EARNING “GOOD” BY DOING GOOD

Tishrei 27, 5779 / October 5-6, 2018

Parashat B’reishit

Torah: Genesis 1:1 – 6:8
Haftarah: Isaiah 42:5 - 43:10 (Ashkenazim); Isaiah 42:5-21 (Sephardim)

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EARNING “GOOD” BY DOING GOOD

'And God said, "Let us make humanity in our image, after our likeness." ..... And God created humanity in God's own image; in the image of God did God create it; male and female, God created them.' Genesis 1:26-7

After creating plants, "God saw that it was good." (Gen. 1:12) After creating the fish and birds, "God saw that it was good." (1:21) After creating crawling things and land animals, "God saw that it was good." (1:25) At the end of all of this creating, "God saw everything that God had made, and behold, it was very good." (1:31)

In the context of all that had been created, humanity was part of all that was very good. However, even though God created humanity in the image and likeness of God, God did not see that humanity was itself good. How could it be that humanity, which the Torah regards as the acme of creation, with dominion over all the earth, could not be seen by God as good?

It is exactly because humanity differs from all other creation. We alone are created in the image and likeness of God. Only we have freewill. But let's not fool ourselves. We are not God; we are _only_ an image, _only_ a likeness - not an exact duplicate.

Everything that God wills is good. But as for us, "if one desires to conduct himself along the path of good and to be righteous, he is free to do so; and if one desires the path of wickedness and to be evil, he is free to do so.... The Creator does not decree humanity to be good or bad" (Maimonides) We are not seen by God, or by ourselves, as good unless we choose to be good. Unlike insects and vegetables, we have to _earn_ the title "good".

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier

Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/

"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"

"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”

BT Yevamot 88a

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Candle lighting: 7:12 pm

Friday:  A Capella Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday: Torah study/breakfast – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.

Sunday: Religious School – 9:30 am. Take down the sukkah – 9:30 am.

Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.

Next time you come to TBH/CBM, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Elisheva bat Malkah, Ze’ev ben Adeline, Liora bat Sarah, Eilite bat Miriam, Sarah bat Devorah, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Bernard Garvin, Leah Granat, Brandon Joseph, Gabor Klein, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Barbara Levy, Stuart Lytton, David Marks, Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Irwin Silon, William Sragow, and Jonathan Woolf.

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