B'reishit begins on such an inspirational note, with the vivid description of the most marvelous creations: Heaven and Earth; the seas; the verdant plant life; Man and Woman; the Garden of Eden. G-d's b'racha rests on all the Universe.
But then, it's all downhill: Adam and Chava sin and are punished with mortality and exile; Cain murders his brother Hevel; the whole world sinks into an unbearable moral decay. Trouble in Paradise, to say the least.
The last four p'sukim in our sedra are puzzling in the extreme:
"And Hashem saw that Man's evil was great; his inclination was to do only evil, every day. And G-d regretted creating Man and was heartsick. He said: 'I will erase Man - not only Man, but all life, for I regret [nichamti] what I have done.' And Noach found favor in G-d's eyes."
What is going on here? G-d regrets making Man? As if He - who exists in the future as well as the past and present - didn't know what Man would do. G-d is "heartsick"? This is a Divine emotion?
And what is this whole section doing here, anyway? It should be the introduction to next week's sedra, the story of Noach and the flood, rather than the end of our sedra.
The key to this puzzle is the word "nachem". It can mean both "regret" and "consolation". If there is one thing which most requires consolation, it is the sense of regret we feel for love lost. If only we had loved more, loved longer, behaved better. The gap between what could have been and what was can often be an unbridgeable chasm.
The midrash remarks: A heretic once asked Rabbi Yehoshua, "Did G-d not foresee what Man would become? Why then was He heartsick over Man's behavior?" The Rabbi answered: "Tell me: Do you not have a son? Did you not rejoice at his birth, though you knew he would someday die? Of course! Yet when you can be happy, be happy. When you must mourn, then - and only then - should you mourn."
When one loses a child, G-d forbid, there is an impulse to say, "better not to have ever had this child, and so not suffer this tragedy." G-d, too, feels this same emotion. But then regret gives way to nechama. Take love and joy where you find it; deal with tragedy only if and when it comes. Yes, G-d was heartsick and regretted making Man, but then He went forward and began Creation anew with Noach.
B'reishit - the saga of humanity - cannot end on a sad note. It must affirm the eternity of life. Therefore, its "bottom line", the closing message of our sedra, is continuity, hope and nechama - the nechama of a Noach who found chen (favor).
But then, it's all downhill: Adam and Chava sin and are punished with mortality and exile; Cain murders his brother Hevel; the whole world sinks into an unbearable moral decay. Trouble in Paradise, to say the least.
The last four p'sukim in our sedra are puzzling in the extreme:
"And Hashem saw that Man's evil was great; his inclination was to do only evil, every day. And G-d regretted creating Man and was heartsick. He said: 'I will erase Man - not only Man, but all life, for I regret [nichamti] what I have done.' And Noach found favor in G-d's eyes."
What is going on here? G-d regrets making Man? As if He - who exists in the future as well as the past and present - didn't know what Man would do. G-d is "heartsick"? This is a Divine emotion?
And what is this whole section doing here, anyway? It should be the introduction to next week's sedra, the story of Noach and the flood, rather than the end of our sedra.
The key to this puzzle is the word "nachem". It can mean both "regret" and "consolation". If there is one thing which most requires consolation, it is the sense of regret we feel for love lost. If only we had loved more, loved longer, behaved better. The gap between what could have been and what was can often be an unbridgeable chasm.
The midrash remarks: A heretic once asked Rabbi Yehoshua, "Did G-d not foresee what Man would become? Why then was He heartsick over Man's behavior?" The Rabbi answered: "Tell me: Do you not have a son? Did you not rejoice at his birth, though you knew he would someday die? Of course! Yet when you can be happy, be happy. When you must mourn, then - and only then - should you mourn."
When one loses a child, G-d forbid, there is an impulse to say, "better not to have ever had this child, and so not suffer this tragedy." G-d, too, feels this same emotion. But then regret gives way to nechama. Take love and joy where you find it; deal with tragedy only if and when it comes. Yes, G-d was heartsick and regretted making Man, but then He went forward and began Creation anew with Noach.
B'reishit - the saga of humanity - cannot end on a sad note. It must affirm the eternity of life. Therefore, its "bottom line", the closing message of our sedra, is continuity, hope and nechama - the nechama of a Noach who found chen (favor).