THE THIRTEEN ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

We have just finished the High Holyday season for another year, and I hope that it was meaningful for you. Now we’re in the middle of the festival of Sukkot. The Torah reading for this Saturday, the Shabbat of Sukkot, is Ki Tissa, which is Exodus 33:12-34:26. This Torah portion includes the 13 attributes of God (Exodus 34:6-7), which read as follows:

“Adonai, Adonai, God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, preserving lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and rebellion and sin, and pardoning [this is the part that we read as part of the services during this season]; yet God does not completely clear of sin but visits the iniquity of parents on children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

You may have noticed this section, which is read throughout the 40-day period of repentance just passed – all through the month of Elul, and multiple times during Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the days between.

And now we encounter these 13 Attributes in the Torah where they appear – after the incident of the Golden Calf, when Moses has once again ascended Mount Sinai to inscribe the second set of Tablets and to be taught more law. Moses has already served God for so long and is now begging to see God’s face, to come to know God more personally. God replies that nobody can see God’s face and live, but God will shelter Moses from the worst of it in the crevice of a rock and will pass by and Moses can see God’s back. (The Talmudic sages charmingly tell us that what Moses saw were the fringes of God’s tallit trailing after God had passed by.) The 13 Attributes are what God recites while passing by Moses in an attempt to explain God’s nature. They are said to be the desirable aspects of God that we should emulate in our attempt to live righteous lives, since we were created in the image of God.

Of course, a few thousand years have passed, and the learned have broken this paragraph down into several different groups of 13 attributes! But the most commonly accepted approach is:

1) Adonai (which means Lord, but I’m trying to stay away from masculine characterization or anthropomorphism for that matter) = God is merciful before a person sins;

2) Adonai = God is merciful even after a person sins;

3) God = power as ruler over nature and humankind;

4) Compassionate

5) Gracious

6) Slow to anger

7) Abundant in lovingkindness

8) Truth

9) Preserver of lovingkindness for thousands

10) Forgiver of iniquity

11) Forgiver of rebellion (willful sin)

12) Forgiver of [inadvertent] sin

13) Pardoning.

It’s quite interesting that we focus on only the most positive aspects of these two verses during the High Holyday season, when we’re all seeking reconciliation with God and the path of righteousness and assurance that we will indeed be forgiven, and not the last section, where God warns that if somebody does not repent and change his or her ways, punishment will be visited even on children and grandchildren. This part is less comforting!

I am always wistful when I read these lines in our services at this time of year. I can’t keep from picturing Moses. He has been through so much already, ever since God selected him at the burning bush to be his emissary in leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt. He has faithfully followed all of God’s orders, warning Pharoah sternly to let the people go even though he was not much of a speaker, leading the people out of Egypt when they were finally permitted to leave, across the Sea of Reeds, and to the foot of Mount Sinai, which he ascended and on which he spent 40 days getting the first set of Tablets of the Ten Commandments. All this time, he has obeyed God scrupulously, trusted in God when told to do things that probably didn’t seem plausible, said the words to his people that he was told to say, and put up with the stubbornness and rebelliousness of the Children of Israel throughout. I can understand his feeling that he has done all of this for God as a faithful servant all along, so why can’t he just see this God for once whom he has been serving?

And aren’t we in this same position? Here we are, trying to make the world a better place than we find it today, trying to follow the commandments that are meaningful to us, trying to improve ourselves and the way we interact with others, wanting to learn more about our religion. But so many of us aren’t sure about the existence of God. We search for evidence that God is present and the footprints that God’s actions in the world might leave behind. We who are on a lifelong spiritual quest beseech God to let us see God’s face just one time, just so we can believe, just so our years of faithfulness and trust can be rewarded. If God would only speak to me once! If I could only catch a glimpse of God’s back! I would give so much to have God whisper a word to me or show me an unmistakable sign. How are you seeking God in your own daily life? And more importantly, how has this search enriched your life and enhanced the way you interact with others?

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