Dear Friends,
“It’s good!” And, “It’s very good!”
No, not the economy, nor the climate condition of our Earth or the situation of war in Ukraine, or even the nature of parlance in public discourse. But, such were God’s words reflecting upon God’s handiwork in creating the world in Genesis, chapter 1.
Six times in Genesis, chapter 1 (verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), reflecting on creating light and waters and plants and animals, God paused to review the canvas, and declared, “Ki tov!” “It’s good!” And, then after creating humanity on the last day, God sat back and declared, “Ki tov m’od!” “It’s very good!”
I guess Rembrandt or Monet or O’Keefe might have done the same as they crafted their paintings, at each successive stage along the way towards the completed composition. I have felt comparably when I write a sermon, pen a D’var Torah, or work through a more humble painting from my own brushes. It is like driving across America or through a majestic national park, and arriving at each successive juncture or vista, admiring what is revealed at that bend in the road.
So, God declared it was good. Until God reached the climax of Creation, the human being. Only then did God exhale, “It is very good!” Thus, not only were we the object of the effort, but we were a satisfactory, or even exemplary object of that Divine effort. God was very pleased with this ultimate life form, which had sentience, the capacity for learning, creativity, ethics and compassion, and which would be a fitting partner to the Holy One in sustaining life and living by the moral code of Torah. We were very good.
Yes, we were. And then came our disobedience and expulsion from the protected womb of the Garden, and we were forced to live with those qualities of sentience, learning, creativity, ethics and compassion, and we also developed other qualities and behaviors of hurt, harm, violence and destruction. God even thought of discarding the entire human experiment, and crafting a new set of peoples.
But, God left us to be ourselves, for better or for worse.
Now, it is up to us, as it has been in every generation, to live up to our potential and ideals – to endeavor to be very good.
As we further embark on 5783, let’s give it a try. Let’s hope God might peer upon us again, and see how good we truly can be!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
“It’s good!” And, “It’s very good!”
No, not the economy, nor the climate condition of our Earth or the situation of war in Ukraine, or even the nature of parlance in public discourse. But, such were God’s words reflecting upon God’s handiwork in creating the world in Genesis, chapter 1.
Six times in Genesis, chapter 1 (verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), reflecting on creating light and waters and plants and animals, God paused to review the canvas, and declared, “Ki tov!” “It’s good!” And, then after creating humanity on the last day, God sat back and declared, “Ki tov m’od!” “It’s very good!”
I guess Rembrandt or Monet or O’Keefe might have done the same as they crafted their paintings, at each successive stage along the way towards the completed composition. I have felt comparably when I write a sermon, pen a D’var Torah, or work through a more humble painting from my own brushes. It is like driving across America or through a majestic national park, and arriving at each successive juncture or vista, admiring what is revealed at that bend in the road.
So, God declared it was good. Until God reached the climax of Creation, the human being. Only then did God exhale, “It is very good!” Thus, not only were we the object of the effort, but we were a satisfactory, or even exemplary object of that Divine effort. God was very pleased with this ultimate life form, which had sentience, the capacity for learning, creativity, ethics and compassion, and which would be a fitting partner to the Holy One in sustaining life and living by the moral code of Torah. We were very good.
Yes, we were. And then came our disobedience and expulsion from the protected womb of the Garden, and we were forced to live with those qualities of sentience, learning, creativity, ethics and compassion, and we also developed other qualities and behaviors of hurt, harm, violence and destruction. God even thought of discarding the entire human experiment, and crafting a new set of peoples.
But, God left us to be ourselves, for better or for worse.
Now, it is up to us, as it has been in every generation, to live up to our potential and ideals – to endeavor to be very good.
As we further embark on 5783, let’s give it a try. Let’s hope God might peer upon us again, and see how good we truly can be!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
