Rashi puzzles over the statement that “And they heard the voice of Hashem God…”[1] Rashi asks, “What did they hear?” He replies to his question “…they heard the voice of the Holy One Blessed is He going in the Garden,” and that is where Rashi leaves the answer to his question.

This response is strange because we seem no closer to understanding what the answer is, much less what Rashi’s original question was. After all, the text tells us that the “…voice of God was going in the garden….” [2] How is it that Rashi has answered his question? Simply restating the verse after raising a question after all is not really an answer—or is it?

Before we get to Rashi’s answer let us identify Rashi’s question. Rashi’s question is born out of a very fundamental belief in Judaism—God is incorporeal. [3] It is impossible for God to exist physically in this earth in anyway.

Many people would challenge that several times we see that God seems to actually interact in some physical way with this world. His presence (Shekinah) resides with B’nai Yisrael and the “spirit” of God is said to hover over the face of the deep in the second verse of Parshat Bereishit.

The Shema tells us that God is One. [4] What does this Oneness mean? It is understood by all the Jewish Sages that God’s unity is unlike any other unity. When the Torah says One it means One like nothing else can be one. Many have maintained that the concept of “echad” or “one” is no different then saying “one man” or “one bunch of grapes.” However, the Sages have always understood that “one” (when referring to God) really means uniquely one. It is meant in the sense that there is nothing in this “one” that is distinct from any other part.

A human being can be said to be “one” in the sense that among humans (plural) he is only one human. However if we look at a man we notice that he is composed of different parts. These parts are themselves distinct within the context of the “one man.” Therefore, a man has two hands, two eyes, one nose, one belly button and so forth. A human being is not a true unity because he has parts that are separate. Separation implies plurality.

God is unique in that there does not exist any kind of separation or distinction within him. There is not “this part of God” or “that part of God.” God is one, indefinable, in a word incorporeal.

Distinctions are possible where there is limitation. God is said to be without boundaries—without boundaries there are no distinctions. This is possible because God is not physical. Our world is filled with varieties of boundaries, between one star and another, on country and another, and one creature and another. This is how God created us. It was necessary that human beings exist in a world where boundaries existed where one thing was different from another—where there was a beginning and an end.

God’s nature although unknowable by us (meaning we could never say “God is X” or “God is Y&rdquo it is possible for us to draw certain conclusions. These conclusions are possible from reason and from revelation. If God is not corporeal then for him to exist in this realm is impossible. In order for God to actually exist in time and space he would have to cease being God!

If God cannot exist physically then what about the verse “The Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep,” [5] and how could God’s Shekinah (presence) reside with B’nai Yisrael? Or, to bring the conversation back to our initial inquiry how could Adam and Eve heard God’s voice (a sound is after all a physical thing!)?

Ignoring the question of how a voice can walk the answer to these questions is simple. If God does not exist physically then these physical manifestations cannot be God! If they are not God then what are they? All physicality is a creation of God. The universe was created by Him. It is obvious that God’s intention was always to communicate with man. If this is not clear to you then you must wonder at the Torah we are currently discussing which is a communication from God.

Since the Shekinah, Spirit of God, and voice of God are physical and all physical things were created by God, this leads us to conclude that each of these are creations of God. As creations of God they are not God and exist independently in existence as tools for God to communicate and act in the physical world where it is impossible (by his nature) for God to exist or interact physically.

What then was Rashi’s question? It seems one explanation could be that Rashi wondered at how Adam and Eve could “hear” the incorporeal God’s voice walk through the garden. Rashi’s answer makes it clear what they heard “the voice of God” the created thing; which was created as a means to communicate God’s will to his creation—Man.  

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