{"id":34028,"date":"2018-07-16T14:06:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T11:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=34028"},"modified":"2022-02-07T13:37:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T11:37:56","slug":"the-mercy-of-a-no-good-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-mercy-of-a-no-good-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mercy Of A No-Good World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As opposed to the tightly structured evolution of creation we are presented with in chapter 1, chapter 2 seems to offer us an ad-hoc creation of afterthoughts. In chapter 1, every step of creation is carefully put into place, and every step “is good”. \u00a0In chapter 2, creation happens as a reaction to what is lacking in the world, to what is “not good” (verse 18). Woman is created only when Adam realizes that he is missing something. According to the understanding of the midrash, the creation of vegetation also needed to wait for Adam to understand its absence, and to ask for it. Instead of being born into the meticulously prepared world of chapter 1, the picture painted by chapter 2 is of humanity plunked down onto a barren, muddy sphere. Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

Stranger still, the rabbis understood that what defines this account of creation is God’s attribute of mercy, symbolized by God’s four letter name. Chapter 1, in which only the name <\/span>Elohim<\/span><\/em> appeared, represented the attribute of strict justice. How does the creation of an imperfect world, defined by what it lacks, express God’s mercy?<\/span><\/p>\n

What we have here is the existential expression of the exegetical point we understood in chapter 1 (see: <\/span>One Word. Three Profound Lessons<\/span><\/a><\/em>, there). Problems in the text, by demanding our response, also affirm the legitimacy of the solutions we humans suggest. Problems in the world are the same. By creating imperfection, God both invites and affirms human partnership in the creation of our world. A perfect world would have no need for us. The act of making space, referred to in mystical literature as the secret of <\/span>tzimtzum<\/span><\/em>, God’s self-contraction, is thus the greatest expression of Divine mercy, because it alone allows for human agency\u2026even if that means also allowing for human failure.<\/span><\/p>\n

But more on that tomorrow\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Mercy Of A No-Good World","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"By creating imperfection, God both invites and affirms human partnership in the creation of our world","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":101664,"id":101664,"title":"-6201044ff2166--6201044ff2167gen2-crack imperfect.jpg","filename":"6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-mercy-of-a-no-good-world\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":34028,"date":"2022-02-07 11:36:47","modified":"2022-08-17 05:32:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/6201044ff2166-6201044ff2167gen2-crack-imperfect.jpg-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34028"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101665,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34028\/revisions\/101665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}