The Restoration
                 By Rabbi Joshua ( alphabetically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

 

  The midrash tells us that the letter 'aleph,' the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, complained to God that it should be the first letter in the Torah, since it is, after all, the first letter in the aleph beis. Why, asked the aleph, does the Torah start with the second letter, 'beis?' The midrash explains that God wanted to begin the Torah with that letter because it begins the word for blessing- 'beracha.' However, God told the aleph that He would make it up by beginning the 'aseres hadibros,' or the Decalogue, with an aleph, in the word 'anochi'-   - in the first commandment, " I am the Lord your God..' Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra already pointed out that there are other words that begin with 'beis' that do not refer to blessings. In fact, the very word 'beracha' can also mean curse. Moreover, we may add, there are also  words that begin with 'aleph' that do not refer to good things, such as 'arur,' which means 'curse.' Besides these points, the midrash obviously cannot be taken in a literal sense, since the letters of the aleph beis are not thinking beings who can speak up for ther rights! What, then, is the meaning of this midrash?

 

Rav Gedaliahu Schorr, in his Ohr Gedaliayhu, explains that the midrash must be understood as an allegory, and when it tells us that the letter 'beis' denotes beracha, it is not referring to the letter 'beis' per se, but to the letter 'beis' as representing the number two, which marks the beginning of differentiation. God Himself is One, constituting complete unity. In order to create the world, He underwent a process of contraction and subsequent emanations, by which that unity, as it manifested itsef in the world, became bifurcated, and then continually broken into further fragments. The goal of creation is to re-unite its various fragments and again unite with God. This is man's task in the world, to elevate himself and all of creation to the full extent of his capabilities, and thereby help pave the way for the ultimate redemption, which consists in bringing everything back to its original source. This is  the meaning , according to Rabbi Mordechai Elon, of the mishnah in  l Pirkei Avos which teaches that anyone who says over a dictum in the name of the person who  originally said it brings redemption to the world. The idea here is that  saying the dictum over in the name of the one who said it constitutes bringing it back to its original source. This is also the idea behind the dictum of the rabbis  that teshuvah, or repentance, was one of the things that was created before the world came into being. The idea here is that teshuvah really means return, in the sense of returning to the original source, and while creation was only made possible through the splitting up of creation to its component parts, this is merely the beginning of a process, the end of which is man's  restoration of unity in the world by dedicating all of his  efforts to using creaton for the sake of heaven, or God's name. 

 

This teaching of Rav Schorr can help us understand some other puzzling midrashim in connection with parshas Bereiashis, as well. For example, the midrash, as cited by Rashi in our parsha (Bereishis, 1:11),, says that on the third day of creation  God  commanded the earth to produce fruit trees in which the flavor  of the tree is similar to the flavor of the fruit. However, the earth, as it were, sinned, and produced fruit trees  whose wood tasted different from its fruit. Of course, the earth is not a free agent which can wilfully transgress God's words. What this midrash means, according to Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha Kohein Kook in his Oros HaTeshuvah, is that God's intention was for the means that are used to reach a goal to be as purely directed as the goal itself is. Thus, the tree that produces the fruit should have the same nature  as the fruit itself. Following Rav Schorr's exposition, we can understand this teaching of Rav Kook to mean that the efforts we put into reaching a certain goal should be chosen in a way that reflects our desire to bring everything back to its source, which is the unity of God. In short, all our actions should be for the sake of heaven, to restore the unity of God's name that was fractured in order to create the world in the first place. When the midrash says that the earth sinned by producing fruit trees in which the tree and the fruit do not have the same taste is that man, being imperfect, by his nature will someti\ms ;miss the mark,' which is the literal meaning of the word for sinning- 'chato'- and not have the same dedication in his choice of means as he has in his goal. the constant challenge of man in this world is to achieve this correspondence, and thereby restore the divine unity as manifested  in his life and in the world. 

 

Rav Moshe Tzvi Neriah, in his posthumously published Torah commentary,Ner Le Meah, cites Rav Kook's remarks in Oros HaTeshuvah, and adds a related teaching that he heard orally from Rav Kook. Rav Kook, in explaining the great joy that was experienced at the Simchas Beis Ha Shoeivah, or the festival of water drawing, that was celebrated in the Temple during the intermediate days of Sukkos, noted that the festival is named after the drawing of the water, rather than after the use that this water was put to, namely , as a libation on the altar during Sukkos. This is because the water was drawn with the same single minded dedication as with which it was poured onto the altar, and thus constituted a fulfillment of God's original desire for the world when he commanded the earth to produce fruit trees. In fact, the rabbis tell us that the esrog tree was the only fruit tree that actually did carry out God's command to the letter, and whose tree actually does taste similar to its fruit. Thus, both the water libation and the esrog are part of our service of God on Sukkos. Perhaps this is because Sukkos follows shortly after Yom Kippur, when we have undergone a process of teshuvah, of literally returning to God, and we are therefore now prepared to retrn all of creation to God, as well. In this way, we can better understand why Sukkos is taken by many Jewish thinkers, such as the Sefas Emes,  as a time  particularly suited for teshuvah. This idea, at first blush, seems a bit difficult, since Sukkos comes after the one day in the year that is totally dedicated to teshuvah and atonement. Why, then, should we dedicate ourselves, again, to tershuvah so soon after Yom Kippur? According to Rav Schorr's understanding, however, teshuvah does not merely mean repentance from sins, but the process of returning everything to its ultimate source and thereby restoring the unity of God's name in the universe. It is, in fact, precisely after we have achieved atonement and purified ourselves on Yom Kippur that we are most able to dedicate ourselves to this work, and it is this effort which brings the greatest joy, which consists in being 'lifnei Hashem,' or  in the presence of God.

 

Returning to the midrash with which we started, the idea of beginning the account of the creation with the letter 'beis,' and the Torah with the letter aleph, is now clear. The world was created through a process of differentiation, which caused a break in the unity of God's name as manifested in the world. This is denoted by the letter 'beis,' which represents the number two, the beginning of differentiation. The goal of man is to restore that lost unity, and it is the Jewish people, through the Torah, who are uniquely suited to achieve this goal. That is why the Decalogue  begins with an 'aleph,' to signify that sincere involvemnet in and dediation to Torah is the means towards restoring divine unity in the world. Through this process, we can truly be ilifnei Hashem, in God's presence, and experience an ultimate sense of joy. May we all experience this sense of joy as we celebrate Shemini Atzeres and  Simchas Torah, and a begin again the weekly cycle of  Torah readings  in the coming days.