Judaism and The Rhythms of Nature

[Richard D]

I am fascinated by this idea of God and the creation story in Genesis. The more I study it the more I realize that the common idea of the God that atheists so easily debunk - the dude up in the sky pulling the strings - is utterly and totally obliterated by the first sentence in Genesis. I was thinking this morning, did God create the universe, or is that which created the universe, God. The second option gets very big. “You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.” (Douglas Adams)

I love the Kabbalistic idea that all of creation is a reflection of that which created the universe. It's all in code that can be learned and understood, thus leading to the highest human emotions: appreciation and gratitude.

Anyway, just some non-political thoughts for today's Holy day from a non-religious Jew who appreciated and wants to share this piece:

Creation

To a religious person, the universe is filled with hidden voices and secret meanings. The natural world, being the creation of God, signals the awesomeness of its Creator.

The Torah opens with the dramatic words: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” It does not begin with the story of God’s revelation to the Israelites at Sinai; nor with specific commandments. The first chapter of Genesis establishes in powerful terms that God created the universe and everything within it.

An ancient Aramaic translation of the Torah interprets the Hebrew word bereishith (in the beginning) to mean behokhmah (with wisdom). According to this translation, the Torah opens with the statement: “With wisdom did God create the heavens and the earth.” A human being, by recognizing the vast wisdom of God as reflected in the universe He created, comes to a profound awareness of his relationship with God. Indeed, experiencing God as Creator is the beginning of religious wisdom.

Moses Maimonides, the pre-eminent Jewish thinker of the middle ages, has understood this truth. He wrote:

Now what is the way that leads to the love of Him and the reverence for Him? When a person contemplates His great and wondrous acts and creations, obtaining from them a glimpse of His wisdom, which is beyond compare and infinite, he will promptly love and glorify Him, longing exceedingly to know the great Name of God, as David said: ‘My whole being thirsts for God, the living God (Psalm 42:3)’. When he ponders over these very subjects, he will immediately recoil, startled, conceiving that he is a lowly, obscure creature…as David said: ‘As I look up to the heavens Your fingers made…what is man that you should think of him (Psalm 8:4-5)?

https://www.jewishideas.org/article/judaism-and-rhythms-nature