Why did G-d create man with parents? If He created Adam and Eve from dust, then why not all humans from dust?
Parenting is an important paradigm for humans. Children learn from having parents about role modelling, the depth of selfless love and open handed giving. Parents learn about G-d, and his infinite love of His children, how to forgive over and over and over again and the depth of love as well, selfless giving.
A few days ago, on Simchat Torah, we completed reading the Torah for the year. The Torah ends with the letter Lamed. Just a few days later, now, we start reading the Torah anew. The Torah starts with the letter Bet. Together, Lamed and Bet are Lev, or heart.
Yet, we begin the Torah with G-d created the word. The name for G-d in the first verse is Elohim, the tetragrammaton, which symbolizes G-d’s attribute of judgment, as opposed to Hashem, which represents the attribute of mercy. The world was supposed to have been created and run with the attribute of judgment. If you follow the Torah, you live, if you sin, you get punished or die. Adam and Eve sin so very quickly, that there was no choice for G-d but to bring mercy into the world and run the world with said mercy so that people could live, and not die.
By the end of this week’s parshah, THE VERY FIRST PARSHAH OF THE TORAH, we see that G-d regrets having made man on Earth and it caused pain in G-d’s heart. Genesis 6:6. In the very last parshah that we read days ago, the Torah sets forth the blessings of Jacob’s children. The Torah ends with the word Israel, as if a man dies with the name of his love on his lips. It’s all about Yisrael, the Jews. The entire Torah is concerned with the creation of a nation named Israel.
Between the Bet of Bereishit and the Lamed of Yisrael, G-d had such high hopes for mankind. He gave us the tools of ethical living. Yet we sinned, and we sinned and we sinned, and G-d thought about destroying us, but He showed mercy on us and forgave us. As we know, that which is written in Genesis, is a paradigm for all generations. Rashi points out at the end of this Parshah that there is a difference between what G-d thought and what He said. He thought to obliterate mankind, but He said in verse 7, “I will wash away man, whom I created…for I have reckoned what do do about the fact that I made them.” G-d considered obliterating mankind, but He remembered that it was He who created mankind and did not have the heart to destroy that which He had created. And so this paradigm is what we see playing out throughout historic biblical time. Man sins, G-d regrets having mankind, but He forgives them, and does not obliterate them as He has a right do for having warned us at the beginning of the Torah, that the world was created with the attribute of judgment and by all right as king, He has a right to enforce His laws and punish for evil acts.
Then of course it is no coincidence that this crossroad between Judgment and Mercy comes at the time of the year where on Rosh Hashanah where ask G-d for what we want for the coming year. Rather than say “Man are you crazy, do you know how you sinned against me? He says, my child, come to me, return from your evil ways, ask me for forgiveness, just ask me, and I will bring you close to me once again.” Lev, G-d has a heart and He wrote the words of the Torah between the two letters that spell out heart, rachmanut/mercy.
We see G-d’s mercy kick in immediately. No sooner does G-d regret making man, the Parshah refuses to end with this regret, we see the parshah ends with “But Noach found favor in the eyes of G-d.” There was a redeeming man amongst all mankind that found favor in G-d’s eyes, the first Parshah ends with redemption of man.
What is our take away today. Hope and faith. The Torah starts with G-d’s creating the perfect world, and how man trashed the perfection. But even until the very last Parshah, G-d is blessing His creatures and has hope for their future, and the last word on His lips is his favored nation of Yisrael.
Emunah, Bitachon, Hope for all mankind. Lev/heart, love and mercy. Lessons for all time.
Shabbat Shalom.
-Suri