32d. Usfartem 5736 (Fifth Part of a Hemshech) Class Four.

32d. Usfartem 5736 (Fifth Part of a Hemshech) Class Four.
The Rebbe MaharaSh’s (classic Ma’amar) Mi Chamocha (which he said many times ‘to purify the air’) is analyzed in this class. [I left it out of the Hisbonenus of Tefilla (from class two) to do it separately].
Two Targumim יונתן and אונקלוס (both) offer their translation (and interpretation) of the Possuk Mi Chamocha. Tagum Yonasan and Unkelus; and Unkelus adds much to what Yonasan (who was before him) says.
It is one thing to deny Shituf, it is quite another to deny that there is anything at all.
The way the Ma’amar plays out, here’s what he says:
1) The Possuk אנכי הוי’ אלוקיך וגו’ לא יהי’ לך אלוקים אחרים על פני speaks against Avoda Zara.
2) The Possuk שמע ישראל הוי’ אלוקינו הוי’ אחד speaks against Shituf (any kind of partnership, even one that is most uneven), but it leaves the idea of the ‘גרזן’ (the tools that He uses in creating). [And according to the תרגום יונתן בן עוזיאל this same idea is represented by the Possuk מי כמוך].
3) This Possuk מי כמוך באלים הוי’ מי כמוך נאדר בקדש according to the תרגום אונקלוס speaks to the idea of creation at every instant and as such there aren’t even tools, ONLY HIM.