Was anyone able to see God?

[Agnosthiest]

Is there a story in the jewish holy scriptures wherein a human was able to see God?

[redcake]

Anything you see in creation if essentially, seeing god.

There are Torah portions which include references to Moses speaking to god, or being granted obscured views, but you could debate how literal it's meant to be taken, as god is an all encompassing non-mortal presence, not a human.

[dayag]

Anything you see in creation if essentially, seeing god.

There are Torah portions which include references to Moses speaking to god, or being granted obscured views, but you could debate how literal it's meant to be taken, as god is an all encompassing non-mortal presence, not a human.

Yeah, I agree with redcake about not necessarily taking everything in the Torah literally and G-d not being human, though I disagree about seeing G-d in the Creation.

I wish I could remember the quote, but I once read a Rabbi who said that Avodah Zara (idolatry) consisted of confusing the Creator with the Creation.

[bararallu]

Hence the expulsion of Spinoza

[Mediocrates]

Hence Espinoza's day job of lens grinding. It killed him in the end.

[redcake]

I wish I could remember the quote, but I once read a Rabbi who said that Avodah Zara (idolatry) consisted of confusing the Creator with the Creation.

Well...I agree with Dayag's disagreement to some degree.

I didn't mean it in the literal sense so much as a spiritual all encompassing sense. You don't need to be anywhere to pray, you don't need to face in any direction to be heard. That's different than saying gods existence is reaffirmed by a snail, blooming flower, or an apple. I suppose that could be confused with idolatry, but then again, we do celebrate holidays partially devoted to the creations themselves. I think Judaism is more about recognizing the presence rather than seeing a face, or embodiment.

[bararallu]

Hence Espinoza's day job of lens grinding. It killed him in the end.

Spinozan Pantheism [or more so Panentheism, not his word] I'd guess is a form of early nihilism. Which, for argument sake, is not the destruction of everything living, but the devolution of everything special [=self aware] into a linked [= magical] mundane. Kinda like the planet in the movie Avatar taken to its very logical end.

Now, to channel my inner Farakhan: "they call them lenses, but I call them obstacles to true clarity, grind them brother, grind them, and when you die you will die a free man"