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https://torah.org/torah-portion/dvartorah-5783-bereishis/

Posted on October 21, 2022 (5783) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: | Level:

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day that HASHEM, G-d made earth and heaven. (Breishis 2:4)

when they were created, on the day that HASHEM…made: This teaches you that they were all created on the first day (Gen. Rabbah 12:4). Another explanation of the word בְּהִבָּרְאָם He created them with the letter “hey,” as it is written (Yishaya 26:4: “for in Kah (Yud and Hey) HASHEM, is the Rock of eternity.” With these two letters [“Yud” and “Hey”] of the Name, He fashioned two worlds, and it teaches you here that this world was created with a “Hey”. – Rashi

There is plenty to explain here. The Letter Hey in the verse is written small. It is implied that HASHEM made this world with the letter Hey and based on a verse from Yishaya there is further evidence that HASHEM made Olam Haba, the next world with the letter Yud. I am saying the words here but how that is done is beyond everyone’s paygrade besides HASHEM. There are many important lessons planted here for us to grasp, though.

Although it looks like these two realms, Olam Haba and Olam HaZeh were created with two distinct letters, the Maharal explains that the letter Hey is comprised of a Dalet and a Yud. That means that Olam Haba, the next world is imbedded within this world. That helps explain why Olam Haba is called the world to come, literally, and not another world, because it is a world that comes from this world. It is mined out of our experience in Olam HaZeh.

Maybe now we can appreciate that after Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur and Sukkos we are left with one tiny souvenir that we carry until Pesach, and that is the phrase, the insert in our prayers, “Mashiv HaRuach v Morid HaGeshem – He makes the wind blow and He makes the rain descend”. HASHEM is credited with guiding the winds that deliver rain clouds to thirsty populations of people, animal, and plant life. That is the simple meaning. There is another deeper hint here as well.

Mashiv means to return and HaRuach refers to Ruchnios – spirituality. Morid is to bring down and Geshem refers to Gashmios – physical matter. HASHEM made and constantly makes the world Yesh M’Ayin, something from nothing. Before HASHEM willed a world into being there were no laws of physics. There was only HASHEM! From a material perspective HASHEM takes the ultimate spirituality and makes it into matter. From a spiritual vantage point HASHEM made the world Ayin M’Yesh –nothing from something, because HASHEM is eternal and all in this world is temporal.

Our task in this world is defined by Mashiv HaRuach v’ Morid HaGeshem. We take the material stuff of this world which is really dense Ruchnios/spirituality and though eating and drinking and learning Torah and Davening and serving HASHEM we convert this physicality back into Ruchnios – Mashiv HaRuach. We return to material back to HASHEM by revealing the ultimate spirituality within. Since we are making the best use of the goodness of this world, HASHEM then brings down and delivers to us more Gashmius, material stuff to work with, – U’Morid HaGeshem.

In Loshon HaKodesh, the chemistry set with which HASHEM created the world, the word for table is Shulchan. A Shulchan does not mean a flat surface. Shulchan defines the ideal function of a table. The root of Shulchan is – send. It is a mailbox of sorts from which gifts are launched and received. HASHEM takes spirituality and miraculously creates various delicious foods for our table and we then reconvert those material goodies back to spirituality. We return the Ruchnios and then HASHEM brings down more Gashmios for us to process.

What is the purpose of all the food we eat in the course of a lifetime? Were all those lakes of drinks and mountains of meat and grain only to produce a net 180 pounds for the ground!? No, we are like nuclear power plants. We produce eternal energy and light that is forever. We discovered in the latter part of the 20th century what happens when we split open the smallest particles. Now imagine the enormity of the spiritual universe to come.