Let My People Know

"Like God Himself, His name transcends all being and comprehension"

 

The names of God that appear in the Bible and Talmud are not His names as He truly is. 

They are a description, rather, of the divine revelation in a particular manner, in a particular sefirah.

All that we can say about God's "great name" is that it cannot be revealed or known. 

That name preceded the existence of all–"before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Name alone existed" (Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer)–and it rises higher than any reality–"His name alone is exalted" (Psalms 148:13). 

Like God Himself, His name transcends all being and comprehension. 

Like the infinite divine light, God's name cannot be apprehended–all we can perceive is its glory and radiance as they shine upon the heavens and earth.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From The Thirteen Petalled Rose (new edition) by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz