Bereishis - Creation Unfolding

you're listening to the weekly paraa podcast recorded with hm's never ending assistance in Israel 5776 2015 this week's paraa is pares prous the very beginning the Genesis of the world the beginning of the Torah and as our kazal our sages teach us the beginning of anything the beginning of the Torah the beginning of a safer of a book the beginning of any idea or any thing that's manifest in the world is always the root of that idea it's is the foundation of that idea and I'd like to speak about this at length especially in the context of three pieces in the medish which are extremely beautiful as we as we try to understand them as we try to study them together there'll be a beautiful idea that we can learn from these mam now the me starts off an amazing thing and I'm going to share with you some comments of the atos who's a commentary on the menish and we're going to see it in in the depth of it the importance the significance of some of these comments the me starts off with a statement of it's important to know who's speaking here because this is the very first of the rabbis who speaking in the me speaking about the para of Braes about the beginning of the creation of the world the great started off and said the following he quoted the verse in Proverbs 8:30 it says like this and I the Torah is speaking and saying I was for him am Mo the word am Mo means a craft that's the literal translation of the word am Mo but we'll see that there are different layers different levels different possibilities of what this word means now is his play thing day after day now the first thing that the AI points out is that the words Shu I was his toy the Tor is describing itself as the toy of God as it were though that those two words the if you take the numerical value of each of the letters in in these two words it equals the gatri of the name RAB Raba of this this Rabbi who is teaching this teaching it's very interesting very interesting so contained within his teaching says whenever we have a a rabbi who writes a book or an author who writes a book so they always like at the beginning of the book at the beginning of the safer to create some kind of hint at the beginning of the book to to their name very interesting that this is the first of the comments that the AC makes and is the first of the rabbis who speaks quotes AA verse which contains within it a hint to his own name very interesting idea let's continue on hold on to that thought for a moment and we'll see what the depth of that is and why that's right here at the beginning of the Torah the beginning of the Mish so he explains that the wordo the Torah refers to itself as a a craft why why is it referring itself in this way what are the the four different possibilities of what this word Aline can mean the first is like this ped four different possibilities of what this word can mean am Mo the first explanation is pedagogue which means that it expresses itself very clearly and openly the second possibility of what this word means is that it's something which is covered something which is covered you can still see that it's there you just can't see it openly the third level or the third explanation of the word is M which means hidden something which you can't even tell that it's there you would have to search for it and then the fourth level here is robsa something which is so big so great that you don't even realize that it's there at all you don't even know to look for it it's it's a hidden secret so these four different explanations of how the to refers to itself it refers to itself as a craft so this craft is something which is either open it's covered it's hidden or it's completely not known that it's there those are the four different levels within Torah which as the acos of explains correspond to pares the different levels of Torah the simple explanation remes the hints that are there D which is the things that we the mid that we are learning out right now let's say and then the the ultimate the deepest level is the the secret which is contained which is behind everything now the mes continues and gives us a source for each of these different explanations of the wordo and we see that in each of these verses it's used in these four different ways these four different explanations I'm only going to share with you the first one I'm not going to read the entire Mish because then the first one is contain something which is is very significant for the idea that I'd like to drive at amine pedagogue how do we know that the word am can mean something which is explicit which is openly expressed how do we know from that which the verse says in in numbers 11:2 the verse refers to God as carrying the Jewish people just like a mother who is taking care of her child that child who is still nursing in a Sim in a similar way God takes care of the Jewish people so you see the word o means something which is revealed a child is a is something who has been hidden for a while who's gone through different stages of concealment slowly becomes more and more revealed but in the end is completely revealed as the baby is born then it goes through different levels the other levels that we spoke about the more hidden levels of the Torah now that's the first magish which speaks about the Torah as something which has these four different levels now let's focus for a moment on the next part of the medish the second medish which I'd like to share which speaks about the Torah in a different aspect or seemingly different aspect perhaps another aspect um the word can also mean one who is creating a craft not just the craft itself but the Craftsman the is saying I was the very vessel of the master Craftsman I was used by God how was I used but no just like in the regular way of the world when you have a king of a flesh and blood king a human being if he wants to build a palace he doesn't do it with his own knowledge or understand the first thing that he does is he goes to a Craftsman a person who's an architect someone who his way his craft is he's he's schooled he's been educated in building buildings he also the the architect the one who is the Builder doesn't do it on his own he has records he has notebooks filled with information about how and what's the correct dimensions how to build each of these rooms how do want to make smaller rooms in the same way says the M something which needs understanding the M tells us that the Tyra itself is the blueprint it's a classic idea the t is a blueprint of creation God needed that blueprint just like an architect has his blueprints everything is is written out there and then he uses the blueprints in order to create the building which he wishes to create to build in the same way Hashem looked in the Torah the blueprint of creation and from there he created the world how do we see this we actually see this idea which we're now learning out from the verse in Proverbs we see this in the tah itself from our very first verse of braas of Genesis of our par the Torah says in the beginning bous the beginning has created now as explains it could have said in the beginning in that way what does it mean in the head which we have spoken about when we spoke about rash what is the idea of the head being the head of something the beginning of something is a reference to the Torah this is what the verse says God acquired me or manifested me the Torah as the first of his ways so we see that the Torah was created first as a blueprint the Torah has within it the DNA so to speak of all of reality and then Hashem wants to bring the reality into the world the world comes into being by Hasam looking in the Torah as it were like an architect how can I create this great building this great Binion which is the World by looking in the Torah so that's the second of the midash and this of course also needs explanation God Is Not An Architect an architect needs to think about things he needs to have it very clear he has to remind himself perhaps of how it's supposed to be done he doesn't remember from the time before God is not like that God has Eternal memory God is beyond time God shouldn't need a blueprint what's the understanding of the idea that God first creates the Torah the spiritual DNA the blueprint of creation and then looks in the Torah and then brings the world into being by constantly checking back looking inside oh how did I mean for it to be seems very strange what's the understanding of this medish now I'd like to share with you a third medes and then we'll start understanding perhaps the idea of how these three M were connected the third Med doesn't seem to be connected at all from in the name of started off and said the power of His works the verse says in in Psalms 11:6 the power of God's Works he wanted to tell over to his Nation govern Etc now what is this verse telling us why was it important for God to tell us the details of what was created on the first day on the second day Hashem could have just said the verse could have just said God created the world period God created the heavens and the Earth and everything there therein and you know you want to get to the story of Adam of Adam Harish the first man so just say God created the whole world he created man placed him inside of the Garden of Eden and then start telling us the story why do I need this whole introduction and why I need all the details of when of what went on specifically on each of the days of creation says the magician amazing thing a famous rashi rashi quotes this m the first Rashi in the Torah the reason that hasem wanted to give us all these details is as follows because of the idol worshippers the nations of the world would say to the Jewish people like this you know what you guys are you guys came 3,000 years ago you came into the land of Israel it was a land which belonged to the Seven Nations the Canaanite Nations what did you do you plundered this land you killed all those people you took over their houses you guys are just plunderers that you know it's not really yours you didn't earn it you didn't buy it from them the Jewish people have a response to say back to these people based on this verse These Verses first of all very interesting the first thing that the Jewish people say to them is where did you Seven Nations get it from you got it from whoever was here before you the verse in Deuteronomy 2:23 tells us about the different nations that were in the land of Israel before the Canaanite Nations they were destroyed others came in as well so that's the first point the first point is that you you've done the same thing don't tell us that we are coming in and plundering interesting that's the first statement the second statement however has to do with our verses the second point we have to see because we need both of these points it seems is that the entire world is Gods the world and everything that fills it belongs to meaning we see from the verses from the from the specifics from the Torah laying out each of the different details of what Hashem created on day one day two day three Etc that Hashem is the one who made each of the different things in creation therefore Kat when God wanted to he gave it to you when he wanted to he took it away from you and gave it to us that's why the verse says again in Psalms 111 verse6 God wanted to make it known to us what was the order of his works so that God could give us the inheritance of the Nations meaning The Inheritance that we would be inheriting from the Nations he that was said to us so that we could be aware of this for all generations now obviously this is a very important idea which is especially important today when there are those who would question the legitimacy of the Jewish people in Israel today but somehow inside of this Mish and we need to understand the magician the depth of what it's saying but somehow contained here is a claim the Jewish people have a claim here that God created the world and therefore he can give it to whoever he wants and he's given it to us now the obvious question that pops up immediately here is the way we we phrase the question of the Mish is that the T doesn't need to explain to us all the details of creation it could have just said God created the heavens and the Earth and we don't need to know what happened on each day now still based on the answer we still don't really need to know the details do we we just need to know that Hashem created the heavens and the Earth what does it help us now that we know all of the details of what hasm created on this day on that day on the next day why is that important and how does it get us to the Tina to to the claim that we can make that God therefore gave it to us that this is our land why because it's clear that Hashem is giving it to us how is it clear how does it become clear because Hashem did this and this on day one day two day three day four how does that answer the question how does that provide us with a claim so to begin to understand what's going on here I want to turn back to a point which we made earlier which was mentioned earlier in passing really which is that in the verse that we originally quoted like y it refers to the fact that the Torah was God's play thing his toy day after day and the points out that there were two days what are days so say just tell us something which is a very powerful statement they say that a day for God is a thousand years and thus for 2,000 years before creation God was playing as it were with the Torah the Torah was already in existence for 2,000 years before creation or two days as is referred to here and then God began to create the world 2,000 years after now what is the idea that God for God a day is a thousand years what does that mean because God is forever and God you know like for him a day is just like a flash so if it's like a thousand years for him is like a day what does that mean exactly and I think that the Core Essence of this idea very much parallels the concept of DNA DNA it contains all the information for the entire body of a human being or for any animal for that matter condensed into a very small space and the way that it works it unfolds and I mean I mean it's been years since I studied biology in 9th grade but the the concept of it at the core of it is that the DNA is the compressed information and it has the ability to unfold and manifest as this incredible human body in all of its complexity but all the information is contained within that small strand in each of the cells of the human body in that DNA strand now in the same way when we say that a day for God Is A Thousand Years God is beyond time but a day is like it's it's this compressed DNA type structure which contains within it all of the information which we would experience as human beings as a thousand years now if we take that a step further we look at the Torah as it's being described here the Torah is also the compressed version of reality it's a Transcendent version of reality which is beyond time and beyond space and thus what we experience as Torah is an unfolding a manifestation of the Torah as it appears to us in the world now what's interesting here is that the Torah describes the creation of the world that first moment of creation God creates the heavens and the Earth and then the Torah goes in detail telling us each of the things that happened on each day the idea is a parallel idea which means that there is a conception the Torah is the idea is the root is the DNA of reality and then God creates the DNA and then brings time and space into existence so that the DNA the impressed versional reality can then unfold and manifest as we see it so when we look at the torah's description day by day of every detail what we're really seeing is that the Torah is telling us that there is a compression there's a there's a DNA of reality as we've said and then there's a manifestation of the way that it manifests within space and importantly very importantly within time now what do I get by saying all this what is the idea which I'm driving at is that now all of a sudden it becomes very interesting because whatever you see happening over the six days of creation is a manifestation of the original thought as it were of God and whatever you see happening over the 6,000 years of reality the world as the as our kazal sages tell us is is set to exist on this on this week so to speak for 6,000 years and then a thousand years of chabas which is the first set we spoke about 7 * 7 Etc 50,000 years don't want to get into that but what what do we see from from the description here in the Torah is that within time once you see that the details are a are a manifestation of the original thought of God as it were so you see that whatever is Manifest now whatever is Manifest over time is a result of God's original thought of the bous the creation that original creation within Torah the Torah as the blueprint the DNA of reality contained within it all that we see all that unfolds all that manifests now the power of this is that the Jewish people walk into the land of Israel the nations of the world the idol worshippers say who are you to walk in here now and the answer to that question is look at the details of creation on each day just like there was six days of reality which God created so too there are 6,000 years of reality and if in the year 2488 from brius Island from the creation of the world which is 3,300 years ago the Jewish people walk into the land of Israel and start to conquer the land that is a manifestation of God's original plan of God's original thought and and if in the year 5708 which corresponds to the current calendar 1948 if in that year the Jewish people all of a sudden stand up as a nation what gives us the right to be here gives us the right to be here is because God placed us here and this was the original thought of God this was the original idea that God had when he created the world and that is what the meish is saying here the fact that we're here proves that we have a right to be here and that this was God's plan something which was manifest from the very beginning as we see in the six days of creation all of the pieces came into place it unfolded within time and within space based on God's original plan and that's the idea of the Torah being the blueprint it's the DNA it's the source of reality it's that original plan of God now bringing it back to the original question re Raba his name is is hidden within the the words of the verse which he quotes what's the idea of that the idea of that is that each and every individual every human being in reality the root of that person's existence is contained within the root of existence the DNA of reality which is the Torah and so the very statement of which is based on this very verse which is going to teach us about the four different levels of the cre of the of the root of reality of the Torah as it's revealed as it's hidden Etc his name is contained in gatria form at the root there because he is also a manifestation of godliness in the world of the Torah that God wants to reveal in the world as is each and every one of us and then we have this amazing the the beginning of the of the medish is teaching us this idea as well when it's speaks about the four different levels of Torah it says that the the Torah is an it was it was something a craft by God what does that mean it means on one aspect it's revealed on one aspect it's concealed on one aspect it's hidden another aspect it's so great and so large you can't even you don't even realize that it's there this is a description of the idea that we're speaking about where we start off in the state of DNA in the state of compression which can also be referred to ironically or or paradoxically as greater so large so big but really it's so small that's the the root of it is the is the weight of the Torah originally just like a child is conceived and it's hidden you don't even know that it's happened it's something which is concealed and slowly it grows until the mother's belly becomes larger and larger and oh there must be something inside there and then the baby comes out and all of a sudden that baby is born the idea teaches us this is the the way that the Torah manifests over time there are 9 months of gestation from the time that the baby's conceived till that baby is born and comes out into reality this is the reality that we experience the Torah is the blueprint the DNA of reality and we watch it come and manifest within space and within time and thus our job as individuals is to recognize our place in the Torah what is the way that God wants us to manifest in the world we start off our lives children we don't know what our direction is in life we don't know exactly what God's will is for us what God's plan is for us what our talents are and it's beautiful that the Tor is referred to as an Alo as a craft because each of us have this craft within us the talents and the the abilities that God bestows in each of us and our job is to manifest that to find our words in the Torah the words that refer to us our place within God's reality what our purpose is and to manifest that through our life we don't instantly know we don't instantly manifest it it's something which takes time and it's just like the creation of God which yes he had that original idea in the moment at the very beginning of creation but we watched it manifest over the six days of creation and we watch it manifest in the 6,000 years of reality so too it is in each of Our Lives Hashem should bless us to recognize our purpose in life to be able to recognize that just as all of reality comes into place Hashem guides all of reality into its exact place where it's supposed to be the Jewish people come into their plan at the exact moment they're meant to be there so too we should have the ability to trust and to search and to find our precise purpose in life our place at the exact time at the exact moment which we are meant to find it thank you so much for listening have a beautiful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]