והנה במה שנתבאר, יובן מה שכתוב: אני ה׳ לא שניתי

Now, from the foregoing exposition one will be able to understand the verse,8 “I, Havayah, have not changed.”

פירוש

This means:

Not only has there been no change in G‑d’s conduct, or even His will, with regard to rewarding the righteous and so on, but this verse means explicitly that there is no change, heaven forfend, in G‑d: there exists nothing that can alter Him.

The only consideration that might possibly cause one to wonder about there being a change in G‑d’s unity is His bringing created beings into existence. Before their creation nothing whatever existed other than Him. After their creation, however, one might erroneously conclude that there now exists something in addition to Him — the various worlds and their denizens. And were this to be so, this would constitute a change in G‑d’s absolute unity, heaven forbid. The verse therefore anticipates this by saying, “I, Havayah, have not changed.”

שאין שום שינוי כלל: כמו שהיה לבדו קודם בריאת העולם, כך הוא לבדו אחר שנברא

there is no change in Him at all; just as He was alone before the creation of the world, so is He alone after it was created.

Superficially this is difficult to understand. How can we possibly say that G‑d is alone after the world was created, when there now exists an additional entity — the world?

However, according to the explanation given here regarding Divine Unity, this matter is clearly understood. Since the world is truly nullified in its entirety in relation to Him and is wholly united with Him, G‑d is thus just as truly alone after the world was created as He was alone prior to its creation.

וזהו שאומרים: אתה הוא עד שלא נברא העולם, אתה הוא כו׳

Accordingly it is written,9 “You were [the same] before the world was created; You are [the same after the world was created],”

It would have been simpler to state, “You are the same before and after the world was created.” The text, however, chose to be more explicit in order to stress that the “You” that existed before the world’s creation remains exactly the same “You” after its creation.

בלי שום שינוי בעצמותו, ולא בדעתו

without any change in His Being, nor even in His knowledge,10

One might have supposed that with the creation of the world G‑d’s knowledge underwent a change,11 inasmuch as He could not have possibly known the world beforehand; once the world was created, G‑d would thus know something that previously He did not. The Alter Rebbe therefore tells us that G‑d’s knowledge has not changed at all:

כי בידיעת עצמו, יודע כל הנבראים, שהכל ממנו ובטל במציאות אצלו

for by knowing Himself, He knows all created things, since all derive from Him and are nullified in relation to Him.

Creation thus added nothing to G‑d’s knowledge. This knowledge of self existed before creation, and it is with this prior knowledge that He knows of all of creation.