Haftorah: "Who Creates the Heavens"

Haftorah: "Who Creates the Heavens"

הרב אברהם ריבלין, המשגיח הרוחני לשעבר

Parshat Bereishit and its Haftorah are linked through their openings, which establish that G-d is the Creator of heaven and earth. In the parsha: "In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth" (Bereishit 1:1), and in the Haftorah: "Thus said the G-d, Hashem, Who creates the heavens and Who stretches them forth; Who firms the earth and its produce." (Yeshaya 42:5)

Both sources emphasize the joint participation of the attribute of mercy and the attribute of justice in the Creation. In the Haftorah, the emphasis is explicit in the opening pasuk: "Thus said the G-d (Ha'e-l), Hashem." As Rashi explains: "The Master of justice and the Master of mercy." However, in the Torah the idea comes in stages: In ch. 1 and the beginning of ch. 2, only the term "Elokim" appears, whereas in the continuation of ch. 2 – which is a detailed account of the generalized description of the Creation in ch. 1, the term "Hashem Elokim" appears. Rashi (1:1) cites the Midrash: "G-d (Elokim) created. It does not say, 'Hashem created,' since at first He intended to create it [the world] with the attribute of justice. He saw that the world cannot endure, so He placed the attribute of mercy first, and joined it to the attribute of justice, as it says, 'on the day that Hashem G-d (Hashem Elokim) made earth and heaven." (Bereishit 2:4)

While the parsha and the Haftorah share this common denomenator, there is an additional facet in which they differ. In the parsha, the verb of creation appears in past tense: "created," whereas in the Haftorah the same verb and others apprear in the present tense: "Who creates the heavens ... firms the earth ... gives life."

The Zohar explains our pasuk as follows:

The works of G-d are not like the works of man. Man does an action and ends it; G-d does an action and ends it only at each and every hour, and at each and every moment. Therefore, it does not say: "Who created the heavens ... firmed out the earth ... gave life," but rather: "Who creates the heavens ... firms the earth ... gives life."

The notion that the Creation is not a one-time action, but rather a continuous activity, is a cornerstone in Jewish belief. The Rambam writes: "He brings about every being." (Hil. Yesodei HaTorah 1:1) "He is the cause of all beings; their continued existence is dependent on Him and from Him." (Introduction to Perek Chelek: 13 principles, first principle) All of the activities are mentioned in the present tense. Similarly, R. Moshe Chaim Luzzato writes: "He is the One Who brought to being and brings to being everything that is in existence." (Derech Hashem 1:1)

R. Chaim Volozhoner, in Nefesh Hachaim, explains (I:2):

He, blessed be His Name, just as at the time of the creation of all the worlds He created them and brought them to being ex nihilo – so, too, since then every day and every moment literally, the strength of their existence and their arrangement and their continuation depends only on that He, blessed be His Name, endows them according to His will at every moment power and new light. If He were to remove the force of His influence for even one moment – in a moment they would all be nothing. As the members of the Knesset Hagedola established (in the morning prayers): "Who renews every day constantly the work of Creation." I.e., "constantly" – literally, every moment in time. There is explicit proof to this, as it says: "To Him Who makes great lights" (Tehillim 136:7) – it does not say, "Who made," but rather, "Who makes."

The Chafetz Chaim cites an additional pasuk that alludes to this principle: "It is known, that at each and every moment He gives life to the entire Creation, as it says, 'You give them all life," (Nechemia 9:6) – it does not say 'gave life." (Shemirat Halashon, Sha'ar Hatevunah, ch. 10) The Chassidic Masters (R. Bunim of P'shischa) similarly expound regarding the ten statements with which the world was created: "Forever, Hashem, Your word stands firm in the heavens" (Tehilllim 119:89), since, "If not for My covenant day and night – I would not set up the laws of heaven and earth." (Yirmiya 33:25)

The blend of kindness and justice mentioned in the beginning of this piece is expressed in the two facets of creation, the initial one and the one that renews each day. The Divine will sought to create a world in which His Revelation would be disguised and hidden, in order to benefit the creatures with the maximum goodness:

His desire to create creatures was in order to bestow good upon them, because if there is no one to receive the goodness – there is no goodness. However, in order that the goodness should be complete, He knew with his lofty knowledge that it is fitting that the ones accepting it should receive it through their own toil. Then they will be the owners of that good, and they will not remain embarrassed by receiving that good as one who receives charity from another, about which Chazal say: "One who eats what is not his – is embarrassed to look in his face." (Yerushalmi Orlah 1:3)

The idea, "The world is built through kindness," affords a chance to people to rise based on their actions and free choice, and to earn their level justly and not gratis as chesed. This is the combination of kindness and justice in the creation of the world, about which the parsha speaks: "In the beginning Elokim created ... on the day that Hashem Elokim made earth and heaven."

This integration of justice and kindness is strengthened through the acceptance of the Torah, which is the basis for the continuation of the worlds: "These twenty-six  'for his kindness endures forever' (in Tehillim 136) – correspond to the twenty-six generation from the creation of the world to matan Torah, since the Torah was yet not given and G-d sustained them in his chesed." (Pesachim 118a) Rav Hutner explains (Pachad Yitzvhak, Rosh Hashana p. 48):

Through matan Torah the impact of the attribute of chesed grew greater, by giving room for the existence of the world as a means of granting reward, whereas during those twenty-six generations before matan Torah the existence of the world came as a gratis gift ... In order that the existence of the world should not come as a free gift but as a just payment, service of Hashem in all mitzvot of the Torah is absolutely necessary.

This combination of chesed-justice is what the Haftorah alludes to, which talks of the Creator: "Who renews every day the work of creation."

 

 

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