The Basis of it All
As we have seen, mitzvah observance fulfills Hashem’s will and helps us grow. There are three main areas of growth that mitzvot address: our personal character and conduct, our relationship with Hashem, and our relationship with other people.
At the beginning of Pirkei Avot, Shimon HaTzaddik identifies these areas as central to the world’s existence with his assertion that the world stands on three pillars: Torah, Avodah, and Gemilut Chasadim. Torah learning enriches and develops us, Avodah refers to our service of Hashem, and Gemilut Chasadim is how we care for other people.
Though our personal growth and relationship with others are both critical, the Torah focuses most on our relationship with Hashem. Recognition of His existence as reflected by our commitment to His Will is Hashem’s most basic expectation. This commitment is also the basis of our covenant with Him and the reason we observe His mitzvot, including those aimed at facilitating personal development and strengthening our relationship with others.
Our Creator
The first step towards building a relationship with Hashem is recognizing Him as our Creator. As we saw in earlier pieces, the Torah begins with the Creation narrative because recognizing Hashem as the world’s creator is Judaism’s first principle – a principle that has many implications.
Ownership
The fact that Hashem created the world and all its contents means they belong to Him (Teh. 24:1-2; Rashi, Ber. 1:1). The Torah (Vay. 25:23) uses Hashem’s ownership to explain the return of land to the original owners during the yovel year. We cannot sell land permanently because the land is Hashem’s, not ours; we are mere subletters. Dovid HaMelech applies this idea to the tzedakah money we give. We should not view ourselves as “giving” our money to Hashem because it already belongs to Him (DH”Y I 29:14-16).
It is not only our land and our money that belong to Hashem; everything was created by Him and thus belongs to Him. This is why we are prohibited from benefiting from the world before we recite berachot, which recognize Hashem as Creator (Ber. 35a).
We, too – the billions of human beings – were created by Hashem. This is (the most fundamental reason) why humanity must follow His directives. Because we exist through His grace, He is entitled to dictate the terms of our existence.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks sees this as the point of the Creation narrative:
The opening chapter of the Torah is not a scientific account but a legal one.
It is not an answer to the question, “How was the universe born?” It is an answer to a different question entirely: “By what right does G-d command human beings?”
The answer is: because He created the universe. Therefore, He owns the universe. Therefore, He is entitled to lay down the conditions on which He permits us to inhabit the universe.
This is the basis of all biblical law. G-d rules not by might but by right – the right of a creator vis-à-vis his creation, and He has the right to give direction to those living in the world as to how to live their lives (Covenant and Conversation, Behar 2018).”
Appreciation
Our recognition of Hashem as Creator should also generate a proper appreciation of His creations: we should see all of them as valuable (Avot 2:11, 4:1, 4:3), love the form in which Hashem created them (Avot 1:12), and use them for what He intends (Dev. 20:19).
Human beings, who He created in His image, are even more precious (Avot 3:14). Hashem imbued us with G-dliness to enable us to live meaningful lives and serve as His agents to steer the world in the right direction (Ber. 1:26-28). Belief in G-d includes more than just believing in Him; it has implications for how we view ourselves. Instead of minimizing our role and significance, it inspires us to take both more seriously.
Our view of the world and our role within it should be rooted in our recognition of Hashem as our creator. Living with this perspective reinforces our belief in His existence as the basis of the significance of our own.
Taking Advantage of the Moment We Awaken
Though we believe that Hashem creates and sustains us, we have a hard time appreciating it because we do not actually see Him doing so (M”N 3:50; Rashi, Sh. 20:19).
This is why we begin our prayers the moment we awaken. Regaining consciousness after a night of (deathlike) sleep is an opportunity to feel our lives restored. We express this appreciation with the Modeh Ani prayer. Though we are not yet able to mention Hashem’s name before washing our hands, we take advantage of our first moment of renewed consciousness by immediately recognizing and thanking Him for reviving us.
After we wash our hands, we use Hashem’s name when repeating and elaborating upon this fact in the beracha of Elokai Neshama. We also commit ourselves to express our appreciation of Hashem as Creator and Owner in the future as well – “kol zeman she’ha’neshama b’kirbi (as long as our soul remains within us).” Recognizing Hashem’s renewal inspires us to continue thanking Hashem for His role in our lives.
The Director
Creation was not the end of Hashem’s involvement with the world; it was only the beginning. As we saw in earlier pieces, Hashem continues to both regenerate the world and direct what occurs within it. A significant example of this continued involvement was the exodus from Egypt and the great miracles He performed in the process.
In addition to major national events, Hashem also determines our individual successes and failures. He dictates our health and length of life, our children, our profit, and most aspects of our existence.
The Midrash (V”R 27:2) presents this as another reason to observe mitzvot. One who sees his success as a result of his own efforts can view mitzvot as infringing on his personal liberty. In contrast, attributing what we have to Hashem’s grace makes His commandment to fulfill mitzvot totally reasonable. The Midrash quotes Hashem as making this point by asking: “Who praised me before I gave him a soul? Who circumcised (his child) before I gave him a son? Who installed a railing before I gave him a roof? Who affixed a mezuzah before I gave him a home? etc…”
Because Hashem generally hides Himself in our world, it is critical that we recognize His role and express appreciation for it. One of the ways we do so is hoda’ah – thanking Hashem for what He gives us. We find two examples of this in the Torah – the mitzvot to thank Hashem for the fruit of the land and the land itself by dedicating its first fruits to Him (Dev. 26:2) and blessing Him after we eat (Dev. 8:10). Based on this blessing, our rabbis instituted additional berachot to thank Hashem for everything we enjoy.
Tefillah is another way we recognize Hashem’s directorship. We turn to Him with all of our needs because we know that He determines our fate. Rabbeinu Yonah (Ber. Rif 2b) explains that this is why we juxtapose tefillah to the beracha of geulah. True recognition of Hashem as redeemer inspires us to turn to Him in prayer.
Boreh U’Manhig
The first of our thirteen principles of faith summarizes these two aspects of our relationship with Hashem by describing Him as both the boreh (creator) and the manhig (director) of everything in our world. Together, the two descriptions encapsulate Hashem’s relationship with our world.
In our next piece, we will study the special relationship that we, the Jewish people, have with Hashem. May these studies help us develop a meaningful relationship with Him.
