Let My People Know

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: “No person has ever seen electricity; we have no direct way to perceive it.”

The problem of concealment exists not only regarding the divine essence (which is certainly beyond any comprehension), but even includes the reality within which we live.

The problem is that we do not sense the causal chain of life, the causality that acts between the holiness of God and mankind, that penetrates into our reality level after level.

There is a difference between the concealment of the Divine itself, “God who conceals Himself,” and the concealment of the illumination and spreading forth of life force from Him.

God “conceals” Himself  because we are unable to comprehend Him.

But we should be able to sense God’s illumination in the world, the life force that flows from Him and sustains us.

Electricity is an analogy for this.

No person has ever seen electricity; we have no direct way to perceive it.

In fact, we don’t have any understanding of what electricity is.

Yet even though we don’t know what electricity is, we can feel an electrical shock.

Beyond this, we can construct devices that harness its power, activate its force, and experience its strength.

In this sense, we do not comprehend the entity itself, but we comprehend its illumination; we feel its manifestations.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz