BERESHIT: MELACHTO ASHER ASAH V'HINAY TOV ME'OD
We tend to ascribe much greater religiousvalue to Shabbat than to the six day work-week which precedes it. I want tosuggest that this prioritization is largely the result of non-Jewish influence.The Torah hardly ever commands Sabbath observance without a preliminary mandateof “Six days you shall work…”
Indeed, the majority of Talmudic Lawis devoted to issues of the work week, of human creativity in so-called seculartime. Thus, the Talmud analyzes laws regarding commerce, agriculture,employer-employee relationships, zoning, liens, property damage, etc. Suchnon-Shabbat issues, properly conducted, constitute an actualization of Divinely-willedTorah values and are, therefore, sacred.
The beginning of the Torah implies thevalue of creative work by depicting God as a “worker” Who devotes six of thefirst seven days to the creation of a material universe. He culminates thisprocess, at the end of the sixth day, with the creation of humanity in Hisimage. In the context of Genesis I, this human “image of God” is clearly thatof a Creator, i.e., a Being Who catalyzes the existence of phenomena externalto Himself.
The fourth of the Ten Commandments(“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy…”) reinforces the concept that weare to imitate the Creator not only by means of our Sabbath observance, but alsoby means of our devoting ourselves to the admonition: “Six days you shallwork…because in six days God created the heavens and the earth, the sea and allthat they contain…”
Genesis I thus models ways in whichwe are to actualize our Godliness through our creative endeavors.
I will briefly allude to what isperhaps the central characteristic of Divine creativity manifest in Genesis I,namely, creation through speech.
The Torah presents God as commanding- or perhaps inviting, or permitting - the phenomena of the material world tocome into being (e.g., “Let there be light!”) The verbal communication impliesthat the created phenomena had already possessed, prior to creation, some sortof pre-existent identity, a type of “Being-in-Potential.” One does not speak to or command anon-existent thing!
We humans, in like manner, shouldstrive to create though inviting and enabling the self-actualization of theother. Such creativity is non-manipulative, as it leaves the autonomous choiceof “to be or not to be” in the hands of whatever may be. Our task is to offerit enablement, encouragement, and permission.
Rashi’s reading of the followingTalmudic passage (Rosh Hashanah 11a and Chullin 60a) reinforces this view of views Divine creativity.
R. Yehoshua b. Levi said, “All theworks of creation were created…according to their will and according to theirdesire.”
Rashi:
According totheir will [means] that[God] asked them if they desired to be created and they answered in theaffirmative.
According totheir desire [means] thateach creature chose the characteristic and form that it desired.
“In His image,”each human being must gently catalyze or enable the actualization of whatever pre-existingphenomena God has placed within his or her sphere of influence.