Shabbat Shalom.
When I decided to speak about this parsha, what attracted me was the notion of God as the ultimate parent in creating the world. Thanks to Rabbis Arielle Hanien, Joel Rembaum, Susan Leider and Perry Netter for their insights.
My goal today is to talk about our understanding of God as the parent creator, and how our creation story acknowledges the importance of the land of Israel, of family and relationships, and of community. For purposes of this drash, I will refer to God in the feminine, and as Elohim, the God of judgment, who deemed creation as good. I will leave the drash on why God has many names and what those names mean for others to explore.
Rashi’s commentary on the first words of the Torah, from which he draws on midrash, makes the link between the land and this parsha. Rashi asks, "Why in Bereishit did the Torah begin with creation of the land, and not that ‘this month shall be for you the beginning of months (the laws of Rosh Hashana in Nissan)"? Rashi suggests that the reason for commencing with creation, and not the beginning of the Jewish calendar, is to justify the allocation of the Holy Land to the Jewish People.
Commentators were concerned that some Jews might react to this idea with a guilty conscience, feeling that the Land rightfully belongs to others. Thus, the Torah begins with our history, that the Land rightfully belongs to whomever Elohim grants it, and that all of Her commandments are just. The covenant between Elohim and the Jewish People begins in Bereishit, and is reinforced throughout the Torah in stories, codes of laws and commandments.
The commentary Bereishit Rabbah emphasizes that the message of Bereishit is addressed essentially to the Jewish people. The commandments of the Torah include many which are dependent upon the occupancy of the Land of Israel by the Jewish People. Today, this suggests Jews who live in Israel or make Aliyah to Israel are helping to fulfill Elohim’s wishes of inhabiting the Land which She gave us.
The Land of Israel has been good for the Jewish people and the people have been good for the land. The American Israel Economic Forum website identifies the strengths and potential of the Israeli economy in areas including information technology and communications, and in agriculture and the environment. Some interesting facts include:
Israel is the 100
th smallest country with less than 1/1000th of the world’s population. Israel has: the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world apart from Silicon Valley; more than 3000 high tech companies and start-ups; and the highest concentration of home computers per capita. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorolla. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. The first PC anti-virus software was developed in Israel in 1979.Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant absorbing nation on earth, most notably the hundreds of thousands from the former Soviet Union. Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce with 145 per 10,000. Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
Israel is the only country in the world to enter the 21
st century with a net gain in the number of trees, made more remarkable because this was gained in an area considered mainly desert and afflicted by forest fires set by its enemies.Israel has contributed to finding new resources for energy that will diminish our dependence on oil and other limited resources. A recent Community Brief in the Jewish Journal noted that an Israeli company plans to build the world’s largest solar energy park in Southern California’s Mojave Desert to supply enough electricity to power 400,000 homes in Central and Northern California.
Our understanding of Israel involves the Land and the people of Israel in a relationship with Elohim. We are told "In the beginning of creation, Elohim created light, saw that it was good and separated light and darkness, Day and Night". This becomes a pattern for creation as Elohim creates all living things and finds them good.
We learn from Ethics of the Fathers (24): "Beloved are people for they were created in the image of Elohim…" Thus, the creation of human beings and of being in a relationship with Elohim, was a reflection of the attributes of Elohim.
We have the capacity to create, just like Elohim. We, like Elohim when She created the world, have a week of work. We are commanded to observe the Shabbat, a day of rest, just like Elohim.
On Yom Kippur, we focus on our relationship with ourselves, our relationships with others, and our relationships with Elohim. Some of our Shabbat liturgy speaks of love between Elohim and the people Israel as a metaphor for a loving relationship. We traditionally read Shir Hashirim on Friday night, a book of Jewish allusions of relationships and passion. We bless our children, our creations, Friday night before Kiddush, with the same blessing the priests gave the Jewish people.
In the stories of Bereishit, we are reminded of Elohim’s role in creation and reproduction, be it animal, vegetable, mineral, or people. Elohim is the ultimate parent. We read stories throughout Bereishit about the world She created and the challenges of matching expectations with reality, control with free choice.
"Va-Yahr Elohim Ki Tov". Elohim saw that this world was good, from the beginning of creation. This phrase is the refrain at the end of every stage and every day of creation in this parsha.
As a parent, I believe that Elohim inspired the creation of each of my children and was present at each childbirth. "Va-Yahr Elohim Ki Tov". And Elohim saw that these children were filled with potential.
I am filled with a sense of new beginnings as I see my sons growing and maturing into adulthood and creating their different paths. Like most parents, I have had areas of differences of opinion, such as which political party to register with for upcoming elections or whether to vote at all. As a parent, I believe part of watching children grow up is accepting their becoming increasingly independent in their thoughts, decisions, and actions. I also believe one challenge for teenage and young adult children like mine is defining their own ideas and paths and being comfortable when these differ from those of their parents.
"Va-Yahr Elohim Ki Tov". And this, too, is good.
As an Emma, I trust that I have guided my children by setting an example. Welcoming guests around a Shabbat or Holiday table, visiting sick friends and family in the hospital, calling my aging mother during the week or before Shabbat, recycling paper and plastic, and creating compost, are a few of the ways I hope I have modeled how Elohim has given us the ability to care for others, care for ourselves, care for our environment, and appreciate what Elohim has created for us.
"Va-Yahr Elohim Ki Tov". My children have seen these things, and come to recognize them as good. We see them acting on these values, integrating them in their lives and their choices, and we echo Bereishit, after Elohim, Who creates humans in Her image saying, "this is good". "This is very good".
For David, making Aliyah is his dream. He will be living on Kibbutz Sa’ad. He has been told he will have a roommate from Ethiopia, who like himself, will be a Lone Soldier, without immediate family in Israel.
David has been nurtured by this community at Temple Beth Am, by his Abba and myself, by his brother Meir, by his extended family and friends, by Camp Ramah, USY, his education and his faith in Elohim. He has shown by his actions his commitment to Klal Yisrael. Whether it was helping a child in childcare or another teen, working on staff at Camp Ramah, speaking about Israel programs for USY, or reading Torah at a Shiva Minyon, he has shown himself to be a responsible young adult that Israel will be lucky to have.
"Vayahr Elohim et kol asher asa v’hinei, tov me’od"
Elohim’s affirmation of the very goodness of things comes at the stage of creation where human beings come to life, a special kind of creature that will make its own decisions and will act on its own free will. "Tov Me’od," is Elohim’s endorsement of: 1) the person that can exist and run things on their own that previously Elohim the creator parent had to handle for him or her; and 2) the total work of creation that has set potential in place that can be nourished so the world can become as good a place as it possibly can be. Having already instructed these human children well and blessed them, Elohim calls everything complete, and says Kiddush "vayechulu hashamayim v’haaretz", that is, the words we say at the conclusion of the 7
th day of our creation story, the same words we use in our Kiddush and our sanctification over wine. Maybe that’s what we need to do when we separate from our children, our creations; give life instructions, give our blessing, see how very good they are, and let go.We as a community have the ability to model for our children the message in Bereishit. Elohim saw that creating light and darkness, heaven and earth, all animals, all vegetation, the land and the people, all of this was good. She shows us in Bereishit that we have the ability to model a community of caring, appreciation, and creativity by our words, our deeds, and our relationships. As we enter this new year of beginnings, of Bereishit, may we continue to show kindness to one another and to strangers, welcome guests, care for our elderly, respect the environment, and teach our children and one another to keep connected with our community, our families, our people and the Land of Israel. May the Elohim of Bereishit guide us with our children as the role model parent, inspiring us in relationships with responsibility, commitment, and covenant.
And may this Shabbat and every Shabbat give us the opportunity to "vayinafash" re-ensoul ourselves, to revel in the blessings of "Va-Yahr Elohim et kol asher asa v’hinei, Tov Me’od", how good it is, this world, these children we have the privilege to love, how very good.
Shabbat Shalom.