A Mishnah in Pirkei Avot ( פרק ד, משנה כב)
says,
לֵידַע לְהוֹדִיעַ וּלְהִוָּדַע שֶׁהוּא אֵל, הוּא הַיּוֹצֵר, הוּא הַבּוֹרֵא,
A person is in this world to know, to let it be known, and to have the awareness that G-d is the powerful One. He is the Former, He is the Creator
These two terms are used for G-d. We are here in this world to understand these fundamental principles- G-d is known as the
the Former, הַיּוֹצֵר, and the
הַבּוֹרֵא Creator
Like we say, יוצר אור ובורא לודך
Former of light and Creator of darkness.
What exactly is the difference between יצירה/ Forming and בריאה Creation?
Rabbenu Yonah tells us, on that Mishnah, that יצירה is the beginning. It’s what we’ll call יש מאין Something from nothing, whereas בריאה is when G-d finishes something off and continues it. We refer to G-d as בורא עולם Boreh Olam, Most people think that this means He created the world a long time ago. When we say בורא פרי הגפן, they think He created it along time ago.
Rabbenu Yonah says that this is incorrect. He discusses the principle (and he may be the first one to do so), that when a human being creates, it’s always something from something. He can make a desk by taking existing wood and putting it together to shape into a desk. When the man dies, the desk remains, because he didn’t create the materials, he just formed something from pre-existing materials. G-d, on the other hand, since He made the world something from nothing, has to constantly be here to keep it going. So, G-d is constantly necessary. Rabbenu Yonah gave this exact Mashal. It’s not like when making a vessel, which, once it’s made, the maker is no longer needed. People need G-d at all times.
He is constantly the בורא /Boreh, because He’s constantly adding the finishing touches. Our hearts are beating now- that’s a finishing touch, that we need G-d for constantly. Nothing exists on its own- this is a very important principle in our religion and in our understanding, that’s what the Rambam says Hashem Elokechem Emet- G-d is True. It doesn’t mean He doesn’t tell lies; it means that He’s the only inherent existence; He’s the only thing that has to be. He’s the only thing that’s not dependent on anything else. Nothing else is a true being, because it’s all dependent on G-d’s existence, and if something is dependent on G-d’s existence, and G-d does not will it to be, it won’t be.
These are the ABCs of our faith. That’s what it means when we say G-d created the world “something from nothing.” This happened at the beginning of creation, and everything is constantly being energized, every single second. This is part of our Tefilla process of Rosh Hashana, and it’s what we talk about when we say that G-d is the King.
He is the only Source for anything to exist, and He keeps it in existence constantly. That is why, in the words of Rabbenu Yonah,
בני האדם בכל עת וזמן צריכים לבוראם,
People need G-d every second of every minute. “Boreh Peri HaGefen” doesn’t mean He created the grapes years and years ago, and now they propagate on their own. He is still their pumping energy into them now.
We see that David HaMelech said this, says Rabbenu Yonahh, in the following pasuk:
דעו כי ה' הוא אלקים הוא עשנו
You should know that Hashem, the One who is, was, and will be, is Elokim, He is the force of all energy, He made us,
ולו אנחנו- ולא אנחנו
This can be read in one of two ways:
Either, “and we belong to him,” ולו אנחנו
Or, He made us, “and we didn’t make ourselves,” ולא אנחנו
The Sfat Emet says that both are true.
When we realize that G-d made us, and “we didn’t make ourselves”, then “we belong to Him.” We belong to G-d when we realize we didn’t make ourselves.
G-d made us, and made every thing that we have, and G-d continues to give existence to everything. The Sfat Emet says that if we scramble the letters לו/to Him, and לא/ No, it spells אלול Elul
Furthermore, the Sfat Emet tells us that what we are supposed to be doing in the month of Elul is realizing that לא אנחנו, it wasn’t me
Rabbenu Yonah says that we have to realize that we need G-d every second, every hour, every moment. לא אנחנו- it wasn’t me.
There is a story of a great Hasidic Rebbi who had a student who also became a great Rebbi. The student once came to his rabbi, knocked on the door and when asked “Who’s there?” He replied, “I’m here!” with much gusto.
The Rebbi corrected him, and told him that’s not the proper way to talk, to say, “I’m here,” sounds like it’s all you. He didn’t like the stress on the “I”. Later on, that day, the same student was walking along when someone accused him of some wrongdoing, and started to beat him. He shouted, “It wasn’t me; it wasn’t me!”
He went back to his Rebbi and told him what happened. The Rebbi said that was the lesson: You are supposed to say, “לא אנחנו/ It wasn’t me!”
Who made money this year? It wasn’t me!
Was was successful this year? It wasn’t me!
Who took care of my health this year?
It wasn’t me!
If we say לא אנחנו - it wasn’t me, then it will become לו אנחנו- we belong to G-d.
That’s the whole Elul.
אני לדודי ודודי לי
I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me
But how do we become to our beloved? How do we start that process?
The fundamental is לא אנחנו- it wasn’t me.
Because G-d is necessary to pump energy, every single second, into creation, into us and into anything we do.
What a beautiful lesson!
הוּא הַיּוֹצֵר, הוּא הַבּוֹרֵא,
He is the Former, He is the Creator.
דעו כי ה' הוא אלקים הוא עשנו
Know that He is Hashem our G-d. He made us, ולא אנחנו