Can Hashem create a stone He cannot lift?

With Hashem's help

Hello Yonatan,

1. The question of whether Hashem can create a stone He cannot lift is no more than a play on words. It is similar to someone asking, "Can wise Yossi be foolish? No? Then wise Yossi is mentally limited!" Or like asking what color a triangle is, or whether green is bitter or sweet, and demanding a yes or no answer. The question shows a lack of understanding of the concept being discussed.

In mathematics, minus times minus equals plus. The question itself is meant to confuse the listener through the words "can" and "cannot." Being unable to be unable means ability. A Creator who cannot be "unable" is, of course, all-powerful. And that is what defines the Creator as perfect and all-powerful - the absence of shortcomings. The inability to be lacking is not a shortcoming.

The question is no more than a play on words. Not every ability is truly an ability. Many abilities may in fact be shortcomings. For example, the ability to stutter at the beginning of every sentence is a shortcoming, the ability to be easily tempted to do something forbidden is a shortcoming, the ability to become drunk after a quarter cup of wine is a shortcoming, and many more examples of this sort could be invented. Through wordplay, any shortcoming can be presented as an ability, and any ability as a shortcoming. But one does not need to be especially wise to understand when it is truly an ability, and when it is truly a shortcoming. For the Creator, the ability to make a mistake is of course a shortcoming, and so is the ability to be "imperfect," or the ability to create a stone that opposes His power. The Creator is, of course, without shortcomings, and therefore He "cannot" be many things whose true meaning is shortcoming and limitation.

It is important to understand that Hashem is not a being found within space and within time like man, but rather He is the cause of all causes and the root of reality, by whose power we all exist.

Hashem, by definition, never changes, because He is not dependent on time. Since He is eternal, no changes or distinctions apply to Hashem, neither motion nor limitations. He is infinite - that is, without boundaries, present in every place and at every time without change.

Therefore, in Hashem Himself there are never any changes; there are in His reality no concepts of past, present, and future at all. For this reason, Hashem does not change His opinions like a person, does not divide Himself into two, and does not limit His powers, but remains and will always be what He has always been. His nature is eternal existence in which no changes or motion can exist. If changes or motion were to apply to Him, He would not be eternal, but dependent on the flow of time like the rest of creation.

This fact defines the infinite and the eternal - that is, one who is present everywhere and not dependent on time. One who asks boundary questions about the infinite contradicts himself. In eternity there is no motion, because motion depends on time. Therefore it is not logical to ask about the eternal whether He can one day change His opinions or His powers, because in Him there is no distinction or change of past, present, and future. His very being all-powerful stems from the fact that He has complete control over reality, and He created all created beings and all the powers that exist in the world. But in His reality there can be no changes and motions like in our world, and therefore also no distinctions and limitations.

2. Of course Hashem can help and does help a person, but not everything a person perceives as help is indeed help.

A father who loves his children wants his children to mature and become independent, upright, and righteous people through their own merits.
So too, by contrast, the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the souls He created to merit reaching a measure of courage through their own strength, and thus merit His closeness by right and not as an unearned kindness.
The game is intended to produce heroes. Heroes not in quotation marks, but heroes in truth.

The purpose of suffering and difficulties is to give the soul the ability to decide for itself whether to draw close to Hashem out of love, and through this it merits His closeness in truth.

Note that at this very moment, millions of systems operating with astonishing sophistication are working within your body. Your body is made up of billions of atoms that function in coordination; even the smallest cell in your finger is more complex than the entire transportation system in New York City. Your hands are complex levers filled with matching joints that enable you to function in life.
Each of your eyes has more than 120 million light receptors, enabling you to receive a sharp and colorful image of the reality around you. Every day your heart moves 8,000 liters of blood through your body - which means that in three days your heart pump would have been capable of filling a swimming pool! But so many liters of blood require constant detoxification, so every minute that passes your liver filters 2 liters of blood of toxins.
The brain in your head is a wonder of creation, and in the entire universe no computer as sophisticated as it was created - your brain operates 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) - a number greater than all the stars in the galaxy, and they all function in perfect coordination to allow you to see, hear, move, speak, and think. And this is not the place to describe all the amazing and complex processes that operate in your body.

Do you have any doubt that the One who created all this has great purposes for you?

And note the fact that all these amazing systems are only the external instrument given to you in this world, so that your soul can operate the body like a driver in a car. But what is the path each of us chooses for himself in life? Shall we not believe in the One who created us, or reject His kindness, Heaven forbid?
After all, there is no doubt that the One who made this entire wondrous and ingenious system is certainly wiser than you and me, and knows what we do not know and cannot even understand in this world. Only an infinite Creator is capable of creating such a vast universe and such a sophisticated body. He knows the past, present, and future, and everything that happens in the world. He is the One who created all the traits of your soul, your intelligence, your talents, your innermost desires, your thoughts, your feelings, and everything that exists in your world. And He, may He be blessed, chose to create you and bring you down to this world, and gave you this body and this life, because He knows that the private path He set out for you will ultimately lead to your good.
Do you not believe that He knows what is good for you? After all, everything we regard as good in this world, and every pleasure or joy you have ever felt in your life, came only from Him, may He be blessed. He knows exactly what will make you a happy person and what will make you a sad person, and what your true benefit is.
You need only trust in Him, and believe in Him that He does everything for the good. Just like a one-year-old child must trust his father and mother, who know what is good for him - even when it hurts him that he must receive an injection from a doctor, and does not know why, or when he is forced to give up an object he wants to put in his mouth, and does not understand why. He also cannot understand, but he knows that his father and mother love him - because they are the ones who care for him and do good to him.
Have you heard of the parable of the twins? Two twins were in their mother's womb. One baby said to the other baby: "Who said we have a mother? Is it possible to see her?" The second baby answered him: "After all, mother is all around us everywhere; she gives us life at every moment, and we feel her warmth. At every moment we receive oxygen, blood, water, and food through the umbilical cord - and all of this comes from her, so I know that she cares for us and loves us." The first baby said to him: "But it is bad for me here, and the place is becoming narrower and narrower, and the moment the umbilical cord is disconnected we will die immediately without oxygen. Is this a loving mother?" The second baby answered him: "I see with my own eyes that mother cares for us; she feeds us and gives us drink. I have no doubt that she did not bring us into the world in order for us to suffer. I am sure there is a purpose behind everything that happens to us. And even after the umbilical cord is disconnected - I believe there is life after birth!"
We must believe that there is life after death, and that the purpose of this world is to benefit us in the World to Come. Even the sufferings that occur in this world are birth pangs, intended to repair flaws in the souls and bring spiritual perfection.
If this life truly were not good for you, then the Creator would not have created you. For He knows the future and everything that happens in the world, and created you by virtue of the immense potential to do good for you. He, may He be blessed, knows that in the end you will thank Him. So Chazal said that at the end of days, even for the evil the souls will give thanks and bless "the Good Who does good," because they will understand the kindness in everything that happened to us in this world. Just like a sick person who is healed by a surgeon, and thanks the doctor with all his heart for the devoted care given to him. So we will understand that everything that happens to us in this world is intended for our repair from all the spiritual flaws that have clung to us, for the sake of the greatest good, which is the spiritual good - the closeness of the Creator of the world.

No person can say that he does not want this gift, just as a baby cannot say that he does not want to become wealthy and successful when he grows up. One cannot speak out of ignorance about the lofty purpose of the souls, and in this world we are all ignorant, and must trust in Hashem. Intellectual knowledge is limited in material bodies that stand before animal tests, but for this reason we descended into the material world, to stand in this test and trust in the divine good.
We must note that everything we define as good, or as evil, as just, or as unjust, is only the way Hashem created our intellect.
Hashem is the true reality, and created everything - the logic and the heart. We do not know anything that Hashem did not decree that we should know; we do not love or show mercy without Hashem, who placed these feelings within us, determined how much we will love and how much we will show mercy, what we will want and how much we will want. The wise person understands that Hashem, may He be blessed, gave him his wisdom, his intellect, and his compassion, and therefore will trust his Creator with a whole heart - even in matters he still does not understand.

I will be glad to help you with any question.

With blessings,

Daniel Balas