Beliefs about God

• • Jews are monotheists. God is one and a unity.
• • A creator
• • Omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omnipresent
• TRANSCENDANT:

  • For my thoughts are not your thoughts,​    neither are your ways my ways,”​declares the Lord.​
  •  “As the heavens are higher than the earth,​ so are my ways higher than your ways​ and my thoughts than your thoughts.​
  • Outside limitations of time (pre-dates universe)
  • Able to observe the universe
  • Beyond human understanding
  • He cannot be seen (chooses when and how he reveals him)
  • Jews view God's presence in the world today as "Shekhinah"("presence")
• ETERNAL:

  • Existence is accepted as fact (Jews feel no need to argue)
  • Existed before universe was created (Jews accept he'd always existed and WILL always exist)
• MERCIFUL:

  • Judaism teaches God is a judge but he acts with mercy. ​
  • Revealed to the prophet Moses the laws and duties that are expected of all Jews (e.g. the Ten Sayings - Recorded in the Torah) God judges how each Jew follows the laws, but he balances justice with mercy
  • God's given 10 days after Rosh Hashanah to make up for wrongdoings before the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
• JUDGE:

  • Grants forgiveness if one is truly sorry
  • Rosh Hashanah (Jewish festival) celebrates creation of the world and believed to be the time God will judge every person. ​
  • Talmud describes how God will bring out scales to weigh a persons deeds (good deeds on one side, bad on other)