The Blessing of Seeing Others by Rav Moshe Weinberger

From the Fire

Parshas Bereishis The Blessing of Seeing Others

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

As we once again begin the cycle of the Torah, we remember that the last letter of the Torah is the letter lamed in the pasuk (Devarim 34:12) “L’einei kol Yisroel, Before the eyes of the Jewish people,” and the first letter of the Torah is a beis, in the pasuk (Bereishis 1:1) “Bereishis bara Elokim, In the beginning of Hashem’s creation...” The letters lamed and beis spell lev, the heart. So as we beginning learning the Torah again, we pray for (Yechezkel 36:26) “V’nasati lachem lev chadash,” that Hashem will give us a new heart to understand the Torah in a new way, more deeply than we understood it last year.

The Torah begins with a large beis. It is known that the sages wanted to explain why the Torah begins with a beis, the second letter of the aleph beis, and not an alef, which is the first letter. The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 1:2) explains, “Why [did the Torah begin with a] beis? [Because it is the first letter in the word for] blessing. And why did it not [begin] with an aleph? [Because it is the first letter in the word for] curse.”

This Midrash is difficult to understand. While the word for curse may begin with an alef, there are many wonderful words that begin with an alef. Hashem created light, ohr, on the first day of creation and the pasuk says (Bereishis 1:4), “And Hashem saw that the light was good.” The letter alef is also the first letter in the word for truth, emes. Indeed, (Shabbos 55a) “the seal of the Holy One is truth.” Why then do we not want to begin the Torah with an alef simply because it is the first letter in

the word for “curse,” even though it is also the first letter in many perfectly good words as well?

In order to understand the answer to this question, we must first contemplate the purpose of Creation. Many seforim, particularly those of Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, explain that because Hashem lacks nothing, He created the world in order to give perfect goodness to another. The concept that there must be a giver-receiver/parent-child/husband-wife relationship is therefore an integral part of the structure of Creation. Rav Yisroel Salanter famously said that “man was not created for his own sake.” Our purpose is to be part of the framework of a giver/receiver system in which we receive from another and then we, in turn, give to those who receive from us.

The Gra, the Vilna Gaon, explained that the difference between ohr and choshech, light and darkness, is that one who is shrouded in darkness sees only himself, whereas one who is in the light sees and recognizes that there are others in the world. Such a person is truly illuminated. When Moshe Rebbeinu was born, Chazal say that the house was filled with light (Megillah 14a). Moshe was a Jew who was able to see everything.

Chazal say about the light Hashem created on the first day of Creation (Chagiga 12a): “With the light the Holy One created on the first day, a person could look from one end of the world to the other.” This does not mean that this light gives a person some sort of super telescopic vision. Rather, it means that with the light of truly recognizing others, a person can look at another person and see every aspect of the entire world that is that other person.

Our purpose is to resist the natural inclination to be drawn after darkness, to only see oneself. It is very easy to see one’s self as the beall-to-end-all of his world, which is the opposite of the perspective of light, whereby one sees from one end of the world to the other and recognizes that he must be part of a greater giver/receiver relationship

When a person receives from and gives to others, he lives in a place of light, about which the Torah says (Bereishis 1:4), “And Hashem saw that the light was good.” But if a person sees himself a lone individual who lives only for himself and not also to give to others, then the Torah says (Bereishis 2:18), “It is not good for man to be alone.” The point of life is for people to live to give to one another.

At the end of the parsha, however, people began to live only for themselves and Hashem found Himself alone, so to speak, without a partner in the continuing giver/receiver relationship, as it says (Bereishis 6:5-6), “And Hashem saw that man’s evil was very great in the land and the desires of the thoughts of his heart were only evil all day ... and His [Hashem’s] heart was sad.” Chazal say (Yevamos 62b), “Any man who lives without a wife lives without joy and without blessing...” When man was no longer Hashem’s partner in the giver/receiver relationship, it was comparable to a husband without a wife, who lives without joy. Therefore, the Torah says that Hashem, as it were, felt, “And His [Hashem’s] heart was sad.” Life only has meaning, purpose, and joy if it is lived in a way of one giving to another.

That is why the Torah must begin with a beis and why only the beis signifies bracha, blessing. The letter beis has the numerical value of the num-

ber two. There can only be blessing when there are at least two people, each one focused on giving to the other. The letter alef has the numerical value of the number one. When someone is only focused on himself, then it is a curse, and (Bereishis 2:18) “it is not good for man to be alone.” The Torah must begin with a beis, the number two, to teach that light, goodness, joy, and purpose can only exist where each of us do not live only for ourselves, but are part of a greater giver/receiver paradigm, where we do good, receive from Hashem, and in turn give to others.

The seforim hakedoshim therefore teach that the name of Hashem associated with the ohr ha’ganuz, the light Hashem created on the first day of Creation and then hidden away for the tzaddikim, is alef-hay-vav-hay. The numerical value of that permutation of Hashem’s name is seventeen, which is also the numerical value of the word tov, good. Those letters of Hashem’s name also form the initial letters in the pasuk, “Es ha’shamayim v’es ha’aretz, the heavens and the earth.” The hidden light signifies Hashem’s lesson that goodness can only exist when heaven and earth work together in a giver/receiver relationship. Givers are incomplete without those to receive from them1 and receivers cannot exist without givers. We must have both for it to be “good.” We can now also understand why Rabi Akiva, who, with his students, is the foundation of the Oral Torah, was the light of the world. He was the great lover of the Jewish people, who said (Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:4), “Zeh klal gadol b’Torah, this is the great principle of the Torah” regarding the pasuk (Vayikra 19:18), “V’ahavta l’rai’acha kamocha, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, the final letters of the pasuk (Tehilim 97:11), “Ohr zarua l’tzaddik u’l’yishrei lev simcha, light is sown for the righteous and joy for the pure of heart,”

Life only has meaning, purpose, and joy if it is lived in a way of one giving to another.

spell R’ Akiva. This is because Rabi Akiva saw the whole world through the light of his love for the entire Jewish nation. The Gemara therefore says about him (Yevamos 16a), “You are Akiva, the son of Yosef, whose name goes from one end of the world to the other.” Because he loved every Jew and saw himself as connected to everyone else, he merited to look at every Jew in the world with the hidden light which allowed him to see from one end of the world to the other.

The Divrei Chaim of Tzantz, zy”a, used to bless everyone after Simchas Torah with a “lichtiege nacht,” “an illuminated night.” May Hashem bless us to receive His goodness and give of that goodness to others with joy, blessing, and goodness. And may He reveal the hidden light of the righteous so that we will truly be able to look into others with the coming of Moshiach, may he come soon in our days.

1Note that while this statement is true generally, it does not mean that Hashem would be “incomplete” had He not created someone to receive the good He wished to give. Rather, it was simply Hashem’s unfathomable will to create a world in order to give to another.

Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.

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