In this lecture on the weekly Torah portion V'etchanan, the speaker expounds on the verse that declares the oneness of God, framing it through three interrelated ideas: God’s presence in the heavens above, on the earth below, and even within the empty space of the world. Citing Midrashic interpretation, he emphasizes that nothing exists apart from the Creator, and that the perception of independent existence in the world is an illusion caused by our failure to perceive the divine life‑force that continuously sustains creation. He likens creation to the moon, which has no light of its own, illustrating that all reality is continuously generated by God’s life‑force. The talk then bridges this cosmic principle to personal spirituality, describing the “heaven above” as the godly part of the soul, the “earth below” as the physical body, and the “empty space” as the deeds and actions of a person. The speaker urges listeners to infuse every aspect of life—thoughts, body, and actions—with the Creator’s life‑force, thereby preparing the world for the forthcoming redemption where divine truth will be fully revealed.
Chapters
This week's portion is called V'etchanan. We are reading the verse about the directive that capsulates the idea of the oneness of God. Recognizing the oneness of the Creator must be understood through these 3 ideas. The first one is that the Creator is in the heavens above. The second, that he is on the earth below. And the third one tells us that there is nothing but the Creator. The Midrash explains that nothing knowing about the Creator means that God is even in the empty space of the world. The question is, why do we need to know all of this for? Is there an option, God forbid, for another god to exist? Another god that is hidden in the waters below the oceans, or maybe in space? Why is there a warning for us that we should know, that we should know this, and we should bring it close to our hearts? Jewish wisdom explains that this verse about the oneness of God not only comes to eliminate the possibility of the existence of another god, but it comes to explain that there is no other reality but God. The Creator is the only, is the one and the only reality that exists in this world. He's in the heavens above the earth and is on the earth below, and the Creator fills all the space of this world. The feeling of the independent existence of this world and the independent existence of the created beings in this world is an illusion. This illusion is the result of our inability to see the life force of the Creator creating all of reality at every moment. If we could see the truth, we would see that everything the Creator— everything is the Creator and the Creator is everything. Creation itself has no life of its own. Just like the moon have no light of its own, the world, this world was created something out of nothing, which is the reason why all of existence at every passing moment is being created by the Creator's life force. A force that fills up creation and creates the world at every moment. The matter of fact is that there is nothing else in existence but the Creator, the Creator himself. Some may think that only supernal and spiritual beings in the heavens above can contain the Creator's life force, which is why the Torah is adding that the Creator is also on the earth below. All physical beings are filled with the Creator's life force. But the question is, what about the empty space of this world? Is it also filled with the Creator's life force? Does it— I mean, does it have a life of its own? So the Torah continues to emphasize this idea that there is nothing else. Even in the empty space of this world, there is only one reality. The Creator is the one and only reality that there is. This concept actually exists in every person's life. Every person has the heaven above, which which is the godly part of his soul. Then there is the earth below, which is our physical body, which is a direct vessel to contain our soul. But it is also the space, the space of this world, which is all the deeds a person did throughout the day. The Torah is saying that we should insert the life force of the Creator not only in the heavens above or only on the earth below, but also in the empty space of this world, which means we should insert it inside all of the actions and the deeds we are engaged in. Everything must serve the Creator's life force and prepare the entire world to be a vessel for the revelation of the Creator's absolute truth. May be revealed very soon in the upcoming redemption. Thank you for watching.
