Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Partners with Hashem
1:14 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By
Rav Moshe Sternbuch
HERESY
“In
the beginning G-d created” (1:1)
The
gemara (Masseches Megila 9a) says that in the Septuagint (the targum
hashiv’im when 70 Sages were forced to translate the Torah by the Greeks)
the words bereishis boro elokim were rendered as elokim boro
bereishis in Greek lest anyone should think that bereishis is one
divine power who created another one called elokim (see Rashi ibid).
Why,
in fact, did the Torah at the very beginning use an ambiguous phrase, which
seems to leave open the possibility of a heretical interpretation?
Someone
who used to be religious once met Rav Chaim Brisker zt”l and told him that he had various questions about Hashem's
conduct in this world. Rav Chaim answered him that if he had questions, he
would be willing to answer them, but he suspected that these so-called
questions were not genuine ones but rather excuses to justify his own conduct
and lifestyle, and for such excuses he had no answers.
In
other words, heretics do not usually become what they are because of
intellectual or theological doubts. It is rather a matter of character traits.
Preferring to live an unbridled lifestyle without the yoke of Torah, they come
up with supposed problems in order to justify their neglect or abandonment of
religion.
MIDDAS HADIN
“In
the beginning G-d [Elokim] created” (1:1)
Hashem
created the world using the trait of strict justice symbolized by Elokim,
but was "forced" to join the trait of mercy to the trait of justice
in order to ensure the continued existence of the world. The question is why
Hashem did not do this at the outset, since He obviously has no need to
"experiment".
Rabi
Akiva wanted to be judged according to the strict trait of justice only, and
that was why he was killed in such a terrible manner. Although few people can
follow in his footsteps Hashem wanted to leave open the possibility for select
individuals to be judged solely by the strict trait of justice untempered by rachamim,
and also to teach those who cannot
reach such heights to at least strive for perfection in other more feasible areas
based on their specific levels.
Divine image
“Let
us make man in our image” (1:26); Rashi: Even though they [the angels] did not assist Him in
His creation, and there is an opportunity for the heretics to rebel (to
misconstrue the plural as a basis for their heresies), the possuk did not refrain
from teaching proper conduct and the trait of humility, that a great person
should consult with and receive permission from a smaller one”.
Hashem
is speaking to the angels, who were created on the second day (see Targum
Yonoson), since they had a personal interest, so to speak, in the creation of
man, because the status of the upper worlds, including that of the angels,
depends on the actions of man in this world. Of course, Hashem does not need to
hear the opinions of any being, but wished to teach us that even people less
important than us must be consulted concerning any matter in which they have a
personal interest.
We see here once again that the Torah is not
concerned with potential misconstructions on the part of heretics. Similarly,
we do not "dress up" the Torah for the sake of finding favor in the
eyes of the non-religious. This forbidden method has been tried in recent
generations and has invariably failed in its aim of increasing religious
observance amongst our skeptical brethren. Moreover, the advocates of
compromises or unwarranted leniencies, or at least their descendants,
eventually departed from the path of the Torah themselves.
However, the main message of this possuk is that
we are partners together with Hashem in creating ourselves. The Zohar explains
that the food of the neshomo is Torah and its clothing are mitzvos and
good deeds. Hence, each one of us creates the form of our neshomos on a
daily basis, together with Hashem. Just like no two individuals have identical
faces, even though billions of inhabitants currently populate the planet, so
too do each of our neshomos look different in accordance with the Torah
and mitzvos which become an eternal part of them. The Arizal had
the ability to discern a person's spiritual form and could perceive the effects
of even seemingly insignificant mitzvos or transgressions on a person’s spiritual form. We too will
possess this ability in the future.
Quality before quantity
“It
is not good that man is alone” (2:18)
This
phrase seems to imply that although it was not an ideal state for man to be on
his own, the alternative was nevertheless a possibility. That being so, what purpose
would there have been to creation if Odom had remained alone and lived forever?
We
see from this possuk that since a righteous person is the foundation of
the world (Mishlei 10:25) we might have thought that it would have been
worthwhile for Hashem to create the whole universe for the sake of one zaddik
who subjugates all his desires to serve Hashem on his own. Although this possuk
makes it clear that it is better to lead a married existence and to procreate,
the fact that the Torah finds it necessary to clarify this teaches us the
importance of quality as opposed to quantity. The Chazon Ish zt”l explained that quality can eventually result in quantity too, but
quality cannot result from quantity alone.
the evil inclination
“The
serpent was cunning”
(1:3)
How
can we understand that the snake once walked and talked like a human being?
In
order to maintain the balance of free choice, the greater a person is, the
greater must be the forces inciting him to evil. Odom Horishon (the
first man) before the sin was so great that he needed an external persuasive
being to incite him away from holiness to the path of evil.
The nochosh (snake) argued that
it would be worthwhile to eat from the forbidden fruit because that way Adam
and his wife would attain hitherto unobtainable divine levels. He claimed that
Hashem had only warned them against eating from the spiritual fruit, because it
would be too difficult to live on such a high spiritual level, but they should
do so anyway. It was an argument clothed in the guise of leshem shomayim.
To this day, the yetzer horo still sometimes attempts to incite us
into aspiring towards levels totally beyond our capabilities in the hope of
causing our downfall. Furthermore, the technique of disguising prohibitions as mitzvos
is also still prevalent.
Once
he failed this test, Adom’s greatness declined and he no longer had the spiritual
power necessary to overcome the nochosh in its original form. Instead, Hashem
created the yetzer horo in its current form
of a spiritual power inside us inciting us to evil, and our task is to overcome
it. We are assisted in this task by the very fact of our mortality, which was
decreed at the same time, since the thought that we are destined to end up as
dust serves as a deterrent to sin.
Kayin and Hevel
“Kayin
rose up against Hevel his brother and slew him” (4:8)
Why
was Kayin jealous of his brother and how did he descend to the level of killing
him?
Kayin
and Hevel had different outlooks as to what a person's duty was in this world.
Kayin thought that since this was a material world, it made sense to enjoy it
and subsequently thank Hashem for His goodness, as it says: “It came to pass at
the end of days, that Kayin brought of the fruit of the soil an offering to Hashem”,
“the end of days” meaning that only after he had enjoyed the food did he bring an
offering, and specifically one from vegetables, to show that even the most
basic food essential for the body’s health is a present from Heaven. Hevel, on
the other hand, thought that the spiritual could not be separated from the
material, and everything in this material world had to be used for the sake of
heaven. He therefore brought an offering before enjoying the products of this
world from the "firstborn of his flocks and of their fattest” and not only
"at the end of days" like Kayin.
Kayin
killed Hevel in the belief that his brother's place was anyway in the upper
worlds which was completely spiritual, so that he had not harmed him. Perhaps
that is why he responded, "Am I my brother's keeper", meaning is it my
job to ensure that he stays in the lower than Gan Eden, as opposed to partaking
of the greater pleasures of the upper Gan Eden. Hashem responded that this
material world does not tolerate murder, and as a punishment the soil would not
continue to give its strength to him, and he would be forced to live without
agricultural work, which was of such crucial importance according to his
outlook. He would become a wanderer and an exile, and would therefore be forced
to constantly pray to Hashem for his very subsistence. This was Hashem's way of
demonstrating to Kayin that Hevel had been right, and that even material
actions such as eating and physical enjoyments are like sacrifices and must be
connected to spirituality. All our actions must be for the sake of Heaven, and
we must constantly beseech Hashem for our livelihood and all our requirements.
Repentance
“And
he was building a city, and called the city after the name of his son, Chanoch” (4:17)
Why
does the Torah find it necessary to mention the fact that Kayin built a city?
Moreover, this Chanoch, the son of Kayin, was wicked, so why would his father
have wanted to name the city after him? Does it not say "the name of the
wicked shall rot"?
One
of the best forms of repentance is to benefit others, and therefore Kayin
wanted to build a city for others to live in, especially as he had sinned by
killing his brother Hevel, thereby limiting population growth. That is also why
it says "and he was building" (in the present tense) to show that by
the very act of building he hoped to make amends for his sin. He called the
city in the name of his son in the hope that Chanoch would continue in his path
and busy himself with increasing the population and settlement of the world.
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