This week's newsletter focuses on the Torah portion of Bereishit/Genesis with its emphasis on goodness. The song is a repeated prayer for salvation. The additional reading is a powerful poem about citizenship--all in the context of the upcoming election.
michael
A word of Torah: At the end of the first day of creation, God reviews what has been accomplished and says: ki tov/it was good. God could have said it's finished, or even well done. Instead, God uses the word good. Good is a value. It is not objective in the way that complete or incomplete can be. By calling it good, God introduces values into the world. This universe is not just a mechanical world run by the laws of nature. It is a world where morality is critical.
As much as finishing the things on our to-do list each day is important, of overarching importance is to be able to look at our day and say that what I did for myself, for others and for the world was good. God’s statement tells us we are not here just to be successful or even to enjoy life. We are here to make the world good. The world is not just neutral. Humans are meant to continue the work of creation and thereby be co-creators of the world. God’s response to creation is tov – it is good. If I had to choose one word to summarize what Judaism is about it is that word – tov/goodness.
Ethics alone could call upon us to act in caring ways. Some might suggest that being ethical is utilitarian. We are good to others in order for them to reciprocate. Here the Torah is making a faith claim that cannot be proved. The universe has a moral purpose. We are meant to effectuate that purpose. The purpose of life is to strive to bring goodness into the world. Being human, we will often fail, but goodness remains our purpose.
God doesn’t call just the first day good. In this first week of creation, we see the unfolding of that creation each day. Judaism believes that unfolding continues beyond the first week of creation. In the prayer book, we say “in God’s goodness, God renews each day the work of creation.” Each of us is renewed each day. The world changes, reminding us that we too have the potential to change. This too is part of the goodness of God’s creation of the world.
The call to do good by imitating God is found at the end of each day of creation when God declares ki tov/it is good. Actually, because tov/goodness is so important to God, we come to understand the importance of human beings. What does goodness mean in a world that is simply natural? Are animals good? Is wind good? Without humans to make choices the category of goodness is not really applicable to a universe run by the laws of nature. God’s declaration of the world’s goodness is a statement about the potential that exists in the world. The potential for goodness was waiting for the creation of human beings who could actualize that possibility – or its opposite, evil.
