Parshat B’reisheet

Rabbi Simha Bunem of P’shiskhe understood the first words of the Torah, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,”  to mean that God created the world in such a way that it is always “in the beginning.” The world is never established. It is always on the precipice between order and chaos, just as it was at the moment when it first came into being. The world has no inherent stability. God must constantly pour creative energy into it or it would turn back into a void.

In trying times like these, when the world feels shaky and precarious, we want to think that this cannot be normal, that normality must mean stability and safety. But Rabbi Simha Bunem reminds us that the world has never been a stable place. It is constantly in need of new moral energy to keep it from slipping into chaos. In that sense, it is always at “the beginning,” always on the verge.

Our task, as human beings, is to be God’s partners in the work of creation, which never ends. “God saw all that [God] had made, and behold, it was very good.” Our work is to keep pouring our own goodness, our own passion for justice, into this broken world, each day, and never lose hope. In that way, we continually help to create the world anew.

• Candle lighting this Friday evening October 13, is at 5:38 pm. Shabbat ends on Saturday night at 6:32 pm.
• The New Shul’s Shabbat morning service is from 9 am to about 11:45 am. It is followed by a kiddush-lunch, open to all. This Shabbat, October 14, the kiddush-lunch is sponsored by Mike Schwartz and Cindy Lopez in honor of the 23rd anniversary of Mike’s bar mitzvah.
• Minyanim during the week are on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 6:30 pm at the shul. Kabbalat Shabbbat is on Friday evenings at 6 pm at the Kanter-Wasserman home (please contact us for directions).
• Rabbi Wasserman’s class: Dare to Daven: Exploring Jewish Prayer, begins on Shabbat afternoon, October 14 at 5 pm. The class meets at the Kanter/Wasserman home.