Two Minute Torah Podcast

Bereshit 5770 by Rabbi Elyse Winick

Shalom! Welcome to the next cycle of KOACH's Two Minute Torah, a project of the Department of College Outreach of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. This is Rabbi Elyse Winick, KOACH Associate Director.

We hope that your year is off to a sweet start and that Two Minute Torah will help bring the sweetness of Torah into your lives throughout 5770.

And so, we begin again, back to the beginning of all beginnings, Bereshit - Genesis. Once again, we relive the awe and wonder of the creation of the world. Once again, we marvel at the glory of the creation of humanity and humanity's immediate descent from perfection.

Each of the seven days of creation brings a new gift: separating light and darkness, water and land, man and woman. In this way, the seventh day is an anomoly. It is a day which yeields no tangible results. The Torah tells us on the seventh day, God finished the work He was doing and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and called it holy. Because on it, God ceased from all of the work of creation that He had done. Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created.

We know that creation was a seven day endevor and yet, the seventh day is a day without creation. A day marked by the conclusion of work, rather than the work itself. And despite the fact that nothing tangible is created on Shabbat, it is part and parcel of the story of heaven and earth when they were created.

The finished product seems to end with something diaphanus. It is as if God's signature on this holy handiwork is invisible but Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, "This is a radical departure from accostomed thinking. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth had been established, God would create a holy place-a holy mountain or a holy spring whereupon a sanctuary would be established. Yet it seems as if, to the bible, that holiness in time-the Sabbath-which comes first."

The sanctity of Shabbat is the crown of creation. Even the first letter in the word Shabbat-shin-looks like a crown. Shabbat is the coronation of all that comes before it. In a similar way, I'm reminded of a song from the early 70s called "Sealed with a Kiss" - it can't be seen but it sums up the meaning of everything which preceeded it. How difficult it is for us to step back and just be. To allow ourselves and the world around us to rest for a day. But this is a chance for renewal and restoration, a chance to define our lives by what can be more than by what is. Shabbat enables us to bring a better self to the tasks of the week; to elevate ourselves and the meaning of what we do. You may not be able to hold that in your hand but it is a work of creation that is far more precious. That's probably why the Torah tells us in the verses we quoted earlier, "Vayevarekh Elohim et-yom hashvihi vayekadesh oto." that God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy. Each Shabbat we set aside to remember that moment brings a bit more holiness into our lives.

Shabbat Shalom