God Beyond God

In the 13th century, Jews discovered Nothing. More accurately, the divine Nothing, Ayin, the no-thing-ness beyond and prior to even YHVH. Where did this idea — that the most essential part of God is characterized by absence — come from?

Medieval Jewish philosophers like Maimonides taught that God is absolutely transcendent, meaning beyond the world. They also taught that God is incomparable, like nothing we can know or experience. In other words, they had a lot more to say about what God is not than what God is. This laid part of the foundation for the radical idea of God as Nothing.

More decisive, however, was the early kabbalist Azriel of Gerona’s “discovery” of Ayin from his encounter with the thought of the 9th-century Christian theologian John Scotus Eriugena. Before Eriugena, many Christians and Jews believed in creation ex nihilo, the idea that God created the world from nothing, summoning matter into being from a void. But Eriugena took this idea one step further, understanding creation ex nihilo as signifying the emergence of being from God’s nihil. This paved the way for identifying God with Nothing.

By the time the Zohar was written, Nothing had assumed its place as God’s deepest essence and the uppermost sefira, Keter. Nothing-ness, likewise, assumed a key role in the mystical quest. This meant the mystic sought to ascend through the sefirotic realm to the highest reaches of divinity, to encounter Nothing. It also meant the practice of self-annihilation, of making oneself nothing, became a significant mode of worship. 

Here, one might justifiably ask: How did they dare? Which is to say, where in classical Jewish literature is there reference to this audacious idea of a divine Nothing above and beyond YHVH? To which the Zohar replies: Right here, in Parashat Sh’lach! 

In Numbers 13, Moses charges spies with leaving the desert to reconnoiter the promised land. He says to them: “Observe the land, what is it like? And the people inhabiting it, are they strong or slack, are they few or many? And what is the land they inhabit, is it good or bad? And what are the cities in which they dwell, are they in open settlements or in fortresses? And what is the land like, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not?” (Numbers 13:17–20)

In the Zohar’s commentary on this passage, Rabbi Hiyya wonders why Moses would ask the spies to assess the quality of the land, given that God has already promised it flows with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8). Rabbi Shimon explains that Moses is really tasking the spies with assessing something else. When Moses asks, “Are there trees in it or not?” what he is really asking is: “Are there trees in it or Not(hing)?” (The Hebrew word for “not,” ayin, is the same as the word for the divine Nothing.) It is not, therefore, a question of ecology. It is a question of metaphysics.

He (Moses) said to them (the spies): If you see that the fruit of the land is like that of other lands of the world, then “it has a tree” — and not from a higher place. But if you see that the fruit of the land is superior to and different from anywhere in the world, you will know that this supernal unique difference flows and draws from the Holy Ancient One. Thereby you will know whether, “there are trees in it or not(hing).”

Zohar 3:158b
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According to the Zohar’s hyper-literal reading, Moses was in fact asking the spies to discern which aspect of God holds sway in the land. The reading hinges on reading the word ayin not as Nothing. Moses wants to know: Is it “trees” who rule the land, or Nothing that reigns? Is it the middle sefirot, Hokhmah through Yesod, which are collectively known as the tree of life and as YHVH, that are to be found there? Or is it the higher, more recondite aspect of divinity, Nothing, which corresponds to the top sefira, Keter. 

This, in turn, opens the door to reading the word ayin as Nothing elsewhere in the Torah.

Rabbi Abba said: What is the meaning of the verse, “Is YHVH among us or not(hing)?” (Exodus 17:7) Now, were the Israelites stupid, not knowing this? They saw Shekhinah in front of them, and clouds of glory above, surrounding them — and yet they said: “Is YHVH among us or not(hing)?” People who saw the radiant glory of their King at the sea — and we have learned: A maidservant at the sea saw what the eyes of the prophet Ezekiel never saw — would they be so stupid as to say: Is YHVH among us or not? Rather, Rabbi Shimon said as follows: They wanted to discern between the Ancient One — concealed of all concealed, called Nothing — and the Short-Tempered One. Therefore it is not written: “Is YHVH among us or no (lo)?” Rather, it is written: “Is YHVH among us or not (ayin)?”

Zohar 2:64b
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As with the question posed to the spies, the issue here is which aspect of divinity is present: Is it YHVH, the central male part of God identified with the sefira of Tiferet (here referred to as the Short-Tempered One), because this configuration contains judgment? Or is it Ayin, Not, Nothing, the Ancient One, the highest and most hidden aspect of God? Ayin, then, is a mysterious realm of inscrutable divinity beyond YHVH. Or, as the 14th-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart said, “the God beyond God.”

Let us conclude our exploration of Nothing with a short Yiddish poem by the modernist-kabbalistic poet Aaron Zeitlin (1898–1973). The poem is called “Knowing the Nothing”:

One thing I call dust, another—gold.

But which is dust? Which is gold? This I know not.

Not even a jot.

O, would that I knew, in place of knowing nothing,

Knew the Nothing,

From which You create dust and gold,

And me too, the something, who wishes to know that Nothing-Not,

But doesn’t know anything, not even a jot! 

     (Lider fun khurbn un lider fun gloybn, volume 2, p. 481.)

This piece was originally published as part of A Year of Zohar: Kabbalah for Everyone, an original series produced by My Jewish Learning and Sefaria. Sign up for the entire series here.