Beresheet
Genesis 1:1-6:8
Isaiah 42:5-43:10
When creating heaven and earth, God immediately faced a class action suit for failure to file an environmental impact statement. Thwarted with a cease-and-desist order for the earthly portion, God finally was granted a temporary permit for the heavenly part of the project.
When God said, “Let there be light,” officials immediately demanded to know how the light would be made and if it would lead to thermal pollution. God explained that light would come from a huge ball of fire and was granted permission as long as no contamination would result from it. Furthermore, the light would have to be turned off half of the time in order to conserve energy. God agreed and said He would call the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
Officials replied that they were not interested in semantics, just as long as the names were not offensive to any cultural group. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation.” The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to issue a permit for this preliminary work as long as native seed was used.
God said it would take six days to complete creation. Officials were noticeably upset and said that such a short time frame was impossible since it would take at least 100 days to review the application and the impact statement. After that there would be a public hearing.
God, hearing the increasing requirements and intense opposition, decided it probably was not worth it, stormed off, and said, “To h—-with it!”
This humorous, imaginary behind-the-scenes view of creation actually raises an important question: What purpose do human beings serve in the scheme of creation? Debating this question, the rabbis of the talmudic period concluded that it actually would have been better if God had not created humankind. To this they added a postscript: “Since God did create man and woman, let us make the best of it.”
A young man, depressed by evil and suffering in the world, complained to his rabbi, “Why did God ever make such a world? Why, I could have made a better world than this myself.” The rabbi replied, “That is exactly the reason God put you into this world — to make it a better place. Now go ahead and do your part.”
In keeping with this interpretation, Beresheet, this week’s portion, states that God said to the first man and woman: “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it” (Genesis 1:28), making it clear that human beings were created with a purpose in mind: to tend earth’s garden and care for its lakes, rivers, wildlife and forests. That is the meaning of the covenant, the central feature of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. God created an imperfect world and needs partners to accomplish its perfection with an end to disease, violence, cruelty and war.
The notion of Adam and Eve’s departure from the garden can be viewed from this perspective and not simply as punishment for having disobeyed God. A modern commentator suggested that Adam and Eve looked outside the garden and spied a scraggly, undernourished plant. Every day the plant became more wilted. One day they said to God, “We want to help the plant.” God replied, “If you choose to leave the garden, you may never come back.” Nevertheless, they elected to go because their life in the garden lacked challenge and purpose. Similarly, the rabbis of the Talmud understood the role of humanity to serve as stewards of the world as the following Midrash indicates:
When God created Adam, God led him around all the trees in the Garden of Eden. God said to him, “See how beautiful and praiseworthy all of My works are. Everything I have created has been created for your sake. Think of this, and do not harm or ruin My world; for if you destroy it, there will be no one to set it right after you” (Koheleth Rabbah 7:13).
Beresheet makes us mindful that God had a purpose when He created humanity. Our lives have a direction and a goal, and reading the opening chapters of Genesis reminds us that we share in the work of creation that our prayer books suggests is renewed daily. When all people assume our rightful role as caretakers and partners with God, the longed-for age of peace will finally be ushered in.