OCTOBER 27, 2000 VOL 4, ISSUE 1 28 TISHREI 5761

And G-d said, "Let there be light!" and there was light… And G-d said, "Let there be a firmament"… And G-d said, "Let the earth sprout grass"… (1:3, et al) The world was created with ten utterances.(Ethics of the Fathers, 5:1) It is written: "Forever, O G-d, Your word stands firm in the heavens" (Psalms 119:89). Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, explained the verse thus: Your word which You uttered, "Let there be a firmament"--these very words and letters stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven and are forever clothed within the heavens to give them life and existence… For if these letters were to depart even for an instant, G-d forbid, and return to their source, all the heavens would become naught and absolute nothingness, and it would be as if they had never existed at all, exactly as before the utterance, "Let there be a firmament."

And so it is with all created things, down to the most corporeal and inanimate of substances. If the letters of the "ten utterances" by which the earth was created during the six days of creation were to depart from it for but an instant, G-d forbid, it would revert to absolute nothingness. This same thought was expressed by the Ari (master Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria) of blessed memory, when he said that even in completely inanimate matter, such as earth and stones and water, there is a soul and spiritual life-force--that is, the letters of Divine "speech" clothed within it which continually grant it life and existence.(Tanya)

/The Midrash compares G-d's creation of the universe to the work of a human architect. When a person wishes to build something, first he fixes in his mind his purpose. Then he starts his labor."Let there be light" was the first statement in Creation, because "light" is the true purpose of existence: through the study of Torah and fullfilment of the Mitzvot, Divine radiance is revealed.

'Light' is the purpose of existence as a whole. Further, each individual is a microcosm of the world. 'Light' is therefore the purpose of each Jew: that he or she transforms their situation and environment from darkness and negativity to

light and goodness .(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

Male and female He created them (1:27) G-d created the first man as a two sided creature--one face male, and one face female. He then hewed him in two and made a back for each half.(Midrash Rabbah)

If G-d desired mankind to comprised of both male and female, why did He not create them that way in the first place--as He did with the other animals?Because if they were to be originally and intrinsically two, each would be trapped in the exclusivity of his or her identity. Their encounter would be a “relationship” at best, a war at worst. Neither would have it in them to transcend the individuality into which they were born. The two would remain two, however integrated. But neither did G-d desire man to be a singular being. As a single individual, man was without match, without challenge, and thus without potential for growth and creation. "It is not good that man be alone," said the Creator; he requires a "helpmate" and an "opposite". So G-d created them one, and then split them into two. Thus man searches for woman and woman yearns for man. Thus each has it within their power to reach within their splintered self and uncover their primordial oneness. Thus man and woman cleave to each other and become one. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day (1:31)The six days of creation embody the whole of history, for the world shall exist six thousand years (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 31a); which is why it is said that "G-d's day is a thousand years" (Midrash Rabbah).

The first day of creation, which saw the creation of light, corresponds to the first millennium of history--the millennium of Adam, “the light of the world,” when the world was still saturated with knowledge of its Creator and was sustained by the indiscriminate benevolence of G-d. The second day, on which the Creator distinguished between the spiritual and the physical elements of His creation, yielded a second millennium of judgment and discrimination--as reflected in the Flood which wiped out a corrupt humanity and spared only the righteous Noah and his family. The third day, on which the land emerged from the sea and sprouted forth greenery and fruit-bearing trees, encapsulates the third millennium, in which Abraham began teaching the truth of the One G-d and the Torah was given on Mount Sinai. The fourth day, on which G-d created the sun and the moon, “the two great luminaries: the greater luminary... and the lesser luminary,” kcorresponds to the fourth millennium, during which the First Temple and the Second Temple in Jerusalem served as the Divine abode “from which light emanated to the entire world.” The fifth day, the day of fish, birds and reptiles, represents the lawless and predatory Dark Ages of the fifth millennium. The sixth day, whose early hours saw the creation of the beasts of the land, followed by the creation of man, is our millennium--a millennium marked by strong, forceful empires, whose beastly rule will be followed by the emergence of Moshiach, the perfect man who brings to realization the divine purpose in creation and ushers in the seventh millennium--the “World to Come”--a time of perfect peace and tranquility. (Nachmanides)

G-d called out to the man and said to him: Where are you? (3:9) In 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was imprisoned on charges that his teachings undermined the imperial authority of the czar. For 52 days he was held in the Peter-Paul Fortress in Petersburg. Among the Rebbe's interrogators was a government minister who possessed broad knowledge of the Bible and of Jewish studies. On one occasion, he asked the Rebbe to explain the verse, "G-d called out to the man and said to him: Where are you?" Did G-d not know where Adam was?

Rabbi Schneur Zalman presented the classic explanation offered by the commentaries: the question "Where are you?" was merely a "conversation opener" on the part of G-d, who did not wish to unnerve Adam by immediately confronting him with his wrongdoing."What Rashi says, I already know," said the minister. "I wish to hear how the Rebbe understands the verse." "Do you believe that the Torah is eternal?" asked the Rebbe. "That its every word applies to every individual, under all conditions, at all times?" "Yes," replied the minister.

We do recite the B'racha upon seeing the rainbow (p. 87); we do not follow those (authorities) who are hesitant in this matter.

A resident of Mezibuz had a quarrel with another. Once, while in the Baal Shem Tov's shul, he shouted that he would tear the other fellow to pieces like a fish.

The Baal Shem Tov told his pupils to hold one another's hand, and to stand near him with their eyes closed. Then he placed his holy hands on the shoulders of the two disciples next to him. Suddenly the disciples began shouting in great terror: They had seen that fellow actually dismembering his disputant.

-Zohar