Dvar Torah for Parshat Bereishis

Based on Likutey Halakhot, Shomer Sakhar 4:2

“In the Beginning....” (Genesis 1:1)
Rashi comments: Why does the Torah commence with “In the Beginning” rather than with the first mitzvah given to the Jewish people? “Koach maasav higid l’amo, latet lahem nachalat goyim” (He told His people of the strength of His deeds, to give them the inheritance of the nations; Psalms 111:6). Should some united nations accuse the Jews of forcibly occupying gentile lands, the Jews are to answer: The entire world belongs to God. He created the land and gave it to the one He wanted. When He wanted, He gave it to them and when He wanted, He took it from them and gave it to us.

By our believing and showing that God created the world, the Sitra Achra (forces of evil) is unable to claim that we are oppressors. Everything is ours because everything was created for our sake (Bereishis Rabbah 1:1). When God wants, He gives it to them and when He wants, He takes it from them and gives it to us (Likutey MoHaran II, Lesson #78).

When a fruit grows, the first part of it to grow is the kelipah (shell). So too, when some “fruit,” something good, comes to the world, its kelipah precedes it (Likutey MoHaran II, 5:10). However, even after the “fruit” has come to one’s hand, the kelipah possesses it until one “purifies” it. For example, the last stages of “purifying” a walnut are cracking the shell and making the appropriate blessing.

Just as the “fruit” has different manifestations, so do kelipot (plural of kelipah). Though kelipot are meant to protect the “fruit,” they may become agents of destruction, causing “fruit” to be lost, stolen or ruined. In virtue of their prior custodianship, the kelipot have permission to withhold the benefits of the “fruit” until it is “purified.” How does one protect, and purify, his possessions from kelipot? King Shlomo (Solomon) tells us twice, “Prudence [i.e., Torah] will protect you....” and “when you lie down she [Torah] will watch over you” (Proverbs 2:11, 6:22).

When one has sufficient faith to observe the mitzvot of the Torah and indeed observes them, he is revealing—proclaiming—that God created everything and that everything is under His jurisdiction, as the Torah starts, “In the Beginning God the Heavens and the earth.” Once one has made such a declaration the kelipot have no permission to claim that anything is theirs and certainly they have no permission to damage. The more robust and broader one’s observance—the stronger one’s proclamation—the deeper and more thorough the “purification.”

When the “fruit” is something that belongs to the entire Jewish people, then not only as individuals, but also as a community and as a nation we must strengthen our observance in order to purify the “fruit.” If, God forbid, we ourselves abuse the “fruit” and treat its innate sanctity and specialness with contempt, the kelipot are empowered and become more vociferous and violent in their attempts to wrest it back from us, God forbid.

God created everything. It’s all His. Our believing that and our living that belief is our answer to our enemies. When we live that answer no one can take away from us that which God wants us to have.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!