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Topic: G-d and Rest

Rabbikolbo@aol.com wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

If Hashem was resting in New York, He was still creating in California. If we would travel around the world wouldn't it make it that Hashem never did rest (stop creating) in totality? He only rested in individual places?


Dear Rabbikolbo@aol.com,

You are suggesting that Hashem was in a particular place and/or time. In fact, space/time were creations of G-d, but He is outside of those creations. When the Torah says that G-d "rested" on the seventh day, it means that He ceased the creation of new categories, but He continues to will the already existent world into existence. The term "He rested" is not a real description of what G-d did, it is anthropomorphic. It is using a human term inapplicable to G-d to describe something G-d wants to teach us, but not to describe G-d. The seventh day here is something that G-d knows and can see, even though He does not experience seven days, or time, and hence it is possible to talk of Hashem ceasing new creation on the seventh day.


 
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