Beginnings are difficult.
This sounds like an oxymoron, right? But think about it. Not only do beginnings demand a whole lot of self-motivation and discipline that forces us out of complacency; beginnings are often the result of endings. And that means that even more than discipline and motivation, they require fortitude and courage.
The New Jewish Year has started, and with it, a new cycle of Torah readings begins this week. It’s Parashat Bereshit where we learn that G-d created the world from nothing.
The ebb and flow of life are unique as in it there’s the concurrent action of pushing ahead while gripping onto the past.
But if it is the past from which we learn, from which we mend the broken pieces, does that not build the foundation for new beginnings?
Now is the perfect time for us to take the multitude of musings, introspection and lessons we’ve learned these past High Holy Days and forge ahead, hopefully, renewed and ready to embark on new beginnings.
The beginning of the Torah lays down the foundations for the world, emphasising distinctions and boundaries. The rest of the Torah sets out to demonstrate right vs. wrong, things that bring death and things that bring life.
Think about that contradiction – all these differentiations and distinctions are created by one G-d; the same G-d that made heaven and earth, plants and animals and indeed, human beings.
When the lights go out for Adam and Eve on the first Friday night, as they’re expelled from the illuminated Garden of Eden just before Shabbos, they find themselves in the darkness G-d created. But it’s the same G-d that doesn’t want them to live without light, even during the night hours. It’s then that G-d helps Adam and Eve to create fire, piercing the boundaries of darkness to create light.
During Havdalah, we say that G-d distinguishes between light and dark and as we do so, we hold up a candle to declare that even within such distinctions, we are not unmindful of the “other.”
We need light in the darkness.
We need endings to create beginnings.
This Shabbat let’s hold up that candle to remind us that we’ve just brought in the new Jewish year; to bring in ideas and truths; community and togetherness; light and dark and in so doing, we will build on what is and begin what is destined to be.
Shabbat Shalom!
Nachas & Drash 