Bereishit 5773

From the shiur of Rav Moshe Soloveichik on parsha Bereishit. 

 

My apologies for the inadequacy of this transcript, that cannot fully capture the charisma of Rav Moshe’s shiur.  I tried to capture as much as possible, however some points may have been lost in interpretation.

Creating and starting over

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the earth – 1:2 when the earth was astonishingly empty…

According to Rav Moshe’s uncle shamayim, heavens, does not mean sky or outer space, but the spiritual world, while the stars and planets and the entire physical world is haaretz, earth.  According to Midrash (and loosely correlating to Stephen Hawkings’ theory of multiple universes) before creating this world, G-d destroyed the other worlds he created.  Because God destroyed the prior world, the earth was astonishingly empty, tohu vavohu. And out of the remnant of this former world, God created the future world, olam haba.

 

Midrash says that G-d created and destroyed the world.  The world that G-d created first did not find favor in His eyes.  Rav Moshe’s uncle posed a question: Why did He create it, if G-d knows everything?  A human being may build something, then decide that it does not work, and destroy it. A man would not know in the beginning that it would not work, otherwise he would not be building.  But if G-d knew that the first world will not find favor in His eyes, why did He create it?

 

Says Rav Soloveichik: because there is a mitzvah in the Torah to follow the path of G-d.  This is an example of ability to start over.  Sometimes we create and then our world crumbles, especially in the spiritual realm. We have to be ready to re-create our world, but not in the same way, be willing to improve.

People don’t like to admit mistakes, so they repeat them, recreate the same mistakes.  We have to rebuild in a way that it will be good. 

Sometimes we build something and it all falls apart, and the person says – what’s the purpose?  We must not become disillusioned, but have strength to start over.

 

Example of Panovezher Rebbe – his yeshiva was destroyed during the WWII,  his family was all killed – he came to B’nei B’rak in Israel and founded the new yeshiva. 

Hitler’s forces were at the borders of Eretz Israel, but he bought the land in B’nei B’rak – he had the desire and faith that enabled him to do it. 

 

The belief that Jewish people will return to Erez Israel required faith, founding yeshivot in Erez Israel required faith, but people were able to find strength to start over and rebuild. 

 

Some mitzvoth are mentioned explicitly in Torah: visiting the sick – example of Hashem visiting Abraham after the bris; consulting mourners – Hashem visited Itzhak after Abraham died; clothing naked – Hashem made clothes for Adam and Eve. 

The mitzvah of rebuilding, of starting over is not explicit, but is derived from the story of Creation. 

 

On Bris Milah

Why is Bris Milah done on 8^th day?  Why does Sukkot take 8 days?  The number 7 represents nature, number 8 is above nature.  Shemini Atzereth is on 8^th day, Shavuoth is the 50^th day after 7 weeks of Omer.  The idea behind the Bris Milah done on 8^th day is that Jews are above nature, above the laws of history.  The laws of history are part of this world, like the law of gravity.  We are the only nation that survived, preserved its identity over the 2,000 years of  exile.  Jewish people don’t act according to the laws of history, they have the ability to rise above the nature. 

 

Abraham spread the name of living G-d among the nations.  Many nations wanted him Abraham to be part of them, to be identified with them, but he stayed apart. 

Pharaoh wanted Yakov to identify with Egypt.  Yakov was a revered figure, his impact was felt through Egypt, but he stayed separate from Egypt. 

We make impact on other people, we can influence them, but we are not part of them. We cannot ignore the nations of the world, but we are separate.

 

This is the idea of Bris Milah on 8^th day – we choose to be a separate nation, the laws of history don’t apply to us, just like the laws of nature – we defy laws of history. 

About the Oral Law

According to Rambam, a non-Jew who observes Torah deserves reward.  Written Torah is for all nations to see, but Oral Torah is transmitting among Jews and its purpose is to necessitate teaching, the mesorah, teaching tradition. 

Adam was taught not to eat of a tree of knowledge of good and evil before Chava was created.  He told her not to touch the tree – she touched it and nothing happened.  This was Adam’s mistake – he had to tell her that G-d said not to eat from the tree, but I advise you not to even touch the tree, this is what I added.  (The first white lie that proved fatal for all humanity.)

 

Song of songs 1:2 Yishakeini minishikot pihu … the tradition is taught from mouth to mouth, even when destroyed in one generation, it starts over for the next.  The tradition teaches that Mashiach should be born on Tisha B’Av – out of destruction comes redemption.