As likened to a Theophany, a “Christophany” deals with an appearance of the God of Israel in the form of a man in the  Hebrew Scriptures. Asher Intrater of Tikkun Global has written extensively on this subject, specifically culminating in his  book “Who Ate Lunch with Abraham.” This has been central to his instruction of those of us among his students for nearly 20 years.

THE GOD OF ISRAEL

In Rabbinic Judaism, many of the prominent commentators often struggle with the literal readings of the texts that  describe the God of Israel in a human form or in human terms. Onkelos, a commentator on the Torah from the first  century, avoids translating all words in Hebrew into Aramaic that have any human qualities. Thus, in his translation,  “appears” becomes “was revealed”, “says” becomes “makes known” and “hears” becomes “understands”. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides (1138-1204), applies the same principle in doing all that he can to explain away the  “humanity” of the figure that so often speaks in the name of ‫ְיהָוה‬ (Adonai) and demands worship.

Read the full article here: Issue 30