Hashem’s “Attributes” of Mercy
Matt Schneeweiss
Introduction
The cornerstone of selichos is the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim, commonly translated as "The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy." On Yom Kippur, recitations of the yud gimel middos ha'rachamim permeate all of our tefilos, especially tefilas ne'ilah - our last chance to beseech Hashem for atonement.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a widespread misconception of the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim. The pervasiveness of this mistaken notion is evident from the common translation of "middos" in this context as "attributes." Many people are under the impression that Hashem's mercy is an attribute or a set of attributes.
This error is not insignificant. In fact, according to the Rambam, a person who harbors such a belief is a min (heretic) and has no portion in the World to Come. The Rambam even goes so far as to equate belief in Hashem's attributes with belief in the Christian doctrine of the trinity (Guide for the Perplexed 1:53):
If, however, someone believes that He is one, but possesses a certain number of essential attributes, he says in his words that He is one, but believes Him in his thought to be many. This resembles what the Christians say: namely, that He is one, but also three, and that the three are one. Similar to this is the assertion of him who says that He is one but possesses many attributes and that He and His attributes are one.
One who approaches God with such a notion of His middos ha'rachamim will not only fail to obtain His mercy, but will be the object of His wrath. Therefore, before we review the correct idea of the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim, we must fully uproot the incorrect idea and understand why it is incorrect.
The Incorrect Idea
According to the Rambam's formulation, the second fundamental principle of the Torah is Hashem's Oneness (Commentary to Perek Chelek):
The Second Fundamental Principle is His Oneness, may He be exalted. Namely, that this Cause of everything is One, not like the oneness of a species and not like the oneness of a class, and not like one unified composite, which can be divided into many unities, and not one like a simple body, which is one in number but is subject to division and subdivision ad infinitum, but He, may He be exalted, is One – a Oneness unlike any other oneness in any way.
Hashem is One; He is utterly devoid of any plurality whatsoever. Anything which has attributes partakes of plurality and is therefore not absolutely one. For instance, a red ball is not one because it has many attributes: color, weight, size, location, temperature, sphericity, and so on. If Hashem had an attribute or attributes of mercy, He would partake of plurality, and would therefore not be Absolutely One. It is impossible to believe "Hashem Echad" as defined by the Torah and to simultaneously believe that Hashem has an attribute or attributes of mercy.
Furthermore, the prophet states: "To whom can you compare Me that I should Be similar?" (Yeshaya 4:25). Hashem is not similar to His creations in any way whatsoever. Thus, according to the prophet, it is impossible to say that Hashem has an attribute or attributes of mercy in the same way as a human. When we ascribe middos ha'rachamim to Hashem, we do so only by way of metaphor.
Lastly, it is important to recognize that Hashem has no emotions. This somehow seems to escape the attention of many people, even though it follows from what has been said above. Humans have a natural tendency to ascribe human qualities and emotions to God. Indeed, pagan gods are nothing more than imagined beings with the same feelings and characteristics of the people who worship them. We must be very careful not to project our own qualities onto Hashem, as the prophet admonishes: "The Children of Israel ascribed things that were not so to Hashem their God" (Melachim II 17:9). Moreover, emotions imply change, and Hashem cannot change, as the prophet states: "I am Hashem, I do not change" (Malachi 3:6).
By now it should be clear that whatever we mean by middos ha'rachamim, we do not mean attributes of mercy.
The Correct Idea
The main idea in this post is from Rabbi Zucker's shiur entitled "Selichos." To see the idea in context (which I highly recommend), learn through the entire shiur HYPERLINK "http://ybt.org/essays/students/svaros.pdf" here.
The Gemara in Rosh ha'Shanah 17b states as follows:
"And Hashem passed before him and proclaimed" (Shemos 34:6). R' Yochanan said: Were this not written in a verse, it would be impossible to say it. This teaches that the Holy One, Blessed is He, wrapped Himself [in a tallis] like a prayer leader and demonstrated to Moshe the order of prayer. He said to him: "Any time that Israel sins let them perform before Me this procedure and I shall forgive them" . . . Rav Yehudah said: A covenant has been made regarding the yud gimmel middos that they never return empty-handed.
There are two basic questions we can ask on this Gemara:
Question #1: How does this work? Does Rav Yehudah mean to say that merely by reciting the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim, God will forgive the Jews - as if (in the words of Rabbi Zucker) this is some sort of magical incantation?
Question #2: How can Hashem be merciful and perfectly just? For a human, this would be impossible. To the extent that man shows mercy, he detracts from strict justice. For instance, when a judge reduces a criminal's sentence from 10 years to 5 years, his mercy is a detraction from justice. If Hashem's justice is perfect, then how can He also be merciful?
In order to understand the concept of the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim, we must first understand the concept of the middas ha'rachamim. Rabbi Zucker explained this in his shiur on Selichos as follows:
After man fails to achieve HYPERLINK "http://kankanchadash.blogspot.com/2007/09/hashems-justice-and-purpose-of-life.html" his purpose, there are two rational possibilities of how to deal with him. The first possibility is to destroy him, since he failed to achieve the purpose of his existence. The second possibility is to correct him, thereby enabling him to achieve his purpose from then and on. From the perspective of man, the first possibility is perceived as strict justice whereas the second possibility is perceived as mercy.
In the language of Chazal, the first possibility is called "middas ha'din" and the second possibility is called "middas ha'rachamim." The word "middah" in this context does not mean "attribute," but "mode of behavior," as Chazal frequently say: "lo k'middas Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu middas basar v'dam" ("the behavior of the Holy One, Blessed is He, is not like the behavior of [man who is] flesh and blood").
The terms "din" and "rachamim" are utilized in accordance with the stylistic principle known as dibra Torah k'lshon bnei adam (the Torah speaks in the language of man). Chazal do not mean to suggest that Hashem's mercy is in any way similar to human mercy. A human act of mercy stems from an emotion - usually from some sort of identification with the other person. Hashem's act of mercy does not stem from an emotion, since Hashem has no emotions. For this reason, human mercy detracts from justice: the mind of the judge dictates a certain punishment, but he is overwhelmed with compassion and modifies his verdict.
This point must be underscored: Even though we refer to one behavior as "strict justice" and the other as "mercy," we are only speaking according to the way we perceive things. In reality, both possibilities are equally in line with justice. That is to say, a person will be punished in accordance with his sins and evil free-will decisions, and he will be rewarded in accordance with his mitzvos and his good free-will decisions. Everything will balance out (so to speak) in the final account.
Now we are in a position to understand what is meant by the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim. As we have explained HYPERLINK "http://kankanchadash.blogspot.com/2007/08/are-mitzvos-always-good.html" elsewhere (see the article “Are Mitzvos Always Good?”), Hashem does not act arbitrarily. He is the Ultimate Wisdom and Source of All Wisdom, and as such, He acts in accordance with systems. There are two systems of Divine conduct: there are laws of hashgacha pratis (particular Divine providence) just as there are laws of nature. Thus, the middas ha'rachamim operates in accordance with a system of laws which we collectively refer to as the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim. Each middah is a separate law or principle of hashgacha pratis. Thus, an accurate (though very cumbersome) translation of "yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim" is "the system of thirteen laws of hashgachah pratis through which Hashem administers justice in a manner perceived by us as mercy."
There is another point which must be emphasized: One must not think that God's capacity for din and rachamim indicates plurality in His Essence, as the Rambam explains (Guide for the Perplexed 1:53):
Now there need not be a diversity in the properties subsisting in an agent because of the diversity of his various actions . . . An instance of this is fire: it melts some things, makes others hard, cooks and burns, bleaches and blackens. Thus if some man would predicate of fire that it is that which bleaches and blackens, which burns and cooks, which makes hard and which melts, he would say the truth. Accordingly he who does not know the nature of fire thinks that there subsist in it six diverse properties, by means of one of which it blackens, whereas it bleaches by means of another, cooks by means of a third, burns by means of a fourth, melts by means of a fifth, and makes hard by means of a sixth - all these actions being opposed to one another, for the meaning of any one of them is different form that of any other. However he who knows the nature of fire, knows that it performs all these actions by virtue of one active quality, namely, heat. If, however, such a state of affairs exists with respect to a thing acting by virtue of its nature, it exists all the more with respect to one who acts through will, and again all the more with respect to him, may He be exalted, who is above every attributive qualification.
How Does the Recitation of the Yud Gimmel Middos Work?
This explains the nature of the middas ha'din and middas ha'rachamim. It does not, however, explain how our recitation of the yud gimmel middos ha'rachamim is a guaranteed method of eliciting a response of middas ha'rachamim.
Rabbi Zucker explained as follows: In order to benefit from the middas ha'rachamim, man must be adequate and qualified to be corrected through the bestowal of mercy; if he is not, the rachamim will have no effect. By understanding how the middas ha'rachamim operates, and by beseeching God from this understanding to relate to him according to the middas ha'rachamim, the acts of understanding and beseeching themselves will render man into a vessel fit to receive the middas ha'rachamim and to benefit from it.
An example (borrowed from Mortimer J. Adler) will make this clearer. In baseball, the pitcher throws the ball and the catcher catches it. In a a sense, the pitcher is active and the catcher is passive. But this is not entirely true. The catcher doesn't merely sit there like an object and wait for the ball to come. He must anticipate the trajectory of the ball, skillfully position himself, ready himself for the pitch, and actively catch the ball.
Likewise, we cannot elicit Hashem's middas ha'rachamim if we are passive. We have to rise meet the middas ha'rachamim if we desire to benefit from it. In order to be affected by the middas ha'rachamim, we must strive to understand the laws of hashgacha through which the middas ha'rachamim operates - the yud gimmel middos. When we beseech God to show mercy, we must do so based on our understanding of these laws of hashgacha.
Only through such understanding - which is in line with the purpose of our existence, which is to know God - do we render ourselves meritorious of His mercy. Only through such understanding will we know how to benefit from that mercy when we receive it. If we understand the yud gimmel middos and beseech God properly, then He must respond. The laws of hashgacha necessitate it.
May we all merit to live in accordance with our purpose: to know God in accordance with our capacity, and to utilize our free will to do teshuvah and live a good life. This Yom Kippur, may we all merit to understand the middas ha'rachamim and benefit from Hashem's Goodness. Kesivah v'Chasimah Tovah.