Hashem and His name 2: Rambam

We had discussed think the statement of Rabbi Eliezer that before the world was created there was only Hashem and his Great Name.

Rambam in Moreh Nevukhim 1: 61 correctly identifies this as a problem to the central teaching that undergirds his entire philosophy – that God's attributes are simply names that humans give to the effects of His actions. Here is how he puts this point:

"It is well known that all the names of God occurring in Scripture are derived from His actions, except one, namely, the Tetragrammaton, which consists of the letters yod, hé, vau and hé. This name is applied exclusively to God, and is on that account called Shem ha-meforash, "The nomen proprium." It is the distinct and exclusive designation of the Divine Being; whilst His other names are common nouns, and are derived from actions, to which some of our own are similar, as we have already explained."

Given that names are simply what we call his actions, what is it that the Rabbi Eliezer actually saying? Actions can only be possible after the world is created whereas Rabbi Eliezer's statement refers to something that appears to be in true and eternal and existing before the Creation.

Rambam does two things. One, he uses Rabbi Eliezer's statement to reinforce his own take on the Attributes. Two, he interprets the statement of Rabbi Eliezer in a way that intends to remove the problem but which is in itself not very clear. I quote his interpretation.

"In the Pirke Rabbi Eliezer (chap. iii.) occurs the following passage: "Before the universe was created, there was only the Almighty and His name." Observe how clearly the author states that all these appellatives employed as names of God came into existence after the Creation. This is true; for they all refer to actions manifested in the Universe. If, however, you consider His essence as separate and as abstracted from all staff actions, you will not describe it by an appellative, but by a proper noun, which exclusively indicates that essence. Every other name of God is a derivative, only the Tetragrammaton is a real nomen proprium, and must not be considered from any other point of view."

Rabbi Dovid Luria in his commentary to Pirke D'Rabbi Eliezer has harsh words against this passage of Moreh Nevukhim. First he points out that Rambam was not very definitive and that his language is, "It is possible to say". He then focuses on Rambam's admission that, although names cannot be applied to Hashem, the one that denotes essence can be applied to Hashem. "How can it be", he asks, "that before the creation any name can exist?". He continues that it is not consistent with Rambam's own insistence that no attribute at all then be applied to God. If this is so, then existence(metsius) is also an attribute that cannot be applied to Him." He ends with a interesting statement that the Kabbalists were more consistent in not attributing physicality to God then Rambam.

I did not see that classic commentators on Rambam deal well with this question. I also think that Rav Dovid Luria conflates Existence with Essence. However, in the question of existence as an Attribute lies a potential answer.

The name Havaya certainly has something to do with existence because it is a combination of the three tenses of the word "to be": past, present, and future. Existence is not quite an attribute, in the sense that Will, Knowledge, Movement, etc might be. Existence is much closer to Essence than other Attributes. I have spoken of it here.

Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason argued that existence is also an external attribute, for it is possible to imagine a horse which is in every aspect the same as a real, specific horse, except that it does not exist. This was his argument against the Ontological Proof, which states that a Perfect God must exist. Perfection must include existence for there is no greater imperfection than non-existence. Platinga, a contemporary Catholic philosopher, has offered an interesting counter-argument against Kant. In any case, this may be what Rambam meant - that Existence is different than any other Name. The name Havaya, which denotes existence, was applicable to Hashem's essence even before the creation.

In the next post we will delve into the question of early Kabbalists of whether Keter was pre-existent with God prior to creation, or not. This is usually expressed as the question of whether Keter is a part of the the ten sefiros or a part of the Ain Sof and not one of the ten sefiros.

 

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