Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Bereshit 2

is showering me with goodness God is looking at me and that is why light is something that is not so physical as other objects light doesn't have mass and it exhibits properties of wave energy wave rather than uh a physical object and therefore light is a A fitting Parable and a metaphor for Godly uh blessing and in our physical world all our benefits come ultimately from sunlight so God said let there be light and there was light and God saw that light was good and God separated between light and darkness and he said light should come only from the sun sun should shine only during the day not at night the reason why Hashem made such a division between dark and light on a simple level is because we would only realize that sun exists if at times Sun disappeared from the heart if the sun stood in one place there would be a danger I can think of two dangers number one that we might think that son is God Shalom we see this huge powerful ball in the sky that gives us light and and warmth and like as I explained everything we have is because of the Sun and we might say you know that is the god and we might start woring it so hasem said I'm going to remove the Sun so that smart people will say go uh uh son cannot be God because it's not there all the time and still there were many people who served the son but at least God gave us an opportunity that we shouldn't stumble that's one reason why there is nighttime so that we shouldn't think that sun is God the second reason why there is nighttime is because if sun was always shining we would not appreciate sunlight we would take it for granted of course since the beginning of the Earth the Sun was there it's always there that's how God created the world it must be like that and therefore we don't pay attention to it and uh we don't appreciate it and by the way that is why it is beneficial to live in a place where there are um um changes in the yearly um weather patterns meaning there are four seasons if it's always cold we get used to it and it's always the same and we don't feel it if it's always warm and hot we think that's how it's supposed to be and we don't appreciate and maybe we get even bored from it so Hashem said I'm going to give you an exciting Pleasant life sometimes sometimes it's going to be light sometimes it's going to be dark sometimes it's going to be hot sometimes cold sometimes just right and therefore you will always have change in your life and you will always be enjoying now this is day one what happened on day two when we speak about days of course of course we speak about time periods not the Earth's revolution around its axis but rather a time period in God's um View and God said let there be the sky the earth needs a atmosphere and uh he separated the upper Waters from the lower waters on a simple level it means the atmosphere with its clouds and humidity large water content and the oceans the large depositary of water on Earth that's the second day on the third day God created dry land on Earth according to Torah and science originally the entire Earth was covered by water then as Earth started moving the internal movement of the crust some parts of Earth stuck up and uh water formed one great ocean and then eventually our sages say that uh the Earth split into continents this is described on the third day of creation and vegetation um plants were created on the third day as well and here God created a another miracle Hashem said not only I'm creating the Sun the moon the stars the Earth the stones the sand these are inanimate objects even water as much as it is lifegiving but water itself doesn't have life now I'm going to create something that can create other things what is the first thing that can create other things that is plants Hashem said I'm going to provide plants with ability to produce other plants and that is called a seed plants produce seeds from which another plant can grow and originally people thought that a seed is just a miniature plant that when the plant produces the seed inside the seed is a tiny plant and then grow that's what they thought now we know that it's much more complicated it's not a plant at all it's just information and some Machinery to create a new plant that's how amazing it is now on the F fourth day God said let there be luminaries in the sky God finished forming the the the not only the solar system but also the entire uh Milky Way and all the other galaxies that we see in the night sky all the stars that we see now were set in place finally on the fourth day and we use The Luminaries not only for light and warmth but also count for counting days months and years days we count by the Earth's revolution um on its axis and we see the movement apparent movement of the sun months we count according to the moon and its appearance in the sky and years we count according to the sun itself so we use the Earth for days the moon for months and the Sun for years that is day four now on the fifth day God created more advanced life in the form of fish Birds and insects and God gave them a blessing to be fruitful multiply as we explained earlier God wants to give good to the greatest possible uh number of living beings and therefore God is not satisfied with one frog and with one cow or with one child per family God says be fruitful and multiply so that more and more beings can enjoy my goodness that is day five now day six is when the mammals were created as well as human beings and the Tor tell tells us something wonderful about the creation of the human beings that we actually were created in the image of God himself God created man in His image and that means that we are like God in whichever way we can describe God that is what we have and what we strive for and that is because we have a spiritual component and our spiritual component is so great that it is not limited to even a spiritual world but it goes up all the way to God himself so we have to keep this in mind when we View ourselves in the mirror I am not just the wonderful body that God created I am also a soul which is unlimited infinite with great Powers unlimited powers and therefore every moment of my life I have to ask myself am I fulfilling the purpose of not only my body but also of my soul as on the first day of uh the week which corresponds to the beginning of creation David amik says who is the one who is going to go up to the Mountain of God and who is going to stand in the Holy place which means who is the man who will be able to rise to the level that God planned for him and the answer that David gives he quotes God saying it is the man who did not carry my soul The Godly soul in vain there are many people who run around seemingly doing a lot of things they're very busy they earn money they build they visit many places but all that is physical exertion and physical Endeavors at the end of of their life they will look at their handiwork and they'll say I accomplished a lot but only with my body what about my soul I forgot about it I carried Godly soul in vain I didn't do anything with The Godly soul and Hashem will be very sad I gave you this powerful tool in addition to your body and you ignored it and we of course are going to be sad as well may it not happen to us may we be fruitful and multiply and feel the Earth and subdue it which in in implies how do we subdue the earth the earth refers to our body we have to increase our spiritual powers and Pursuits and use our body as a vehicle towards it we have to subdue the body into doing God's Will and through that we will carry God's soul for a very good purpose now God blesses the the first man and his wife and the Torah describes to us but again in a in a cryptic way how did uh man how did God create man and how did he create a woman whatever that means God told them be fruitful and multiply and God saw that the whole universe is now very good once man came into the picture the world is very good and the sages say what's so good about the world because when the Man was created yet was created and as we said yet is what gives us the greatest good the ability to get the greatest good because it's only when we're tested When we struggle and when we overcome our body and subdue it that's when we get the greatest reward from God yes the evil inclination without it we would just be angels and that's not the ultimate now in the second chapter of B the Torah speaks about Shabbat the Heaven and the Earth were finished by the seventh day God completed his work and he blessed the seventh day and Sanctified this is the holy Shabbat that we will greet tomorrow night and our sages say if God already looked at the world and he already testified that the world is very good what else can you add to the world it's already very good and they say a wonderful point that as good as the world is that is the the physical world of action and therefore we might think that it's only if we use our body and accomplish physically that's when we are going to achieve good but what if we don't work physically are we not good and Hashem said after the very good comes even better what is that that's Shabbat on Shabbat you don't have to work physically on Shabbat you don't accomplish in physical tasks so what's so good about Shabbat and that is that Shabbat allows us to enjoy being not doing but just being and that means that on Shabbat we connect to our true Essence our soul which is infinite as we say God the soul that you gave me is pure it was pure is and will always be pure in infinite and great the soul is infinite and great even though it's not working even though it's not accomplishing and that is something that we need to appreciate and uh enjoy just existing just being the fact that I am the fact that I exist already should make me happy and excited I am happy that is what Shabbat teaches us on Shabbat God doesn't ask us to build anything to create anything just enjoy enjoy who you are enjoy who your family is enjoy the world don't try to change the world just enjoy that is why shabbat is called it is like the next world it is like the Garden of Eden when Adam lived in it that he didn't have to work he didn't have to plow and um plant and harvest everything was done when Shabbat comes we have to say goodbye to our work work and we have to consider all our work finished all our needs taken care of we connect to God and we say thank you God for creating me thank you God for giving me life and I'm enjoying myself just being not doing anything that that is the greatness of Shabbat now the Torah further describes the structure of the Garden of Eden that there were two trees one tree of knowledge and one tree of um life and God told Adam don't eat from the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil trust me and listen to me I will give you all the information you need don't try to pursue and figure it out because you'll get confused and stumble rather eat from the Tree of Life then you'll live forever Tree of Life represents the Torah which means knowledge that God provides to us we're not searching for other kinds of knowledge that is called the the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil because all other kinds of knowledge they come mixed like it says good and evil comes mixed with truth and falsehood it is only Torah that is the tree of life that is the tree of blessing that is the tree of Eternity because it's the tree of Truth the only truth but Adam wasn't satisfied with simple life he said to himself God you created me not to be like an angel and not to be like an animal so I want to use some of that power that you gave me to choose for myself and even though the better thing would have been for him to choose and you use his power to decide to choose what God wants and that would be a good choice instead he made a mistake and he said perhaps God wants me to choose what I want and be as it may Adam made a mistake and he ate from the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and now everything in the world all the information we have in the world is mixed up and we're still trying to decipher it who is saying the truth and who is lying and in truth they're all lying it's only when you look in the Torah when you study Jewish authentic texts explained by the authentic commentators that's when you get the truth and if you follow that that's when you get life that's when you get success you get eternity this is the secret that the Jewish people have known and have used and that is we are that is why we are an eternal Nation because we look for information in the source of all information of Truth God himself any other source of information is flawed and therefore will contain falsehood which will ultimately hurt us so we have to be careful to choose only Torah sources for choosing the way of life now one more idea from this para and we didn't have a chance to cover the entire one para because because it's so saturated with meaning and that is we see that even though Adam and his wife made a mistake they didn't disappear from The World God didn't punish them immediately and that is because God introduced something called tsha repentance return and Adam used it Adam said God I sinned give me another chance and God said sure I'll give you a thousand years to live and not only that I will give you another opportunity through your children and your children's children and Ken did T and Le did T and every generation until now we make mistakes but we fix them and we come back to to God clean and pure and God gives us another chance as we said the Torah begins with describing to us that God created the world for the sole purpose of doing kindness good to his creations and in order to guarantee success of his Creations God said I'm going to give you another chance no matter how many mistakes you made there is always a path to repentance there's always not only a path but even a guide how to go on the path towards God and therefore a Jew is never despaired no matter the situation and no matter the age all all it needs is to say God I made a mistake please give me another chance I want to be good and right away Hashem forgives and gives more life T was created together with the world because the purpose of the world is kindness and God knows that we can make mistakes and therefore together with creating us he created the concept of forgiveness and fixing your mistakes bem may we have a successful year of studying Torah of growth of connection with God and fulfilling our purpose in life and may we enjoy all the pleasure Pleasures that God gives us knowing that we do something in return that we work for it and may we Merit to see mashia and rebuilding of yush and ultimately Gan Edan the Anda where we will see forever ultimate pleasure and enjoy to the fullest knowing that we did our best to deserve it thank you for joining to the year of growth good night and shabbat shalom