Parshat Bereishis 5784
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha after Hashem created the world in six days (Chapter 2, Pasuk 1), ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל צבאם. Hashem completed the creation of heaven and earth. The Medrash Rabbah on the pasuk (10,2) teaches that though the word וכלו means He completed, one can understand this word to mean that all the created things became כלים, or vessels. How are we to understand this idea that everything became a כלי?
The next pasuk states that with the completion of the creation, Hashem rested and the seventh day was Shabbos. ויכל אלוקים ביום השביעי מלאכתו אשר עשה וישבות ביום השביעי מכל מלאכתו אשר עשה. Rashi explains these words, which seem to indicate that Hashem completed the creation on Shabbos and not in six days, by teaching, באת שבת באת מנוחה. The Sfas Emes explains that with Shabbos came an awareness that the world was created by Hashem. This was not a physical world determined by the laws of nature, but rather a world created by Gd. The word מנוחה doesn’t mean rest, but rather indicates Divine inspiration, as the pasuk says in sefer Yeshayahu (Chapter 11, Pasuk 2), ונחה עליו רוח ד'; the spirit of Hashem rested upon him. The creation wasn’t complete until there was an awareness that Hashem created the world and this happened with the Divine inspiration which is experienced on Shabbos. And only then, as Rashi states, כלתה ונגמרה מלאכתו, was the creation of the world complete.
With this awareness and the onset of Shabbos, all the world became subservient, בטל, to Hashem. And as the Medrash teaches, everything became a כלי; the purpose of everything is to serve Hashem. As it says in the end of the sixth chapter of Avos, כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו לא בראו אלא לכבודו. Everything which Hashem created, He created for His honor. In this regard, everything is a vessel, or a כלי, to bring honor and express the wonder of creation.
This, of course, includes mankind as well. Our function is to act in a way which brings honor to Hashem and sanctifies His name. We must always act in a manner which will be מקדש שם שמים.
The last Mishnah in Uktzin states, לא מצא הקדוש ברוך הוא כלי מחזיק ברכה לישראל אלא השלום. The Sfas Emes teaches that שלום is a reference to Shabbos, the completion of creation. As we say in davening on Leil Shabbos, ופרוש עלינו סוכת שלומך. When we act as proper כלים, then we will be filled with bracha. And the source of all bracha, מקור הברכה, is Shabbos. On Shabbos, everything and everyone realizes its function as serving Hashem, and that is when we are filled with bracha.
The shocking massacre on Simchas Torah is something we have never experienced before in our lifetime. My generation, born during the years following the Holocaust, knows only second hand from the survivors, including my father-in-law z”l, a survivor of Theresienstadt, of the atrocities committed during the Shoah. We never thought we would live through such events, especially in Eretz Yisrael.
We live in a world which has clearly lost its way. The lack of moral clarity and the immoral equivalency which the world attempts to impose upon us is only getting worse. We must uphold our vision and purpose as Keilim, meant to bring honor to Hashem by maintaining the standards and the mitzvos of the Torah. Despite the atrocities, there are many stories of tremendous resilience and bravery and self-sacrifice on the part of אחינו בית ישראל. The bravery, dedication, and singlemindedness of our soldiers is awe inspiring. We must remain strong and united, and remember our role as the עם הנבחר, the nation chosen to be the moral compass of the world. And that moral compass is the Torah, and when we fulfill all aspects, both בין אדם למקום and בין אדם לחברו, then we will merit to be כלים of Hashem. And then Hashem will fulfill for us the conclusion of the words of the Mishnah in Uktzin אין כלי מחזיק ברכה לישראל אלא השלום, שנאמר ד' עז לעמו יתן ד' יברך את עמו בשלום.
Good Shabbos
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