Third Principle: God is Not Physical

Full Summary

This shiur provides an in-depth analysis of the third principle of Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of Faith: that God is totally non-physical and incorporeal. Rabbi Zweig begins by addressing the common misconception that this principle is merely philosophical, explaining that each of the thirteen principles is essential - without understanding any one of them, a person's entire relationship with God is compromised, regardless of their mitzvah (מצוה) observance. Rabbi Zweig addresses the famous dispute between the Rambam (רמב"ם) and the Ra'avad regarding those who believe God has a physical form. He clarifies that the Ra'avad never argued that God actually has a body, but rather questioned whether someone who mistakenly believes this due to literal interpretation of scriptures should be considered a non-believer. The Ra'avad maintained that such a person, though incorrect, shouldn't be labeled an apostate if their error stems from sincere study of biblical texts. The core insight of the shiur is that our intuitive understanding of God is fundamentally flawed. Most people conceive of God as a 'superman' - a being like ourselves but with infinitely greater abilities, intelligence, and power. This anthropomorphic view, Rabbi Zweig argues, is precisely what the third principle comes to correct. When we imagine God as a super-human with enhanced versions of human attributes, we are essentially creating God in our image rather than recognizing His true transcendent nature. Rabbi Zweig connects this principle to the philosophical problem of divine knowledge versus human free will. He reinterprets the Rambam's famous discussion in Hilchot Teshuvah, arguing that the Rambam did provide an answer to this apparent contradiction. The solution lies in understanding that God's knowledge is qualitatively different from human knowledge - not merely superior in degree, but entirely different in nature. Just as God's essence is non-physical, His way of knowing transcends human categories of understanding. The practical implications are profound. When people ask why God would care about seemingly minor details like kashrut, they are operating from the flawed 'superman' model of God - imagining a cosmic being sitting on a throne, looking down at trivial human activities. Rabbi Zweig explains that this perspective fundamentally misunderstands God's relationship to creation. God is not separate from the universe looking down; rather, He is the source and sustainer of all existence, intimately connected to every detail of creation. Regarding the anthropomorphic language in the Torah (תורה) (God's hand, anger, etc.), Rabbi Zweig rejects the common explanation that these are merely metaphors or accommodations to human understanding. Instead, he proposes that everything in our physical world is a precise reflection of spiritual realities in the divine realm. When the Torah speaks of God's 'hand,' it refers to that divine power which, when manifested in our finite world, expresses itself as human hands and the actions they perform. Our physical attributes and emotions are finite expressions of infinite divine qualities - not crude approximations, but exact representations at our level of reality. This understanding transforms how we read biblical anthropomorphisms. Rather than God being described in human terms, humans possess attributes that reflect divine qualities. The relationship flows from the infinite to the finite, not from human experience projected upward. This reverses the Greek approach of creating gods as perfected humans, instead recognizing humans as bearing precise finite expressions of infinite divine attributes. The shiur concludes by addressing the verse about humans being created 'b'tzelem Elokim' (in God's image). This doesn't mean God looks like us, but rather that we are created as finite representations of infinite divine qualities, capable of relating back to our divine source through our spiritual development.