Paradise Waits, On The Crest Of A Wave Her Angels In Flame (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - Help Is On The Way)

           With the conclusion of the Chagim, my son and I immediately took down our Sukkah and put everything away. I packed up and began the long drive to New Jersey. The plan was to pick up our daughter and take visit a few universities. Over the course of two days, we drove through two states and visited two large campuses, one in New Jersey and one in New York state. We will visit a few Ontario schools over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, as we toured these two large university campuses, I was struck by the idyllic setting. The weather was beautiful, sunny around 15-20 C or 60-70 F. The foliage was spectacular, and the views inspiringly beautiful in these idyllic settings. Our daughter walked around, asked questions of a friend who led us around and seemed genuinely comfortable on a campus. We visited a variety of points of interest. Ironically, as we walked around, I thought about how much I missed studying at university. As I walked with our daughter, I realized that I missed the Idyllic setting of a university campus.
           This week’s Parsha is Breishit. It is the first parsha of the first Book of the Torah. For all intents and purposes, it is the beginning of the Torah. In Breishit, we read the story of Creation, (The Beginning); Adam and Chava’s banishment from Paradise (Gan Eden), and the fratricide of Cain and Abel. We begin however with God. God is the Creator, the ultimate power. If knowledge is power, then God is the ultimate source of knowledge. We accept this as part of our Jewish theology. God is all-knowing and all powerful. We read the words: V’yivrah Elohim et Ha’Adam b’Tzalmo, B’Tzelem Elohim Barah Oto Zachar u’Nekeivah Barah Otam. “And God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. (1:27). The question, therefore, is: What is the image of God? Obviously part of that image is the power to create, the power to create life. We surmise this because, in the next verse, God commands Adam and Chava to be fruitful and multiply, to create life just like God had created. Another image of God is Power. God’s purpose in creating humanity was that they “should have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle, and over all the earth…” (1:26) In today’s vernacular “dominion” is Power. However the ability to create, and the ability to exercise power sagaciously, and judiciously, necessitates the attainment of knowledge. Perhaps that is our greatest gift. We have the ability to learn, to reason, to discern between right and wrong. To do so expresses our faith in God, re-affirms that, indeed, we are created in God’s image, and we possess an aspect of Holiness.
           In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah (14b), there is an Aggadah, a Rabbinic legend, which illustrates the notion that attaining knowledge and understanding how to attain knowledge is a holy endeavor. Four of the leading sages of their generation entered an idyllic setting called PaRDes (literally the “orchard” or Paradise). They were Ben Assai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah, and Rabbi Akiva. They entered PaRDeS and came into contact with the pure power, pure knowledge and complete perfection. They came into contact with God. As a result, one sage died immediately. One sage went insane, one became a heretic, and was referred to as Acher (the other), by the rest of the Talmudic Sages. Only Rabbi Akiva emerged unscathed. The commentators of this Aggadah explain that PaRDeS is an acronym for four methods of Torah inquiry: P’shat (the simple literal meaning), Remez (understanding the meaning based upon hint and intimation), Drash (derive meaning based upon interpretation), and Sod( deriving meaning based upon uncovering secret meanings). Imagine that? Our tradition explains that Paradise, an idyllic setting, is achieved through Torah study and deriving meaning in four different ways. Relying on any one way will limit intellectual and spiritual growth. However incorporating each aspect, and understanding when to utilize one more than the other or how much of each aspect to use in order to determine meaning is what allowed Rabbi Akiva to leave PaRDeS unscathed. In a sense our sages are absolutely correct, PaRDeS is studying Torah for the sake of intellectual and spiritual growth and enlightenment.
           The attainment of knowledge and Truth is a Godly endeavor. The use of such knowledge judiciously and wisely for creative purposes represents the notion that we are indeed created in God’s image. Not only is knowledge power, but understanding how to attain and use that knowledge is also the key to a spiritually enlightened life. No, I am not returning to University any time soon. but as I watched my daughter walk on these University campuses, asking questions and noticing her genuine excitement and curiosity, I hope she will eventually appreciate the opportunity of spending the next few years studying in her version of an academic Paradise.
Peace,
Rav Yitz