{"id":64743,"date":"2019-10-24T11:41:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T08:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64743"},"modified":"2022-02-07T13:19:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T11:19:22","slug":"never-finished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/never-finished\/","title":{"rendered":"Parashat Bereshit – Never Finished?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As I was sitting in synagogue yesterday, listening to my friend Tammy Hepps read from the first section of Genesis, I was trying to pay attention to the words, thinking about how to begin my reading of Genesis in 5780. I have found over the years that hearing the Torah read aloud, with the cantillation, in a synagogue helps me think differently about the words in front of me than merely reading from a printed text, sans music or voice. When she arrived at the word \u201cvayechulu<\/em>\u201d (‘and he finished” – 2:1) I knew I had my topic.<\/p>\n

Are we ever really finished?\u00a0Even at 120 Moses had eyesight that was not dimmed and his strength too remained undiminished (Deut 34:7).\u00a0 Despite his physical capacities and evident ability to continue on as leader, Moses was told his time on earth was up.<\/p>\n

This sense, that even though more is possible, limits need to be imposed on us, is what I am bringing now to my thinking about creation.\u00a0 As a divine being, God could have continued the work of creation ad infinitum; instead, there was a deadline, a cessation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After six days, God was able to stop, declare what God had done not just good, but exquisitely good, the word \u201cme\u2019od<\/em>\u201d in Genesis 1: 31 meaning \u201can intensification\u201d of the good done earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it is that valuation, the realization that there is much to be content with that makes possible \u00a0that ability to slow down, evaluate and say that stoppage is possible.\u00a0 Sforno<\/a> comments on this verse that \u201call the purposes necessary for the physical world had materialized.\u201d(Genesis 2:1)\u00a0 Connecting\u00a0\u00a0“tachlit<\/em>” as purpose or perhaps physical content, with “vayechulu<\/em>” finish,\u00a0Sforno seems to be saying, the baseline has been achieved,\u00a0 though there is more that could be done.<\/p>\n

However, Rashi on Genesis 2:2. following Genesis Rabba, asks what was lacking in the world, and promptly states, \u201cmenucha<\/em>,\u201d that is, rest.\u00a0 The need for calm and tranquility is also part of the world.<\/p>\n

That sense that even when more could be done, we don\u2019t have to do it, that we are permitted and encouraged to stop and to rest; to not do, as well as to do.<\/p>\n

It is always possible to do more than we think we can, and sometimes we are called to do so and succeed.\u00a0 Moses needed to stop, and so did God.\u00a0I began with Moses, because we don\u2019t finish our reading: we bring our understanding from our past readings into our entrance to the new cycle of creation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

None of us can ever fully understand the Torah; there is always more to learn and more to write about.\u00a0 And yet, as with any activity we can engage in it as fully as possible and then act in imitation of God and realize that though we may never finish, we are permitted to stop.\u00a0 Shabbat shalom!<\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Parashat Bereshit 5780","main_caption":"Never Finished?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The need for calm and tranquility is also part of the world","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"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":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64743"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64743"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101662,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64743\/revisions\/101662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}