Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Renewal

The midrash at the beginning of Berashis (1:4) says:
Why are these 3 ראשית the זכות to create the world?  The simple peshat is by giving the beginning to Hashem we show that everything in the world is for the sake of Hashem.
I will take some poetic derush license and suggest that בזכות doesn’t mean in the merit of, but it comes from the terminology of זכה, to purify.  The world is purified by these three things of ראשית.  What does this mean?

As demonstrated in this clip here (please listen from the 2 minute and 50 second mark,) Hashem put into this world the power to renew one’s self even after a major collapse.


The midrash (3:7) says before Hashem created this world; Hashem was בונה עולמות ומחריבין .  What are Chazal teaching us here?  (for the Kabbalists this has great significance, but that is for a different time.)  Rav Chayim Shmulevetz explains Chazal are teaching us that Hashem put into the world this power to arise even after things have gone south.  That is the aforementioned idea, to purify the world, so that people can maintain sanity amongst confusion, Hashem gave us mitzvot of ראשית.  The crops come and go in the season, but next season they crop up again.  There is a new beginning.  We acknowledge this by taking note of the ראשית and earmarking it for kedusha.

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