Torah and Reality

Rabbi Hoshaiah Rabbah said (Proverbs 8:30): "I was with him as a master craftsman, and I was his delight day by day." "Master craftsman" means "pedagogue", "covered" means "faithful", "modest" means "subdued", and some say "great pedagogue". "Pedagogue" - how is this so? As it is written (Numbers 11:12): "Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to them?" "Faithful" - how is this so? As it is written (Lamentations 4:5): "Those who once ate delicacies are now desolate in the streets." "Subdued" - how is this so? As it is written (Esther 2:7): "Mordecai had raised her, Hadassah, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother." "Great pedagogue" - as it is said (Nahum 3:8): "Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, surrounded by water?" "Another thing I say, O artist: The Torah says, 'I was the tool of His (God's) artistry,' referring to the fact that the King of Flesh and Blood who builds palaces in this world, does not do so from his own knowledge, but from the knowledge of an artist. And the artist himself does not create from his own knowledge, but rather from his tools and implements, in order to know how to make rooms and carve designs. Similarly, God looked into the Torah and created the world. And the Torah says, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' And there is no beginning except for the Torah. As it says, 'The Lord acquired me at the beginning of His way.'" (Proverbs 8:22)

With ten utterances the world was created. And what does this teach, for surely it could have been created with one utterance? But this was so in order to punish the wicked who destroy the world that was created with ten utterances, And to give a good reward to the righteous who maintain the world that was created with ten utterances.

It is written: “Forever, O L–rd, Your word stands firm in the heavens.” The Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, has explained that “Your word” which you uttered, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters…,” these very words and letters stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven and are forever clothed within all the heavens to give them life, as it is written, “The word of our G–d shall stand firm forever” and “His words live and stand firm forever….” For if the letters were to depart [even] for an instant, G–d forbid, and return to their source, all the heavens would become naught and absolute nothingness, and it would be as though they had never existed at all, exactly as before the utterance, “Let there be a firmament.”

Rava said to Rabba bar Mari: From where is this matter derived whereby people say: Poverty follows the poor? Rabba bar Mari said to him: As we learned in a mishna (Bikkurim 3:8): Rich people would bring first fruits in baskets of gold and of silver, and poor people would bring first fruits in wicker baskets made of peeled willow, and they would give the baskets and the first fruits to the priests. The rich would have their baskets returned to them, while the poor would not. Rava said to him: You said the proof from there, from a mishna, and I say the proof from here, from a verse in the Torah:

Whatever the Holy Blessed One created in His world, he created only for His glory, as it is said: “All who are linked to My name, whom I have created, formed and made for My glory” (Isaiah 43:7), And it says: “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever” (Exodus 15:18).

Said Rabbi Hananiah ben Akashya: It pleased the Holy Blessed One to grant merit to Israel, that is why He gave them Torah and commandments in abundance, as it is said, “The Lord was pleased for His righteousness, to make Torah great and glorious” (Isaiah 42:21).

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live—

The gentiles asked the Jewish Sages who were in Rome: If it is not God’s will that people should engage in idol worship, why does He not elimi-nate it? The Sages said to them: Were people worshipping only objects for which the world has no need, He would eliminate it. But they worship the sun and the moon and the stars and the constellations. Should He destroy His world because of the fools? The gentiles said to the Sages: If so, let Him destroy those objects of idol worship for which the world has no need and leave those objects for which the world has a need. The Sages said to them: If that were to happen, we would thereby be supporting the worshippers of those objects for which the world has need, as they would say: You should know that these are truly gods, as they were not eliminated from the world, whereas the others were eliminated.