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Dec. 2, 2008

Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review 25 Elul

First Day of Creation

By Rabbi Yonason Goldson


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Rosh HaShonah. The first day of year. A new beginning. An echo of the real Big Bang, when the Almighty proclaimed, Let there be light!


Indeed, in our recitation of the Rosh HaShonah we identify the day as "the anniversary of the beginning of Your handiwork," seeming to affirm what we understand implicitly, that G-d began His creation of the universe on that very day, the first day of the month of Tishrei, the very first Rosh HaShonah.


Yet the sages say otherwise. From the teachings of the Talmud we learn that G-d began His handiwork six days earlier, on the 25th day of the month of Elul. Why then does Rosh HaShonah enjoy its status as the beginning of creation? Why do we commemorate on that day an event that we know had not yet come to pass?


The first day of creation presents even more questions. If the sun and stars were not created until the fourth day, how do we understand the creation of light on Day One? And if the heavens were separated from the terrestrial waters on the second day, how do we understand, as text seems to imply, that on the first day "G-d created the heavens and the earth"?


Nachmanides, in his classic commentary, explains that the divine creation of the cosmos and everything within them so vastly supersedes mankind's experience and comprehension that the Torah could only outline the process of creation ex nihilo in the most abstract terms, applying terms like "higher waters" to represent the celestial spheres and "light" to describe the primordial spiritual radiance that is the source of all physical existence. The light of photons produced by the release of energy from the stellar fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium did indeed begin on the fourth day with the creation of our sun, but this was not the light of creation, merely a physical manifestation and a shallow reflection of the eternal light that makes both physical and spiritual illumination possible.


From this light, brought into being by divine decree, came all creation: the physical matter of the earth and the solar power of the stars, the water and the land, the herbs and the trees of the forests, the fish and birds, the insects and the mammals. And finally, when the earth in all its myriad detail and complexity stood completed, there came the creation of man.


Yes, creation began on this day, the 25th of Elul. But until the creation of man, all that had come before him had no purpose. The work of all creation acquired meaning only when mankind became its spiritual focal point. Only on Rosh HaShonah, the sixth day of creation, the day on which man took center stage in the miracle play of G-d's magnum opus, only then did all G-d's previous work become significant.


B that moment, all G-d's work had been preparation. Now the real work of creation could begin, not the physical formation of the universe, but the striving for human spiritual perfection for which the Almighty conceived His master plan and brought everything that could make it possible into being.


And so we acknowledge the birthday of the world, the day when G-d began His work preparing all the physical resources for human spiritual achievement. But the creation of the world and everything in it might as well have been for nothing if mankind does not rise to challenge of using all his earthly resources in the pursuit of elevating himself from the mundane existence of the physical world in which he lives to the limitless spheres of godliness in which G-d intended for him to reside.


This coming week, more than any other, offers an opportunity for reflection as we enter the final countdown to the High Holidays. Why are we here? What have we accomplished? What must we change to accomplish all we can? These are the questions the anniversary of creation should cause us to stop and ask ourselves. The answers can be found by looking honestly into ourselves, and by looking into G-d's revealed word, the Torah, the blueprint for the world.


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JWR contributor Rabbi Yonason Goldson teaches at Block Yeshiva High School in St. Louis. Comment by clicking here.


Previously:

Reprise at Sinai
Tu B'Av: Repentance and the foundations of love
Sin of the Golden Calf: Understanding the how and why and resulting Divine punishment
The day the sun stood still
Nemirov massacres and the Chmielnicki uprising
Independent Judea under Shimon HaMaccabee
The Great Revolt begins
Dedication of new walls of Jerusalem

© 2006, Rabbi Yonason Goldson