Without the world, what would God be? The answer is simply, God. On the other hand, without God, the world would cease to exist.

God is so powerful that without the world He would not be reduced one iota. In the same breath, God's immanence is such that without Him the world would be nothing.

Rashi enhances this idea through his interpretation of the famous sentence found in this week's portion, Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Ehad. "Hear O Israel the Lord is our God the Lord is One." (Deuteronomy 6:4)

In the words of Rashi, the verse comes to tell us that "Hashem, the Lord, who is our God, now...He will be in the future One Lord, as it is stated... 'in that day shall the Lord be One and His name One.'" (Zekhariah 14:9)

The implication is clear: God in the world today is not fully One in the sense that he has not been accepted by all of humankind. It is up to us, who know of God's greatness, to spread the name of God so that He will be received as One throughout the world.

The second paragraph of the well known Aleinu prayer makes this very point. There we yearn for the time when "the world will be perfected under the reign of the Almighty, le-takein olam be-malkhut Shakai" and all humankind will express allegiance to God.. "On that day," the paragraph continues, quoting the sentence from Zekhariah which Rashi understands as an explanation of Shema, "God will be One, and His name One." Note that the whole paragraph is in the future, implying that in the present God is not One in the sense that He has not been embraced by all.

This idea is also echoed in the text about Amalek where God swears by His name and throne that He will forever war against Amalek. God's name and throne are written uniquely as they are incomplete in the text --keis, Kah. (Exodus 17:16) Indeed, Rashi writes: "The Holy One blessed be He swears that His name and throne will not be whole and One until Amalek will be utterly blotted out."

Once again it is up to the human being, with God's help, to eradicate Amalek or the forces of Amalek. In this sense, while God does not need the human being-- as He is, of course, independent and self existent-- we have a strong and important role in His future. For only through the efforts of humankind will His name be One and His throne be complete.

In one word: while the existence of God does not at all depend upon humankind, the manifestation of God and the proliferation of the Divine message in this world very much depends on each and every one of us.


Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Avi Weiss