This week’s Parsha is dedicated to the zechus for besoros tovos from Israel. May Hashem protect our soldiers, may He bring a speedy healing to the wounded, and may He let peace reign. Please continue to read in the merit of a refuah shelaima for Chaya Sofya Sara bas Mera, Tova bas Perel, and Binyamin ben Simcha.
If you will pardon my saying it, it seems strange that this week’s parsha is Parshas Beireishis. This is usually a time when we are all still burbling with the excitement of the Yom Tovim or laughingly complaining about the laundry and the cleanup. But we aren’t like that now…not this year. Not in 5784.
Five thousand, seven hundred and eighty-four years and about four weeks ago, Hashem infused the first form of man with His Divine spirit. And for almost a day, it was perfect – until humankind thought they had a better grasp of what was good for them. Perhaps the swallowed seed of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad is that need to feel that we have control, that we are setting the path to our own destinies.
When Hashem calls to Adam after they have eaten the fruit, Adam responds: “And he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked; so I hid” (2:10). He hid…in the garden…from Hashem Who is Omniscient! Adam ate the fruit, and suddenly he thought he understood life and the choices that have to be made in it.
Hashem’s response is interesting as well: “And He said, "Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" (2:11). It is such an obviously rhetorical question. There is no one who could have told Adam such a thing…except Adam himself. Perhaps we can read this as the ultimate rhetorical Divine question: Is anyone really in control of the world except Hashem?
The answer, of course, whether a tragedy is personal or communal, is no. All of this is in Hashem’s control, and all of it has purpose.
This week’s parsha also introduces us to the first acts of violence. Cain struck and killed his brother Abel. It is here also interesting to note because he did this act out of jealousy. Hashem showed favor to Abel’s offering, which was, indeed, superior. Cain believed that he had the ability to control the world enough to remove the obstacle in his way from receiving Divine praise, when, of course, the obstacle was himself (since he chose mediocre items to bring rather than the finest of what he had).
Klal Yisrael’s enemies have long sought to remove us from being an obstacle between them and the status of ultimate Divine favor. Even more so, however, is that like Cain, our enemies have refused to see how assessing and changing their own lives would elevate them.
This is all philosophically lovely and an example of relating the text of the Torah to the world we live in, but what is it that we can take away from these thoughts. So our enemies are jealous – stating that doesn’t make any of the pain diminish (which nothing can, really) or give comfort. It may, however, help us shape our reactions and our focus on what we need to do.
What is it that we need to do? Alas, I am a descendant of one who ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad, and so I will continue totry strive to change the world around me as I see fit. But with the guidance of the Torah, I recognize that the most critical act I can do is to pray and to remember that Hashem is Omnipotent and Omniscient and everything is part of His plan.
Please Hashem, may is be Your will that we only have besoros tovos (good tidings), that our enemies should be stopped, and that we should find strength and come together as a people, and truly see Your glory.
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