Creation is for Unification
In his comments on Bereisheit, Ohr Gedalyahu gets down to the absolute basics of our existence. His insights into the structure of how our world was created illuminate the nature of our world, and more specifically, the nature of our avodah in our world. Chazal (Pirkei Avot, 5:1 and Bereisheit Rabbah 17:1) tell us that Hashem created our world using ten expressions of creation. However, these expressions are not all qualitatively the same. The first expression, “Bereisheit,” is fundamentally different than all the others. With the expression “Bereisheit” the entire world was brought into existence in a potential state. Each of the subsequent expressions acted to delineate and separate our already created world. Day one was a day of complete oneness. On day one, in a way we cannot understand, all of creation existed in a unified form.
When we look around our world today, we no longer seem connected to that original unity of the first day. But the reality is that we remain connected still. That day of unity left its mark on our world. By creating our world through the expression of “Bereisheit,” an expression of unity, and then delineating our world through the other expressions, Hashem instilled into all of creation an internal, eternal, drive for unity. The Tikkunei Zohar expresses this idea when it describes the lower waters, separated from the higher waters, crying out because of the separation, yearning to reconnect. That cry for reconnection, says Rav Schorr, is not just the cry of the lower waters. It is a cry which is implanted in every part of creation. If we look, we will find within ourselves a deep yearning to reunify with our Source, our Creator.
This internal drive towards unification has a home, a place it is moving us towards. The story of creation does not end with the ten expressions of creation. The story of creation ends with Shabbat. And Shabbat comes from the root shav, to return. On Shabbat creation returns to its source. The world was created from a place of unity and returns to a place of unity.
And throughout the process, there is an internal connectedness in the world, though it is not always revealed. Had Hashem created the world fully formed, each aspect being brought into existence simultaneously, then there would be no intrinsic connection between the different parts of our world. Instead, our world was created in such a way that each part of creation was formed from what came before. Humans, created at the end of the process, are formed from all that came before us. And we were part of it all from the beginning. Fascinatingly, Rav Schorr uses this concept of interconnectedness to explain the defiance of the land on day three (See Rashi, Bereisheit 1:11). The ability of humans to have free choice and defy Hashem’s will existed in potential on day three in the earth from which we would be formed.
Our interconnectedness to all of creation allows us to look out at the world, and to see in each piece of it, the unique song it sings in praise of its creator. This is the purpose of creation, and why all of existence is dependent on us. Our ability to recognize Hashem in this world is what crowns Him, not as a moshal, a dictator, over us, but as a melech, a king we choose to see and obey. The song of the day for Friday, the day that we were created, is Tehillim 93, “Hashem is melech, king, clothed in Majesty.”
All of our existence exists in a creation called time, and the soul of creation is Shabbat (see Shemot 31:17, where Shabbat is “vayenafash”). On Shabbat, when we cease our creative processes, and declare Hashem King over our thoughts and our actions, we reach the purpose of creation.
Live Deep
Within his description of creation, Rav Schorr sketches for us a vision of Adam Rishon on day six, turning to the world around him, and addressing the entire word with the first words of Tehillim 95, “Lechu Neranena L’Hashem: Come, let us sing to Hashem, let us call out to the Rock of our Salvation.” This is Adam, turning to creation, and recognizing the unique song each creation sings to its creator. Each part of creation has a unique ability to reveal an aspect of kavod shamayim. Until we humans were created, there was no being capable of revealing those songs in the world. When Adam turned to the world around him, and listened to its expression of G-dliness, that was the completion of the creation process. That was the fulfillment of the purpose of creation.
We may not be able to see the song of every single piece of creation, but we can step outside for a moment, and appreciate the beauty of a tree, or a flower, or the sky or a bird, and we can hear the song it sings, the song that says this beauty was created by Hashem. And when we take that mindful moment, and appreciate that song, we can also appreciate that in that small moment, we are actualizing our the potential to reconnect to our Source, and fulfill the purpose of creation.