The Rabbis, both the philosophically inclined and the mystically inclined, were impressed with and influenced by the Greek philosophers Plato, and the neo-platonic thinkers, as well as the teachings of Aristotle.
Aristotle stated in his logic the basic principles of Greek grammar and thought. The idea that there are only two choices and that these two choice are an oppositional position. This idea and attitude was embodied in first three ‘laws’ of logic as presented by Aristotle. These first three laws are the Law of Identity, A is A; the Law of Non-Contradiction, A is not non-A, and the Law of Exclusions of the Middle Ground, there is no transition from A to not-A. What this means is that the Greeks, and those who built upon them—Western Civilizations and cultures, recognized that all things can be listed into pairs, into dualities. Each of these pairs could be organized into groups and interrelated. With the application of a pair of value judgments you create a cultural bias. The value judgment pairs are the pairing of good vs. bad or good vs. evil, or right or wrong. By the application of these value judgment pairs all the other list of paired opposites become judged as well. So you ended up with this situation: Light vs Dark Male vs Female Immaterial vs Material Spirit vs Matter Spirit vs flesh Mind vs body Changeless vs change Deathless vs Death Immortal vs mortal Divine vs Human Sun vs Earth Sun vs Moon White vs Black Heaven vs Earth Above vs Below One vs Many Where everything listed on the left is good and everything listed on the right is bad or evil. This dichotomy became embedded into the mindset and world view of the Western World and influenced all who it touched. The rabbis were no exception. They adopted this perspective and gave it a Jewish spin. Maimonides spent the totality of his book The Guide for the Perplexed with the intention and reconciling Aristotle’s philosophy and the teachings of the Rabbis. Though Maimonides had no qualms for disagreeing with Aristotle and explaining how the Jewish perspective differed, and of course, he, Maimonides, considered more complete if not more accurate. For Aristotle God was The Prime Mover and the One reminiscent of Plato’s concept. This God was immaterial, changeless, immortal, and pure thought as well as purity of thought. God was thus the exact opposite of human beings, who were material, subject to change, mortal, and were physical and full of many conflicting thoughts, many based in humanities physical substance being and needs. God was to be above all the other lesser unmoved movers- the planets, and other entities. But God as the Prime Mover was the source of all movement. For Aristotle God to be pure in thought would mean it could not be contaminated by any impurities. Hence could not consider the impurities of the physical world and of physical humans. God could, would, and must only contemplate perfection such as its self. Maimonides had one additional concept about God that Aristotle did not have. The singular difference was that for Maimonides the Torah, aka TaNaK, based difference was that God was incomparable. God was unique and different than anything else. All created beings were similar in a variety of manner and ways. But God, being above and the Creator was above and beyond and not like anything else in all of existence. God is unique and thus One, beyond equal. Maimonides agrees with Aristotle and even uses his reasoning of God of Pure Intellect to explain Maimonides idea of prayer as it is explained in The Guide. Since God contemplates only its own perfect self, it takes no notice of changing, physical and impure humans. Pray changes us but has no effect on God itself. It was this attitude of God being untouched by human concerns and prayers that the mystical Rabbis rebelled against. Though they accepted the rest of Maimonides and Aristotle. The philosophic idea of God and the mystical idea of God was merged into explaining what is known by Ayn Sof. The only difference is that in the Kabbalah humanity can interact with some aspect of the Infinite Divine. This would be by means of Ayn Sof’s creation and emanation called the Sefirot. Source material: From: Aristotle’s Concept of God by Stanley Sfekas (https://heptapolis.com/aristotles-concept-god and can also be found at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286412818_ARISTOTLE'S_CONCEPT_OF_GOD) [Stanley Sfekas (Greek: Στάνλεϋ Σφήκας; born 1942) is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Indianapolis. (https://heptapolis.com/cv/stanley-sfekas)] Moses Maimonides’s idea of God. By Warren Zev Harvey (From https://www.academia.edu/39364549/Warren_Zev_Harvey_Maimonides_Monotheism_Between_the_Bible_and_Aristotle_in_Ada_Taggar-Cohen_et_al._eds._Proceedings_of_the_7th_CISMOR_Conference_on_Jewish_Studies_Kyoto_Doshisha_University_2013_56-67) From: http://www.mesora.org/prayer.html
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Garshom Yaron aka Gary Jaron has been exploring the Occult Qabalah and the Rabbinic Kabbalah since he was a teen.
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