Q&A: Anthropomorphism of the Holy One, Blessed be He
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Anthropomorphism of the Holy One, Blessed be He
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi!
Where did Jewish thinkers learn to attribute human traits to the Holy One, Blessed be He?
That He gets angry, upset, vengeful, or on the contrary,
slow to anger, merciful, and so on?
Is this connected to His involvement in the world?
Answer
First of all, there is no need to learn this. These are ways of describing how we perceive Him, and naturally that involves anthropomorphism. Second, the Torah itself was the first to do this. In other words, they learned it from Him Himself.