbi Kook's wonderful novel idea.
1— If it is as he says, then here we are certainly dealing with egoism (He is allowed; He is God).
2— With your pardon, I find it difficult to understand: from the fact that he “proved” that the process of perfection is the most exalted form of perfection, it follows that one would have to diminish the perfection of the Creator and complete it by means of the process of perfection of His creatures.
Why should one insist on perfection specifically through “becoming perfected,” and then need to complete the Creator's deficiency?
What he proved regarding the commandment of repentance, that it is part of the process of perfection, applies to a person whose sin created the need for perfection; but the Creator is perfect and does not require any additional perfection.
And what you wrote—that He was lacking and completed His deficiency through the very act of creation—it is hard to accept that the Holy One, blessed be He, was lacking for as long as He had not yet created the world.
I am familiar with the kabbalistic approach, which is capable of speaking about a deficiency in the Holy One, blessed be He. I am looking for an answer that can fit with the more straightforward conception.