The supreme Being. *Judaism teaches that God is One; all forms of *idolatry are unequivocally condemned and so exalted is God that it is forbidden to try to contain him in any graven image or likeness. He is the *Creator of the Universe, all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good. Although he is King of all the nations, the *Jews are his special *chosen people. He has made a *covenant with them and they are obliged to keep his *Torah as expressed in the *Written and *Oral law. Ultimately they will be his agents for the *salvation of the whole world.
The duty of all human beings is to love him. His name, the Tetragrammaton, is sacred and must not be uttered—euphemisms such as *Adonai (‘The Lord’) or *Hashem (the Name) must be used instead. Inevitably Jewish philosophers were influenced by the Hellenistic Christian, Muslim or secular ideas of their time (eg. see *PHILO, *MAIMONIDES, *ROSENZWEIG). The *Kabbalists taught a doctrine of emanations from the divine (see *SEFIROT), arguing that nothing could be said about God himself (*En Sof). Although on occasion the Biblical writers describe Him *anthropomorphically, figurative images are also used such as father, shepherd, king, judge, healer or husband. These are all echoed in the prayers of the *liturgy. Among the very *Orthodox, it is customary to avoid even writing the word ‘God’—‘G-d’ is preferred.
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