The Torah begins with the letter ב – bet. Weird, right?
Wouldn’t you think that the first word of Torah, the first word to lead off the story of Creation, would begin with א – aleph?
The rabbis wonder about this too. “Why was the world created with the letter ב – bet?” they ask. “Just as ב – bet is closed on three sides and open only in front, so you are not permitted to investigate what is above the heavens, or below the deep, or what is before the six days of creation.”
Why not? Why should we limit the scope of human inquiry? Why shouldn’t we seek to master all the secrets of the universe?
Generally, Judaism is not a tradition that teaches ignorance is bliss. Jews celebrate question and study as the most worthy of pursuits. We prize literacy and education, putting a dollop of honey on a child’s first book or slate because learning should always be sweet.
But at the same time, the Torah teaches us the importance of focus.
The Torah’s first chapter culminates with the creation of humanity. “So, God created humanity in God’s image … male and female God created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
The rabbis try to understand what it means for the first human being to be created both male and female. In the Midrash, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahman said: “When the Holy One created the first human being, God created it androgynous. Reish Lakish said: Humanity was created with two faces. Then God sawed it in half, and two backs were formed, a back for the male and a back for the female.” (Vayikra Rabbah 14:1)
At first, humanity was capable of seeing in every direction. Our gaze would encompass all things at once: past, present, and future.
But then suddenly, we had a back. Our vision was narrowed. We could only see what lay before us.
In many ways this is dangerous. We can’t see what’s coming up from behind us. There is so much that eludes our gaze – so much we cannot see.
Looking back is important. We need to be able to learn from the past, from our own experience and from the experience of those who lived long ago. David McCullough wrote: “History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”
But the problem with looking back is that we can get mired in history. So often, our obsession with what’s past keeps us from being able to look forward.
When we focus on all the ways we suffered injustices, how we endured misfortune, and how others were to blame for the injuries we sustained, we become consumed with resentment, unable to move beyond our need to litigate the past.
And stuck in the past, it becomes impossible to envision to what the future might hold.
The Torah begins with the letter ב – bet to focus our attention on what comes next. If we only focus on what’s been, or on what is, we blind ourselves to what could be. But if we shift our focus, we may discover that the future is filled with possibility.
Creation is not something that happened once in history, but is an unfolding of the human story. The rabbis remind us that God renews the works of creation each and every day. And we too are partners in that constant unfolding of creation.
If we can shed the shackles of our past, we may find ourselves liberated to fashion a glorious future. If we heed the command to focus on what’s ahead, then we may imagine the world we might partner with God, and each other, to create.
And if we can focus our gaze on what’s possible, then we may discover our true purpose: to spend our lives working to realize the vision of our dreams.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Dan Levin
Temple Beth El of Boca Raton
