lech lcha: this world
sholem aleichem,
when we have fallen down, the Place remember us. because there is loving-kindness in the world.
our torah portion this week has a verse of a type that gained some notoriety this year:
וַאֲבָֽרְכָה֙ מְבָ֣רְכֶ֔יךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ֖ אָאֹ֑ר
i will bless those that bless you, and curse the one that curses you
i don’t really believe in a god like this.
if we’re willing to play a little fast-and-loose with the grammar and vocalization, we could translate this verse as:
i will bless from your blessings
and from your curse i will curse
in hilchos yesodei hatorah, the rambam writes
וְאִם יַעֲלֶה עַל הַדַּעַת שֶׁהוּא אֵינוֹ מָצוּי אֵין דָּבָר אַחֵר יָכוֹל לְהִמָּצְאוֹת
if one imagined that god did not exist, nothing else could exist
rabbi eliyahu touger comments
The Hebrew [for “if one imagined”], which literally means “raise upon one’s knowledge”, allows for a different interpretation. If one were to elevate one’s thinking and conceive of God only in lofty, transcendent terms, without allowing for a dimension of the Divinity which is in “existence” and can, therefore, serve as a source of creation, then no other entity could exist. It is His willingness to lower Himself to the level of “a first existence” that allows for the potential for our existence.
i’m going to interpret this further, in a way that would definitely horrify the rambam.
if god is only something high above us, something that blesses some and curses others, then none of this world is real. none of us could exist in a world like that.
but we are here. we are here because god settled herself down into existence, made this existence of herself. god is not (only) judge on high: god is also in us.
god is blessing from our blessings and cursing from our curse.
but the world is sustained by learning, by service, and by loving-kindness.
so every day we can choose to learn, to serve, to act with loving-kindness. to be god’s blessing to each other.
good shabbos,
ada