Creation and Destruction

August 7, 2008 · Filed Under Jewish Thought ·

Written by: admin

I went to Israel for 3.5 weeks, to study in a seminary called Neve Yerushalayim and to visit family. I learned a crazy amount of knowledge in Neve and I am in love with the way of learning I was immersed in. So intelligent, deep, and philosophical… Perfect!

This post is based off a class I had with Rabbi Brown of Neve.
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How did G-d create the world?
There was no great flash of light, or sparkles clouding the earth. There wasn’t some big show, either…

G-d spoke, and the world was created. Through His words, creation came about.

Speech can create. Speech can also destroy.
Words of destruction, aka Lashon Hara, are then the complete antithesis of all G-d is. If you were trying to be the opposite of His kindness and power, good job! With these negative words, you’ve really done it.

The first temple was destroyed because of the Jews’ lowering themselves to doing the three cardinal sins: Immoral Relations, Idolatry, and Murder.

The second temple, however, was destroyed because of baseless hatred between the Jewish people, through Lashon hara. Aha! You see, those negative words brought about destruction! That’s because words are powerful, and can either create something beautiful, or destroy the world as we know it.

If this is the case, don’t you think we should watch ourselves more? This way of speaking, the negative words we say about things or people, that’s what destroyed the second temple! That’s why we still don’t have a temple now!

Just because we’re not all on the same level of observance, or even on the spectrum, does not give anybody the right to judge others based on their lack of or insufficiency of religious observance. Just because someone’s ancestors are from Spain and someone else is from Poland does not mean that a rift should be there.

Differences are just that, differences. G-d created us all in His image, but no one person is exactly the same. We were created with differences, put into unique life situations, and we should be grateful for that instead of looking at other people and judging. G-d knows what He’s doing; he created the world, He’s obviously had practice!

You liked this post? Here is a list of related posts:

- Lashon Hara dot Org by admin
- History of Eretz Israel - From Creation until the Flood by Dan Illouz
- Prayer and Sacrifice by Nathan Light
- Parshat Vayikra: Reconstructing the Temple by Nathan Light
- Netanyahu and Parshat Shelach by Florence
- Its in our hands by Dan Illouz
- Reflections on Tisha B’av by Florence

anonymous Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

very nice!

anonymous Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 10:05 pm

I just read a nice article, similar to Aliza's point here, though with a different twist. Check it out: http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/On...“> ” target=”_blank”>http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/On...

Aliza Perez Says:
August 8th, 2008 at 7:27 am

Interesting article, thanks for sharing!

Aliza Perez Says:
August 8th, 2008 at 7:28 am

Thanks!

reality is. Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

the analogy and dvar torah work,though perhaps only as drash.i just wanted to point out that if sceince one day proves, or even just makes a strong and logical arguement indicating that most likely the big bang did occur,then there is no reason to assume it did not happen.science is real.don't avoid reality for the sake of a nice dvar torah.(im not saying G-d didn't create the world.but mabye he did it through the big bang.whats the problem with a "big show"?

Dan Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 9:20 pm

I think it was meant as an analogy and nothing more although Aliza can answer. I mean, according to your arguments (which I agree with), one of themain questions is what was that big bang not described in the torah and rather, simply a story about God using words to create the world. The answer would be we need to learn a lesson out of this. What lesson? I think this is what this dvar torah is here to answer.

reality is. Says:
August 10th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

if indeed it was meant purely as drash then i am modeh completely.either way,there is always the worry that readers may not grasp some the of basic constraints of drash(i myself did not understand that it was meant only as an analogy and that the first few lines were not intended as literal by the author)…..still,very nice dvar torah,and indeed,lesson learned.

Aliza Perez Says:
August 10th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

This is just something I learned, not everybody has to agree with it, you know? It's just a nice idea I learned and wanted to share with the readers. I'm writing my reality. I believe G-d created the world, so mmy writing this is from my belief, and the whole point of this blog is to share different ideas and perspectives on things, is it not?

Aliza Perez Says:
August 10th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

The point of those first few lines is to show how the world was created with words, nothing else, to prove the idea that words can create or destroy…