Bereshith: Divine Regret

Bereshith: Divine Regret

Why does the Torah provide a description of creation? Rashi quotes Rabbi Yitzchok asking this question and answering that the documentation  that Gd created the world gives Gd  the right to distribute the lands of the world . The allocation of the Promised Land to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is justified.  The creator is the rightful owner and can distribute the real estate.  Unfortunately, the real-world basis  for  possession was not who could create, but who could kill and destroy. Thus, Rashi never saw the Promised Land that he was so sure that Gd had granted him. He saw the Crusades  on their way to Palestine instead. 

The Ramban says that Rashi's explanation is not complete.  The story of creation is שורש האמונה, the root of faith. There is a beginning - the world is not eternal, the world is not a logical necessity, it is a grant.  

 There is a creator to whom we owe gratitude for a beautiful and generally hospitable world. Our minds seem programmed to easily accept this idea, but it brings with it an obligation of appreciation. Much of the Torah is concerned with how to realize that goal. 

As technology moves forward, reading Genesis becomes stranger as it begins to make more sense. Let's  go to: And E said 'Let there be light.'  Now, almost any person can say the same words... and there will be light ( per Alexa, Google, etc).  The power to say something and have it happen has descended from the Divine to the mundane. The story of the powerful E creating the world lends itself to the science-fiction of a techno-deity, a being so much more advanced than humans that it is natural to consider that being divine.  

It is how Gd relates  to  the actions of  the creations that is most informative. When the people eat from the Tree of Knowledge, curiosity overcomes law and loyalty. Gd reacts by clothing the humans who are  now aware of their nakedness.  Cain's Envy leads to the murder of Abel.    Gd exiles the killer to a place where there is no one to covet.

Ultimately we have the most disturbing verse :   וַיִּנָּ֣חֶם   כִּֽי־עָשָׂ֥ה אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ וַיִּתְעַצֵּ֖ב אֶל־לִבּֽוֹ׃ 

 And the LORD regretted that He had made man on earth, and His heart was saddened.

The idea that the perfect Gd could regret and be sad is outrageous.  It is a violation of a certain idea of perfection, and thus anathema. For me, it is a demonstration of perfection. This is not the perfection of the machine, it is the most precious quality that Gd shared with us, the ability to look at the true consequences of actions  and improve. 

Regret is a statement of responsibility. The text does not tell us that Adam and Eve or the serpent regretted  their violation. Cain is very concerned about the punishment that he recognizes he deserves, but there is no statement of regret. 

I had a most interesting conversation with a young man who had returned from a more dissolute lifestyle.  He told me that he  was not convinced that he had free will. He believed that  his actions were determined by the forces of the universe.  I asked him if there was anything he regretted. Remorse was the evidence that he owned the decisions. 

 Gd is the author of regret.   It is another gift to be used with compassion ( for ourselves as well as others) and with wisdom