In the modern era, religion has come under harsh attack. After all, so much extremism, intolerance, fundamentalism and war has been associated with religion. Discover the Jewish approach: Is it unscientific to embrace G-d? Who Even needs G-d? And can there be right and wrong without a God?
The world was created with ten divine utterances. Could it not have been created with a single utterance?
—Ethics of the Fathers 5:1
G-d certainly could have generated the whole of creation without any process at all, instantaneously creating the world He desired. But then, one of two things would be the case. Either every phenomenon would be a visible act of G-d, leaving no room for free choice. Or else the world would have no traceable link to its Creator at all. This is why G-d created the world through the “ten utterances,” each of which is reflected in some aspect of the nature of our existence, so that they stand as a ladder by which we ascend to appreciate the Master of All. —Akeidat Yitzchak, Bereishit 3
