SUMMA METAPHYSICA SERIES
an artistic/graphic representation
a philosophical unification of science, spirituality, and religion
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a companion work to
www.SummaMetaphysica.com
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COPYRIGHT © 2010 DAVID BIRNBAUM
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Birnbaum, David. Q4P∞ / David Birnbaum. ISBN 978-0-9843619-2-2 1. Metaphysics.
2. Judaism.
3. God and Evil.
4. Religion and God.
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I. Title.
& INTRODUCTION
FOREWORD by Sanford Drob
David Birnbaum’s God and Evil is a bold and highly original synthe-
sis which attempts to provide an overarching metaphysical solution
to the vexing problem of radical evil in a world created and sustained by an all powerful, all knowing, benevolent God. Birnbaum’s treat-
ment of the highly intimidating and emotionally wrenching problem of a Jewish theodicy in a post-Holocaust world is audacious yet sen-
sitive, traditional and yet highly innovative. The work ranges over a multitude of traditional and contemporary (Orthodox and non-Orthodox) Jewish sources, draws inspiration from the likes of Gersonides, Isaac Luria, Rav Kook and Rav Soloveitchik, but also from such unexpected quarters as Aquinas and Irenaeus, and yet somehow manages to stay
within the parameters of an authenti-
cally Jewish, halakhic point of view.
Birnbaum’s book is an intellectual odyssey, yet it is also, as becomes very clear as one reads on, a highly passionate and emotional quest. The author is himself deeply troubled (as we all
should be) by the stark contrast between his
abiding faith in a God who is betrothed to (Hosea
2:21-21) and promises to guard the Jewish people in all their ways (Psalms 91:11), and who keeps kindness and mercy to the thousandth
generation (Exodus 34:6-7), and the realities of newborn infants “im-
mersed” unto death, and children being thrown alive into fires and
having chemicals injected into their eyes, spines and brains, to name
but a fraction of the atrocities experienced by God’s people in Nazi Europe.
& INTRODUCTION
The originality of Birnbaum’s approach is evident which-I-will be” (Exodus 3:13-14) which he sees
in his philosophical point of departure. Instead of as a prooftext for his claim that potential is the holifirst focusing on God’s attributes, and the possibil- est state of the Divine. Birnbaum sees the kabbality of reconciling these attributes with manifest ists’ sefirot as “primal quests for potentiality” which evil, Birnbaum begins with the question of the bridge the gap from “emptiness” to “something-
“purpose of man,” a query he believes can only ness,” and thereby become the vehicles of crebe answered by conducting a far more radical ation. inquiry into the ultimate purpose and, in-
deed, the origin of God. Birnbaum, like the The significance of “Holy Potential” as the primal
kabbalists of old, dares to raise the ques- thrust of the universe, is that man, created in the tion of the origins of the Creator of the image of God, has as his cosmic purpose the fulfill-
universe, a question which, in his view, ment of his own potential, encapsulated in the first must be raised on the grounds that its Biblical command, peru u’rivu, “be fruitful and
correct solution is a necessary propa- multiply” (Genesis 1:26). Birnbaum sees man-
deutic to genuine inquiry into the kind’s potential displayed in two possible, but muproblem of evil.
tually exculsive, sets of dynamics that were laid out in the Garden of Eden. The first of these, the dy-
Birnbaum’s proposed solution to the namic of the “Tree of Life/Bliss” promises a gilded question of divine origins, to the cage existence, dependence upon God, eternal life, mystery of the kabbalists’ En Sof (the
tamed evil but a limited potential for growth; the
infinite theistic principle giving rise second, the dynamic of the “Tree of Knowledge/
to the God of Israel) is that “Holy Po- Potential” promises a life of challenge, freedom,
tential is at the epicenter of the Di- privacy, responsibility, independence, untamed evil
vine,” that God is, by His very nature, and mortality, but an infinite potential for growth.
potential and possibility, “transcending, The two of these dynamics are, according to Birn-
space, time and cosmos,” and ever-surg- baum, mutually exclusive, in that insofar as one
ing towards greater actuality. Birnbaum participates in the first, he cannot participate in the
bases his thesis, in part, on the name by second, and vice versa. A life of infinite freedom/
which God first became known to Moses and potential is logically incompatible with depen-
Israel: Eheye Asher Eheyeh, “I-will-be-that- dence on God and personal immortality.
& INTRODUCTION
Given the fact that man, like God, has as his core essence, the real-
ization of his potential, it is an essentially foregone conclusion, writ-
ten into the very act of creation, that man would eat of the fruit, be banished from Eden, and fulfill the dynamic of the Tree of Knowledge. As such both natural and moral evil would forevermore both
plague and challenge mankind. Indeed, the very possibility of man’s
fulfilling his potential for good, both on the individual and collective levels, is predicated on the possibility of both natural evil (as a chal-
lenge to man’s resources) and moral evil (as a challenge to his freedom).
The closer mankind comes to fulfilling his spiritual, intellectual and other potentials, the closer he comes to fulfilling his purpose on earth via his role as a partner with God in creation. In doing so, however,
man must maximize his privacy, independence and freedom. As mankind then moves closer to its own self-actualization, God must,
of necessity, retreat further and further into “eclipse.” Mankind has,
over the centuries, indeed ascended greatly in knowledge, implicitly demanding greater and greater freedom. For God to intervene di-
rectly in human affairs at this late stage in mankind’s development, as he did, for example, for the Jews in Egypt, would reverse the very development of both His and mankind’s essence, and in Birnbaum’s terms, threaten to “unravel the cosmos.”
Sanford Drob Editor-in-Chief NY Jewish Review February 1990
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100 100.00
Holy potential is at the epicenter of the Divine.
200 200.00
Holy quest for potential is the underlying core dynamic of the cosmic order.
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300 300.10
Two possible but mutually exclusive sets of dynamics were open to man (at Eden).
300.20
The two dynamics are: “Tree of Life/ Bliss” 1. A “gilded cage” existence 2. Intellectual satedness
3. Limited growth potential 4. Dependence 5. Eternal life
6. “Leashed” “natural evil” 7. Bliss
8. Limited potential for “moral good,” “moral evil”
9. Lesser dignity
“Tree of Knowledge/Potential” 1. A life of challenge, freedom, privacy, and responsibility
2. Pursuit of knowledge
3. Infinite growth potential 4. Independence 5. Mortality
6. “Unleashed” “natural evil” 7. Pain and Joy
8. Higher potential for “moral good,” “moral evil”
9. Higher dignity
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300.30
In a world predicated on potential,
man inexorably took the route of “Tree of Knowledge/Potential.”
300.40
“Natural evil” and “moral evil” would consequently forevermore plague and challenge man.
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400 400.10
Evil is the implicit flip-side, or converse, of good. Evil is anti polar to good.
400.20
With the creation of potential for good,
which is required for man to be able to reach
his spiritual potential, potential for evil indirectly, but nevertheless, inexorably, came into existence as a consequence.
400.30
To destroy evil would, at the least, destroy good.
400.40
While an omnipotent Deity may have an impact on nature, even an omnipotent Deity does not violate universal laws and dynamics implicit in the universal Deity’s essence, as violating them could unravel the cosmos.
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500 500.10
Man is finite+ seeking to approach Infinity
500.20
The purpose of man is to quest for his potentialities —spiritual, intellectual, and all other.
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500.30
The closer man approaches the achievement of his spiritual and other potentialities,
the closer he comes to fulfilling the primal quests of creation.
500.40
Man, (infinite) God, and the universe are all questing for their potentialities.
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600 600.00
Man is innately free and striving for fuller freedom.
700 700.10
In order for man to reach his full potential, he must operate from a base of freedom.
(This is a law of the universe in concert with the balance of dynamics of the Tree of Knowledge chosen at Eden.)
700.20
The greater the freedom component of man’s base, the greater his ultimate potential
(inherent in Tree of Knowledge paradigm chosen at Eden).
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800 800.10
Man is ascendant - at least in knowledge.
800.20
As mankind and Judaism ascend in knowledge (and possibly in consciousness)
on the road to fulfilling a primal drive of creation, there is an implicit demand for fuller freedom.
(This is implicit in our paradigm of the Tree of Knowledge.)
800.30
A demand for fuller freedom
(as a consequence of an ascent in knowledge) has embodied within it a demand
for greater privacy, responsibility,
and self-hood - so that man can more ably quest for his potential.
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900 900.10
As mankind ascends in knowledge, implicitly demanding more freedom, there
is a proportional contraction (tsimtsum) of Divine here and now consciousness.
This is a primary form of Hester Panim which yields man ever greater freedom, privacy, responsibility, and selfhood - with concomitant potential.
900.20
As the contraction of real-time Divine consciousness continues, (as mankind ascends in knowledge and freedom),
there is a commensurate lower incidence and level of direct particular providence
- for the sake of the general providence of allowing mankind to quest for its full potential.
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Cosmic Code
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