Person in the Parsha: Bereshit

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“TO BE OR NOT TO BE?”

This week, we’ll read the story of the creation of the world in six days.

From the third day on, we are informed of the Lord’s satisfaction with His handiwork:

“…The earth brough forth vegetation…And He saw that this was good…a third day.
“…He made the two great lights…and the stars…and saw that this was good…a fourth day.
“…He created…all the great sea monsters and all the living creatures of every kind that creep
“…and all the winged birds of every kind…And saw that this was good…a fifth day.
“…He made wild beasts of every kind…  And saw that this was good…
“…He created man in his image…  Male and female and created them…”

Absent is the proclamation, “He saw that this was good”. All was good in His eyes: vegetation, stars in the sky, fish and fowl, and the beasts of the earth. But mankind?  Granted that Man and Woman are included in the summary statement, “He saw all that He had made, and found it very good”. But they are glaringly denied the specific expression of approval that He accorded all His other creations!

Would it be excessively daring, perhaps even blasphemous, to suggest that the Creator doubted that creating Mankind was such a good idea? Could He have been ambivalent about including the human race in His divine plan?

Consider the following Midrash:

Rabbi Simon said, When the Holy One Blessed Be He was about to create primeval Man, the heavenly angels were divided. Some said, “create him.” Others said, “Don’t!” As it is written, “Kindness and Truth meet; Justice and Peace kiss (Psalms 85:11)” Kindness said, “Create him for he does favors for others.” But truth said, “Don’t, for he is all lies.” Justice said, “Create him for he is often just.” Peace said, “Don’t, for he is always belligerent.” What did the Holy One do? He grasped Truth and cast it down to earth. (Midrash Rabbah Bereshit8:5)

Following this Midrash, it would seem that the Holy One consulted with quite a divided group of “advisers” regarding the wisdom of creating Mankind. Only His forceful rejection of the advice of Truth, of all things, was He able to break the deadlock. Not a propitious moment for Him to declare that the creation of Mankind was unanimously “good”! Whether or not the creation of Mankind was indeed a good idea or not seems to have remained debatable long after the Six Days of Creation. This brings us to another Rabbinic text, this time the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Eruvin 13b:

For two- and one-half years, the debate between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel raged. One said that it would have been better for Man never to have been created rather than to have been created. The other said that it is better that he was created than had he not been created. Finally, they took a vote and decided that indeed he should not have been created, but now that he is created, he should examine (yefashfesh) his actions, whereas others advocate that he should be discriminative (yemashmesh) in his actions.

There are various opinions as to the difference between yefashfesh and yemashmesh. Rashi defines the former as examining one’s past actions and correcting those that were inappropriate, whereas the latter refers to choosing carefully between current moral choices.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato presents a different approach, a much more subtle one, and perhaps one that is more relevant nowadays. Contemplate the following quotation from the third chapter of Mesilat Yesharim:

These two admonitions (yefashfesh versus yemashmesh) are both sound and helpful. The first calls for a broad introspective survey of all of one’s activities to determine which ones are improper, and perhaps even sinful, and to eliminate those practices. The second calls for an examination even of one’s commendable actions, of one’s good deeds. One must determine whether these well-intentioned behaviors were prompted by questionable motives, perhaps for selfish reasons or even nefarious schemes. This would be like the manner in which one often touches and feels the fabric of his clothing to determine whether it is still strong or worn out and needs to be discarded. The general rule is to review all of one’s activities periodically so as not to allow bad habits to fester and take root.

We remain with our initial dilemma. Did the Almighty consider the creation of Mankind to be good, or did He in some sense suspend judgement in view of the conflicting advice of His angels Justice, Kindness, Truth, and Peace?

It is here that we are well advised to consult the wisest of all men, King Solomon, whose words in Kohelet (Ecclesiastes 4:1-4) read:

I further observed all the oppression that goes on under the sun: the tears of the oppressed, with none to comfort them; and the power of their oppressors—with none to comfort them. Then I accounted those who died long since more fortunate than those who are still living; and happier than either are those who have not yet come into being and who have never witnessed the miseries that go on under the sun.

Many have been discouraged by these words of Kohelet. But I choose to look at his words as true, but as limited to certain periods in our lives or to certain eras in human history. These are times that promote despair and desperation. But it is our task to hope, to be resilient, to have courage and to change our conditions for the better. We have the power and the divine gift of creativity to overcome the darkest of realities.

As I write these words, the Jewish nation is at war with no satisfactory end in sight. We are beset by hostility at every turn. It is this kind of evil and hatred that helps explain Almighty’s reluctance to call humanity good! But I take solace in the following words of Kohelet himself:

“But see, this I did find: the Lord made men upright and honorable, but they sought out all sorts of crooked plots.” (Ecclesiastes 7:29, my translation.)

My personal conclusion is that the Almighty made us neither good nor evil. Rather, He made us “upright and honorable (yashar).” We can steer our direction in life in a multitude of “off the road” directions, or we can choose to remain yashar: honest, moral, beneficent, generous, empathetic, modest, and humble before the Almighty. Then He will extract the word “good” from His infinite lexicon and the world will be tov me’od—very, very good indeed.