Fully Alive in 5785

Parashat B’reisheet, Genesis 1:1–6:8

by Dr Jeffrey Seif, Executive Director, UMJC

In his 2022 album “Only the Strong Survive,” Bruce Springsteen remade Tyrone Davis’ song “Turn Back the Hands of Time.” We can’t turn back time, of course. We can lose a job and find a new one; we can lose a love and find a new one, as well. Once time is gone, however, it’s unrecoverable. Though we can’t turn back the hands of time, we can—and do—revisit time by rolling the Torah scroll back and recycling the stories noted therein. This we do this every year around this time: on Simchat Torah. And so we begin again . . .

Parashat B’reisheet contains a general creation account in 1:1–32 which offers a telling of Adam’s creation in vv. 26–28. His name derives from adamah (Hebrew for “earth”), the substance from which he was said to have been fabricated in 2:7. Humankind’s creation account is further developed in 2:7–8 and 18–24 with the emergence of Chavah (Eve)—from Adam. Her name means to “live” or to “give life” and is commonly associated with beginnings, as in “the eve of such and such.” As we shall see, like Eve herself, the Sabbath is also said to be life-giving—as an event that offers an infusion of needed energy, a fact sometimes obscured by obligatory notions associated with religious observance.

When moderns think of Sabbath, they often think of compliance in the context of going to a house of worship on that day. Christians, for example, may think of Saturday as the day when Jews do “their church”—their religious worship; and, by contrast, Jews may think of Sunday as the day when Christians do “their sabbath.” For his part, Moses didn’t speak of weekly communal gathering places where rabbis and reverends pontificated on things divine. Though occasional visits associated with individuals’ personal needs were noted by Moses, mandated holy days were associated with annual gatherings in and around the Tabernacle/Temple (the Mishkan / Beit HaMikdash) and superintended by kohanim/priests. The synagogue wasn’t central then, as it is today.

A cursory read of the Hebrew Bible attests that synagogues and synagogue leaders (that is, rabbis) emerged many centuries after Moses, and toward the very end of the Hebrew Bible’s narrative—in the exilic and post-exilic days of Ezra-Nehemiah. Ezra’s person and performance easily correlate with the notion and function of a rabbi (for example, Ezra 7:6–10); and the communal study noted in his and Nehemiah’s day is a natural antecedent to the synagogue’s study, with its teaching styles, schedules, and practices (Neh 8:1ff). Moses emerged out of an Egyptian era—and the Torah with him; Ezra—referred to as the “Second Moses”—emerged many centuries later out of the Persian era. The Sabbath noted by Moses in Genesis 2:1–3 was a re-creational event, one that appeared in creation’s aftermath; it was a seminal, pre-institutional event depicted at the end of God’s own work week. We do well to consider the Sabbath’s primary purpose within its literary context.

In Genesis 2:1–2, God’s creative work is said to have been “completed”; in v. 3 readers are told, “He ceased from all his work” afterward. The resting workman motif noted in 2:1–3 correlates with God’s working/ making earlier throughout the week (cf. 1:7, 16, 21, 25, 31). Anthropomorphic ascriptions (man-like terms) are noted in the process of his so doing. In 1:3, 5, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29, for example, readers are told God gave construction instruction (that is, he “said”) and, in like manner, that he employed vocation-specific terms (for example, “called” in 1:10) for his work-product. Further to the point, in 1:21 Moses said God examined (“saw”) his work: again, God is represented as a craftsman with an “eye” for his work (1:31). The Talmudic dictum “the Torah speaks the ordinary language of men” is helpful here: We know Torah is speaking; the question is what is Torah meaning?

In his commentary on Genesis, Rashi asked rhetorically: After all the work, “what did the world lack?” His answer was simple—and obvious: “rest.” Moving away from Rashi, note the word “creation” itself comes from the Latin creare (to “create,” “form,” “model,” etc.). The “rest” correlates with a related word. “Recreation”, for its part, comes from the Latin recreare, which means “to create anew” or “renew”—and this gets at the heart of Genesis’ Sabbath—being born anew, if you will.

Recreation (from “re-create”) harks back to the inherent, generative qualities associated with getting away from the everyday grind, to transcending the mundane with all its problems and possibilities. . . . People, as we know, “re-charge their batteries” by so doing. This is what’s at play on that special Sabbath day. The Sabbath is thus less about simply revisiting liturgical prayers with hypnotic melodies, and hearing someone re-tell old stories from an ancient scroll, as it is about vacating human experience, tapping the divine, and experiencing oneself being reborn by the exposure. The value of the time-honored liturgy and lecturing is associated with the transcendence mediated through both—and mediate they do.

The word “secular,” from secularis in the Latin, harks back to things being “of this age”; “sacred” by contrast, comes from the Latin sacer, meaning “set off” or “restrict,” and refers to being set apart from this age. With the original intent in view—assuming I understand it correctly—humans benefit from the Sabbath rest in ways akin to how humans benefit from a night’s sleep. It prompts me to believe the deliberateness with which we approach a restful sleep, on a daily basis, should also inform our commitment toward having a restful day on a weekly basis—the Sabbath.

Coming full circle to the week’s parasha, the birth associated with the creation account and the re-birth associated with the Sabbath’s re-creation account, strike me as particularly meaningful. There’s something intangible about getting away from one’s problems that enables problem-solvers to find renewed energies to both face their problems and to defeat them. The melodious liturgy and associated worship music contain Scripture and facilitate transcendence and prayer, as does Scripture reading with its explication. The spiritual benefit of Sabbath participation is complemented by its social benefits.

Related to the supernatural creation account is a more natural one. I’m thinking of Moses reminding us “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). While very much aware of the context’s associating it with securing a help-mate, I am also keenly aware we need shipmates in our fellowships, as we traverse life’s sometimes restless waters. It’s not simply that the UMJC needs all the friends we can get—and it’s indeed true that we do—it’s even more true that people, as persons, need friends to reach their potentials and dreams. Life is a team sport. We don’t win it on our own!

All said, at the threshold of a new year, permit me to exhort you to renew your commitment to be part of the relatively new miracle that is the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. At the top of Judaism’s calendar year, my wish for you is that you will experience the re-creation that the Sabbath brings, that you’ll be fully alive in 5785 and that you’ll be more fully alive in and with the UMJC community.

Jeffrey Seif serves as the UMJC’s executive director. He has served as a Bible College and Seminary professor for 35 years. Jeff graduated with a master’s degree and doctorate from the seminary at Southern Methodist University. He also took a master’s degree from Cambridge University, where he is currently at PhD student. He can be reached at jeffreyseif@umjc.org