Shabbat Parashat Bereishit 5784

Parashat Hashavua: The Strength of His Actions He Told to His Nation

The first Rashi on the Torah explains the fact the Torah begins with creation, based on the pasuk, “The strength of His actions He told to His nation, to give them the lands of nations” (Tehillim 111:6).

The Torah’s account of creation puts great focus on the means of creation – through the Creator’s speech. It is not just that Hashem’s speech preceded creation; rather, speech created, and indeed His speech is the essence of the world. Although we see the world has physical, tangible, and solid elements, these are the external elements. In truth, there is an internal part, and it creates and gives life. As we say in Birkat Halevana, “… Who with His speech created heavens, and with the wind of His mouth [He created] all its stars.”

This returns us to “The strength of His actions He Told to His nation...” The secret of creation is a power hidden in actions, and it is handed over to us through the Torah. Only by being party to the secret of existence are we privileged to receive the lands of nations.

Yeshayahu (51:16) prophesies in Hashem’s Name: “I shall put My words in your mouth, and in the shadow of My hand I have covered you, to ‘plant’ heavens and establish the land …” Hashem placed His word, which created heavens and earth, in our mouths. This enables us to emulate Him and create (a distant parallel), so that our actions resemble divine actions.

Hashem is described as “planting the heavens.” We perceive that the heavens are far away, with no connection to the ground. However, the power of the Torah plants the heavens, i.e., they create a connection to the ground, so that the heavens are in essence growing from the ground. They should no longer be viewed as distant from each other, as they have an organic connection.

“To establish the land” – It appears that the land is well entrenched, and other things require to be connected to the ground to have staying power. However, this is not true. The land needs support and a foundation, which is achieved by the word of Hashem.

Although the strength behind actions is hidden in the power of speech, it works slowly. This is the basis for all of man’s work.

The Rabbis made an unclear statement (Sukka 52a): At the end of days, Hashem will slaughter the evil inclination before the righteous and the wicked, each of whom will cry. To the righteous, it will look like a tall mountain; to the wicked, like a strand of hair. The righteous cannot understand how they overcame it, and the wicked cannot understand how they fell to it. We can understand this based on the mishna (Avot 5:1) – the world was created with ten utterings, although one was enough, so that the wicked and righteous will receive their due for destroying or maintaining, respectively, a world made by ten utterings. Why is the world any more important by being created in ten utterings, if one suffices?

The idea is that man is created in Hashem’s form, and therefore, like the rest of creation, our actions that set our value do not come about in one moment, but through stage after stage of preparation. Because each part is “like a hair,” and it takes strand after strand to amount to something, the righteous and wicked get their reward for each step.

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