יהוה

A strong light is hostile to the eyes. An intense light will burn and destroy. An immense body of light will vaporize anything, turning molecules to atoms, atoms to particles, particles to energy.

An infinite light, however, knows no bounds. It can go anywhere and enter any place. Nothing can say to infinity, "I cannot bear you! You are too powerful for me!"-for, if so, that would be a limitation on the infinite.

That is the name the Kabbalists call G-d-the Infinite Light. No place is too small, no moment too insignificant, for the Infinite Light to belong.

They say the most profound darkness comes just before the dawn. The harshest oppression of our forefathers in Egypt came just before their liberation.

That was a coarse darkness of slavery of the body. Today it is a darkness of the soul, a deep slumber of the spirit of Man. There are sparks of light, glimmerings of a sun that never shone before --but the darkness of night overwhelms all.

The sun rises anew every morning, and every moment we rely upon it to keep shining. So too, the Creator renews His creation into being and life with a continual flow of energy.

There is a distinction, however: The sun supports life spontaneously. It is not concerned, nor interested -- nor even aware of the blade of grass that grows from its warmth and light. It is only being itself -- a giant atom crusher in the sky -- and we benefit here on earth.

Creation, on the other hand, is intentional. Every step along the way is a deliberate act, every detail is with intimate concern, every event is judged, decided and accounted for. He vitalizes each thing not only with His light -- but, like an artist, with His entire Being.

And yet, He remains unchanged -- like the sun above, and infinitely more so. Immanent, yet transcendent. For He knows no bounds.

Yahweh (Hebrew: יהוה‎, YHWH, also Yahu - the unvocalised YHWH is the only form that appeared in Hebrew before 800 CE, and Yahweh is a modern "best guess" scholarly convention) is a god in ancient Semitic religion and notably the god of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. The Bible describes Yahweh as the one true God who delivered Israel from Egypt and gave the Ten Commandments: "Then God spoke all these words. He said, ‘I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you lived as slaves. You shall have no other gods to rival me.’”^[1] Yahweh revealed himself to Israel as a God who would not permit his people to make idols or follow gods of other nations^[2] or worship gods known by other names, "I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, or My praise to idols."^[3] Yahweh demanded the role of the one true God in the hearts and minds of Israel, "Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one: and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."^[4]

Modern biblical scholars have used source criticism to interpret different character attributes of Yahweh. The documentary hypothesis employs source criticism to interpret different character attributes as originating in four distinct source documents of the Torah.^[5] For example, anthropomorphic descriptions, visits from Yahweh and use of the personal name prior to Exodus 3 are attributed to the Jahwist source.^[6] Use of the generic title, Elohim, and descriptions of Yahweh of a more impersonal nature (for example, speaking through dreams and angels rather than personal appearances) are attributed to the Elohist source.^[7] Descriptions of Yahweh as particularly concerned with whether Judah’s kings were good or bad and with centralized temple worship are attributed to the Deuteronomist source.^[8] Passages that portray Yahweh as acting through the Aaronid priesthood and temple-based sacrificial system are described as originating with the Priestly source.^[9]

The history of the emergence of Israelite monotheism and Yahweh worship has been the subject of scholarly study since at least the 19th century and Julius Wellhausen'’s Prolegomena to the History of Israel; in the 20th century the formative work was William F. Albright's Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1968), which insisted on the essential otherness of Yahweh from the Canaanite gods from the very beginning of Israel's history. However, scholars of the Ancient Near East have since seen Yahweh worship as emerging from a West Semitic and Canaanite background,^[10]^[11] a later, more gradual phenomenon than has been assumed.^[12] Worship of Yahweh alone is a central idea of historical Judaism.^[13] Much of Christianity views Jesus as the human incarnation of Yahweh^[14], for details see Names of God in Christianity. The importance of the divine name and the character of the “one true God” revealed as Yahweh are often contrasted with the significantly different character of rival deities known by different names in the traditional polytheistic religions.^[15] Some scholars, including William G. Dever, have asserted that the Asherah was worshipped as a consort of Yahweh, until the 6th century BCE, when strict monolatry of Yahweh became prevalent in the wake of the destruction of the first temple.^[16]^[17] However, the consort hypothesis has been subject to debate with numerous scholars publishing disagreement.^[18]

One theory is that Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh in the intertestamental period, replacing it with the common noun Elohim, “god”, to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel's God over all others. At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered, and was replaced in spoken ritual by the word Adonai (“My Lord”), or with haShem (“the Name”) in everyday speech^[19], see Names of God in Judaism for details