Before
Bereshit,
or Before
the Beginning
All of us on this planet must take action to reduce emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases, so that we can tame climate change, preserve as much biodiversity as possible, and avoid an exponential increase in the severity and frequency of fires, floods, hurricanes and other extreme weather events that have been afflicting the Earth in recent years.
At this time in the history of the world, the Earth is the only planet in the cosmos that can support habitable life, as far as we know.
That is not to say that other worlds have not existed in the past.
There are Kabbalists, who believe that God may have destroyed hundreds of worlds before He created this one.
Kabbalists also believe that the Torah may have existed 1,000 years before this world and that God created this world with the opening pictographs of the Torah.
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The Torah portion for the week that began on Oct. 22, 2021, comes from Genesis, which is known as Bereshit in Hebrew. And that Parshat focuses on Abram, whose name is exalted to Abraham by God.
The Lord promises Canaan or the holy land to Abraham and the Israelites.
In making this covenant, one that is “everlasting,” God tells Abraham that every male child in his house across the generations must be circumcised on the eighth day.
Later, in this portion in Genesis, Abraham pleads with God not to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham, father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, starts to negotiate with God.
To paraphrase our founding father, he says to the Lord, “What if there are 50 righteous people in Sodom? What if there be 40? What if there be 10?”
As it turns out, there are not 50 or 40 or 10 righteous people in Sodom or Gomorrah, and so God destroys those two cities.
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Earlier, I mentioned that we are living in challenging times on this planet, where our democracy is under attack, where the Big Lie is being trumpeted not only by our disgraced former chief executive, but also by lackeys in the Congress, right-wing media and social media.
I would like this website, www.robertdavidjaffee.com, to offer solace from the evil in the world.
Indeed, I hope that visitors to this site can heal from the toxic nature of our politics, from misinformation, disinformation and lies, and from a world that too often seems to be ruled by metrics.
For the most part, metrics, even when they are accurate, mean very little on this planet or anywhere else.
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Life has never been about metrics, except insofar as those metrics have a holy or godly resonance, as the Zohar, the most authoritative text of the Kabbalah, reminds us.
That is why, for instance, Jewish boys are still supposed to be circumcised on the eighth day of their lives.
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And the number seven is considered a lucky number because it is the day that God rested after He created the heavens and the earth.
We all need to get our rest. We all need to decompress. And we all need to avoid stressors.
But we need to do more than this.
Irrespective of our profession or our age, we all should take the time to read literature or, at least, to read quality news publications.
We need to do so for many reasons.
One reason is because reading the sublime, as Harold Bloom pointed out, helps us to “prevent violence.”
Reading quality literature and quality news publications, ideally away from electronic devices, also helps us to heal from trauma. And it lowers our levels of stress and anxiety, as we immerse ourselves in the words and the worlds of other human beings.
In doing this, we make a commitment to a writer; and this helps us to develop empathy.
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It also helps us build character, for reading does not come as naturally to our species as does speaking or viewing, for example.
When we devote ourselves to the written Word, we are on our way to a life of spiritual resilience, equanimity and wisdom.
I hope that you enjoy your experience on our site; and I urge everyone to stay focused on reading legitimate news publications, as well as literary prose and poetry.
Please do this wherever you may be, whether you are online or offline, at home or at school, in the heavens or on the Earth.
Shalom and lots of love,
Robert David Jaffee