Here is one idea we explored in last
week’s class:
Idea#1: This World Is Being Brought to You by the Number Two:
The Rabbis taught: ha’olam nivra b’vet/the
world was created with the letter bet. What they meant was: The letter bet
correspond to the number two. Two-ness is essential to Creation. Without
division, nothing would exist—no individuality, no boundaries, no identity, no
life. That’s why God began creating by dividing things—light from darkness, day
from night, sky from water, water from land, human from animal, male from
female, and most intriguingly human beings within ourselves. Each of us is
self-reflective, which means that most of the time, there is a voice inside of
us speaking and another listening. Both are us.
The world is two. God is One. Yet, we yearn for one-ness. We yearn to overcome the
divisiveness, hatred, conflict, and loneliness that our two-ness creates. At
the same time, we don’t want to give up our individuality, our identity and our
uniqueness. This drive to be ourselves, say the Rabbis, is built into the
fabric of the universe. The midrash tells a story about how even the lowly
grass defied God’s initial instructions because it didn’t want to get lost in
the crowd. How can we be ourselves, fulfill our driving ambitions, and be
recognized for our uniqueness and yet at the same time fall in love, connect
with other and be part of our harmonious community?
The Rabbis say the desire to be one (to connect) and the desire to be two
(to be ourselves) inevitably clash, but we can find ways of having them work together. The
Rabbis called the desire to connect Yetzer Hatov/our good inclination, and our
desire to be ourselves, the Yetzer Hara/the ‘bad’ inclination (bad because in
isolation it takes the form of selfishness). But, the Rabbis also said that the
Yetzer Hara can be good. If personal ambition to the desire to serve, the
result could be a great doctor.
At the same time, if we want to
create the good life, we need to learn to work as a team. The midrash (creative
rabbinic interpretation) tells us that in the beginning the sun and moon were
of equal size and brightness. But, the moon complained about literally having
to share the spotlight. So, God demoted the moon and made it dimmer than the
sun. The rabbis’ interpretation was based on a very close reading of Genesis 1:
16. The first have of the verse says that God created “shnei ha’m’orot
hagedolim/the two great heavenly lights” (meaning the sun and the moon. But, in
the second half of the verse, the text refers only to the sun as “ha’maor
hagadol/the great light” while the moon is called “ha’maor hakaton”.
Of course, the simple meaning of the
text (what we call the ‘p’shat’) is that God created two great lights, and one
was bigger than the other. No big deal. But, the rabbis saw an opportunity to
teach a lesson about humility and the importance of collaboration. So, they
created a story which explained how it happened that in the beginning both the
sun and the moon were ‘gedolim’/great, but later, the moon became ‘katon’/smaller
than the sun. It’s important to understand that the rabbis knew they were being
creative. They were well aware of the simpler, more straightforward meaning of
the text.
Finally, the desire to be ourselves
and the desire to connect cannot be resolved. But, it can be managed. Jewish
practice aims to help us balance our need for one-ness and two-ness. For
example, Shabbat is all about overcoming barriers between people. It’s about
becoming one. When Shabbat is over, we recite Havdalah, which means distinction.
We enter the world of differentiation,
where each of us strives to make our own unique mark on the world, creating a
beautiful world of diversity.
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