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Listen "Year: 5774 - Bereishit - q and a"
Episode Synopsis
Penumbral Portal - Coinciding with the conclusion of Sukkot, parsha Bereishis embraces many of the themes of the chag. The transitions inherent in the multi-leveled reality of sukkah – beginnings to ends and ends to beginnings, the “kissing” of two worlds, olam hazeh and olam habah – are nested within the overall sukkah of Ma’aseh Bereishis, i.e., the “beis” of Bereishis in which the fundamental transition from ayin to yesh occurs. Like the hakafot of Sukkot, the language of parsha Bereishis is circular, as is the nature of simcha itself: i.e., Hashem’s simcha (“Yismach Hashem b’ma’asav”) is a function of how Adam discovers the nature of his avodah – an avodah, which in turn, is the very simcha which allows him to discover it in the first place!
Experiments in the nature of simcha-avodah were conducted by Shlomo using the enormous resources at his disposal to determine whether human identity and fulfillment can be discovered in olam hazeh alone: i.e., if creation manages to “work out” on its own as a result of the heuristic process of evolution, why then would we need a Torah, and what would be the meaning of simcha shel mitzvah? Would we really need to live in a multi-leveled existence – couldn’t we be happy with the world simply as it is?
We discover that those who live in self-contained worlds are tormented by hevel havelim, obsessed with thoughts that ruin no’am: a religious idea, a my-place-in-society idea, a community idea, a my-brilliance idea, a what-people-are-thinking-about-me idea…not realizing that happiness can’t be created from the same foolish brain that is searching for it! This misguided search for happiness leads to dependence on others, significance that comes from elsewhere, sadness, and misery.
True simcha, however, allows us to cross the mechitza that traps us in olam hazeh and the prison of our own minds. At its core, simcha is one’s own experience of existence. It provides the only real connection to Olam Habah we could ever have. This is the sukkat shlomechah we wish to be in all the time, in which we can experience “ohr olam b’otzer chayim” – the light of the universe in the storehouse of life.
Experiments in the nature of simcha-avodah were conducted by Shlomo using the enormous resources at his disposal to determine whether human identity and fulfillment can be discovered in olam hazeh alone: i.e., if creation manages to “work out” on its own as a result of the heuristic process of evolution, why then would we need a Torah, and what would be the meaning of simcha shel mitzvah? Would we really need to live in a multi-leveled existence – couldn’t we be happy with the world simply as it is?
We discover that those who live in self-contained worlds are tormented by hevel havelim, obsessed with thoughts that ruin no’am: a religious idea, a my-place-in-society idea, a community idea, a my-brilliance idea, a what-people-are-thinking-about-me idea…not realizing that happiness can’t be created from the same foolish brain that is searching for it! This misguided search for happiness leads to dependence on others, significance that comes from elsewhere, sadness, and misery.
True simcha, however, allows us to cross the mechitza that traps us in olam hazeh and the prison of our own minds. At its core, simcha is one’s own experience of existence. It provides the only real connection to Olam Habah we could ever have. This is the sukkat shlomechah we wish to be in all the time, in which we can experience “ohr olam b’otzer chayim” – the light of the universe in the storehouse of life.
In God we trust