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Bereisheet: Connecting the End with the Beginning
Connecting the end with the beginning
It is well known that the Torah repeats the story of creation
twice, once in the first chapter of Genesis and again in the
second chapter. The first story begins with the familiar verse:
“In the beginning God [Elokim] created the heavens
and the earth.”1 The
second account begins with the verse: “These are the chronicles
of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the
day that God [Havayah Elokim] made earth and heavens.”2
On the first verse, Rashi comments that it denotes
God with His name, Elokim and not with his Name, Havayah,
because,
At first He thought of creating the world with the measure
of judgment, but He saw that the world could not be sustained
this way, so he placed mercy first and added it to the measure
of judgment. And that is why later it says: “…On the day that
God [Havayah Elokim] made earth and heavens.”3
Thus, the first account of creation is underscored by the measure
of judgment, while the second account is inspired by the measure
of mercy.
Amazingly, the numerical difference between these two verses
exactly equals the numerical value of the last three words
of the Torah, לעיני כל ישראל “before
the eyes of all of Israel.”4
בראשית ברא א־להים את השמים ואת הארץ =
2701
אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ביום עשות י־הוה א־להים
ארץ ושמים =
3462
And,
לעיני כל ישראל =
761
Thus, the last three words of the Torah, when connected (like
a ring) and added back to the first verse of the Torah, equal
the first verse of the second account of creation:
לעיני כל ישראל בראשית ברא א־להים את השמים ואת הארץ =
אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ביום עשות י־הוה א־להים
ארץ ושמים
This is a beautiful example illustrating how “the end [of the
Torah] is enwedged in the beginning [of the Torah],”5 a
point that we illustrate on Simchat Torah by completing
our public reading of the Torah and then immediately commencing
its reading at the beginning.
The Jewish soul gives God His measure of mercy
But, an even deeper and more meaningful explanation of this
numerical equivalence is that thanks to the power of rectification
that Moshe Rabbeinu gave to “the eyes of all of Israel” it
is possible for the Almighty to include His measure of mercy
in the creation of the world. The sages state that before the
Almighty created the universe he took counsel from the souls
of the Jewish people on whether or not to create it at all.6 They
learn this, in part, from the word “king” מֶלֶךְ ,
which in Hebrew is related etymologically with the verb which
means “took counsel,” נִמְלַךְ .
Thus, thanks to the rectified foresight of the Jewish soul,
which foresaw that indeed the universe is a good thing, God
imbued reality with His essential Name, Havayah—the
Name of mercy.
In regard to the counsel that God sought, the sages also say
that the Almighty craved to create for Himself an abode below,7 meaning
in a lower, physical reality. Since He craved to do so, why
would the Almighty go to seek counsel on whether or not to
fulfill His craving? It is explained in Chassidut that a craving
has no reasonable basis as it is neither justifiable nor unjustifiable
in any way. Thus, God did not seek counsel on whether or not
this craving to create the universe was good, but rather He
sought an endorsement, as it were. Indeed, one of the permutations
of “Israel,” in Hebrew spells אַשֵׁר לִי ,
which means “[please] endorse for me.”
It is the rectified Jewish eye that is able to see how everything
that occurs in the world, even that which seems to be harsh
and unforgiving, is actually an instrument of God’s unbounded
mercy and care for the universe and every one of its creatures.
This can be seen in the beautiful gematria:
א־להים = כלי
י־הוה
Meaning, that the Name Elokim (א־להים ),
God’s Name that symbolizes judgment, is an “instrument,” or
tool (כְּלִי )
of Havayah (י־הוה ),
God’s Name symbolizing his measure of mercy.
An abode full of mercy
Earlier, we mentioned the sages saying that “the Almighty craved
to make for Himself an abode below.” In the original Hebrew,
the word translated here as “abode” is דִירָה .
The last letter of this word, ה (hei)
can be interchanged phonetically with a ח (chet).8 Thus דירה is
phonetically similar to דירח ,
making it an acronym for the two words דין ,
meaning “judgment” and רחמים ,
meaning “mercy.” Thus, to begin with the “abode” God yearned
for included the plan for a transition from judgment to mercy.
When the letters of “abode” דירה in
Hebrew are rearranged they spell דר יה ,
which literally means “the place where God dwells,” an allusion
to Rabbi Akiva’s saying: “A man and a woman, when they
merit, the Divine Presence dwells between them.” But, here
the ד ,
which is the first letter of “judgment,” דין ,
precedes the ר ,
the first letter of “mercy,” רחמים .
Relative to mercy, judgment is considered feminine; thus, the
feminine precedes the masculine. This is the order in which
God created the world: “At first He thought to create it with
the measure of judgment…. And then he added the measure of
mercy.”
As will be explained more fully in our next article on Bereisheet,
in Kabbalah and Chassidut, when the feminine precedes the masculine,
this is referred to as “the woman of valor is her husband’s crown.”9 In
such cases, the dynamic involved is one of the masculine refining
the feminine by “sweetening judgments at their source.” Refinement
of the harsh judgments of the feminine requires that the masculine
be introduced second. Therefore, in the second account of creation,
the earth, which represents the feminine, precedes the heavens,
which represent the masculine, indicating that the second account
is based on the process of refinement of the harsh judgments
(in the feminine) by mercy (the masculine). But, in the first
account of creation, the heavens, which represent the masculine,
precede the earth, which symbolizes the feminine, indicating
a theorized, ideal state.
6. Midrash
Ruth Rabbah 2:3, based on the verse in I Chronicles
4:23.
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