God as Creator in the Genesis Stories
The first 5 books of the Bible, (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) are known in Judaism as the Jewish “Torah” – the Law – because they contain key laws about how to related to God and others.
The Torah begins with Genesis, and the two stories of how God created the world – the 7 days of creation, with humans made on day 6 together with the animals, but unlike them, humans are made “in the image of God”. The second story, focusing specifically on the creation of Adam and Eve, the task God gave them of caring for the earth, and how they were made for each other.
Orthodox Jews are fundamentalists, and they take these stories as literally true (like Creationists/ Evangelicals in Christianity). Reform Jews (liberal), believe that the stories teach theological truths and are not meant to be taken literally (like Catholics/ Anglicans).
For all Jews, God is the Creator, and He is ultimately responsible for the fact that anything exists. For Jews, the world is too wonderful and complex to have happened by chance. A story is told about a Jewish rabbi who is said to have spilled a bottle of ink, over a poem. “Look!” he said, “the ink has spilled out a poem on the paper!” But when the people laughed he said “This act is impossible, just as it is impossible to think that the world was designed by accident”.
To celebrate creation, Jews rest on the 7th day, in memory of God who rested, and like God, to appreciate the wonder and beauty of creation and family life. They do not work on the Sabbath, and at Synagogue services, prayers are said, such as “Blessed be He who spoke, and the world existed”.
God as One, and Unique
Judaism is a monotheistic religion – it is forbidden to believe that there are any other gods apart from the One God. The first commandment states: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
The most famous prayer that all Jews say, morning and evening, the Shema, reflects this. It is a verse from the 5th book of the Torah (Deuteronomy):
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”. (Deut.6:4)
This One God is omnipotent, eternal and omnipresent. He is worthy of all praise, and none can compare to Him. He is omniscient. Only God can know the character of every single creature and their minds. Human language cannot describe him. He is ineffable. A 12th century rabbi said: “If I understand Him, I would be Him.”
Because God is ineffable, and unique, humans cannot describe him or make any representation of Him. The right attitude towards God, is reverence and awe – deep respect and fear, of His almighty presence. For this reason, Jews do not use God’s name – in writing, they may just write G-d, use “Lord” instead, or just say “Hashem” (=The Name).
God as Law-giver & Judge
The most important thing about God that relates to human life, is that God gave the Jews laws to live by. He gave them to Moses, on Mount Sinai, and they were first passed down orally, before they were written down in the Torah. Jews prove their commitment to God by keeping them – it puts them in a Covenant with God through Moses. Keeping the laws helps Jews to feel that they are forming a closer relationship with Him.
There are 613 such laws, called Mitzvots, scattered through the Toray. The 10 Commandments are the most important. But if God has given the Jews laws, which they promised to keep, then God has a right to judge them for it.
The Festival of Rosh Hashanah celebrates God’s creation of the world (=the Jewish New Year) but it also reminds Jews that God will judge every person for their own life. The Rabbis of old described how God has a pair of scales for each person, to weigh their good deeds and their bad, according to the Law of Moses.
But God is also believed to be merciful, so during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and the following festival of Yom Kippur, Jews repent, and appeal to God’s mercy. After death, it is impossible to repent, or do good deeds.