Parshat Bereishis 5786
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha about the creation of the world. In the beginning of the second chapter, we read that though the vegetation and trees were already created on the third day (Chapter 2, Pasuk 5), וכל שיח השדה טרם יהיה בארץ וכל עשב השדה טרם יצמח; nothing had grown yet. Rashi explains that on the third day the plants were close to the ground ready to produce fruits and vegetables, but they didn’t come out yet. The reason is, כי לא המטיר ד' אלקים על הארץ ואדם אין לעבד את האדמה. Hashem didn’t bring rain until there was a man who could work the field. When there was a man who understood there needed to be rain, he prayed for rain and the fruits and vegetables followed. There need to be a person who would realize this and acknowledge and appreciate the rain brought by Hashem.
The words in the pasuk, ואדם אין לעבד את האדמה, are interesting. They seem to indicate that man’s role in the world is to work the land. And this idea is further strengthened by the pasuk a bit later which describes Hashem putting Adam Harishon into Gan Eden. The pasuk states (Chapter 2, Pasuk 15), ויקח ד' אלקים את האדם ויניחהו בגן עדן לעבדה ולשמרה; He placed Adam in Gan Eden to work it and guard it. Was this man’s main purpose in the world; to work the land and guard it?
Rav Tzadok asks, how come every time the mitzvah of Shabbos is brought in the Torah, it is preceded by a statement of ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל מלאכתך? Working during the six days of the week is optional; Shabbos is obligatory. Why doesn’t the Torah simply state, on the seventh day of the week there is a mitzvah of Shabbos? Why does Shabbos seem to be dependent on the work of the previous six days?
He answers that Shabbos is the completion of a process; after the six days of work there is a mitzvah of Shabbos. And the Kedushah of Shabbos, and its Bracha, is in comparison to the six days prior. And this point is explicit in our parsha. The pasuk states (Chapter 2, Pasuk 3), ויברך אלקים את יום השביעי ויקדש אותו כי בו שבת מכל מלאכתו וכו'. Hashem blessed and sanctified Shabbos precisely because it was the day He ceased working and finished the creation of the previous six days.
The She’iltot, in the very beginning of his sefer, compares the mitzvah of Shabbos to someone who built a house. When he finally finishes the process and the house is standing and ready to move into,עביד הילולא חד יומא. He stops and makes a Yom Tov for the day. So too, when Hashem completed the creation of the world, He stopped and declared a Yom Tov, and called it Shabbos.
The pasuk says by the creation of man (Chapter 1, Pasuk 26), ויאמר אלקים נעשה אדם כצלמנו כדמותנו. Man was given Divine like qualities when he was created. And how is this ability expressed? Rav Tzadok explains it in the following manner. There is a well-known Medrash Rabbah on our parsha (11,6) which teaches that the mitzvah of Bris Milah teaches us that man needs to take the created world and fix it and improve it. The work of Hashem during the six days is paralleled by man’s journey through life. Just as Hashem created the world in six days, we need to spend our lifetime working on improving and fixing the created world. The words בצלמנו כדמותנו express the notion that we partner with Hashem in creation by fixing that which was left for us to do.
We asked earlier, is man’s main purpose to work the land, as suggested by the pasukim mentioned above. The pasuk says that Adam Harishon was placed in Gan Eden לעבדה ולשמרה. The Zohar Hakadosh teaches, לעבדה זו מצוות עשה, לשמרה זו מצוות לא תעשה. The Medrash teaches that Milah expresses a fundamental way that man is meant to improve on the world. Similarly, by all the mitzvos we perform, positive commands and negative ones, we are improving and raising up the world. This is how we can partner with Hashem in creating the world.
This is also taught in the pasuk in sefer Iyov (Chapter 5, Pasuk 7), כי אדם לעמל יולד; man was born to toil. The Gemara in Sanhedrin 99B concludes that this is referencing עמל תורה; the toil and hard work of Torah. This is the Avodah was man was created for. Rashi also indicates this on the first pasuk on the word בראשית. Rashi comments, בשביל התורה שנקראת ראשית ובשביל ישראל שנקראו ראשית. The world was created for Bnei Yisrael and for the Torah, i.e. for us to improve the world by fulfilling and learning the Torah.
We mentioned above that Rav Tzadok compares our lives to the six days of creation. And after the six days comes Shabbos, מעין עולם הבא. And as the Mishnah in Avos teaches, this world is a corridor before Olam Haba. Our time in this world is meant to be filled with Torah and mitzvos in order to allow us to enter Olam Haba. This is another way of understanding that Shabbos is ultimately dependent on the six days which came before it. ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל מלאכתך ויום השביעי שבת לד' אלקיך.
Good Shabbos
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