What Nobody Told You About The Six Days of Creation

why is being alone so terrible isn't there some instinct in us that demands privacy leave me alone aren't we better off alone so it seems like we have this love-hate relationship with others we hate to be alone but we hate to be with them so what is it if you look in the torah in the description of creation right at the beginning on the sixth day god creates adam and then god says it is not good with man alone i will create him a helping and you have to wonder why why was why was that necessary why did god have to say it is not good so i'm gonna create just do what you're doing why the statement on the first day god said let there be light there was light on the second day god said let the water separate and there was a heaven so there's a heaven on the third day god said let the earth give forth vegetation but here god creates adam and then says hmm not good i think i should also create a woman why do you have to say it just do it it's a good question i think so the midrash says that saying it is not good for man to be alone was one of the ten utterances of creation in other words god created the discomfort with being alone it's one of the creations just like god created grass and god created animals god created this condition that being alone is not good so let's try to understand this a little bit if a person were truly independent and self-sufficient would it not be good to be alone you don't have to consider anybody you don't have to answer to anybody what's wrong with it seems perfect god said it is not good to be alone he didn't say it's not practical he didn't say it's not doable he said it's not good there's no goodness in it practically yes it would be very very much comfortable and convenient to just be left alone if you don't need support so if you're self-sufficient and you don't need others then being alone is perfect god says yes it's a perfect it's a perfect condition but there's nothing good about it it's like nature itself nature itself is a perfectly functional machine there's nothing good about it good means morally good and there's nothing morally good when you're alone and perfect so being perfect is impressive it's not good there's no goodness involved so with a little bit of a stretch you might say when god said it is not good for man to be alone he was referring to himself why am i creating human beings because it's not good to be alone even if you're perfect like god himself so god is saying i'm already perfect i'm already eternal i'm already infinite i'm already all-knowing and all-powerful but what's good about it there's no goodness in it and because he's god that was unacceptable to him by saying it is not good for man to be alone he was both telling us why he's creating the world and instilling that same quality in us creating us in his image so why is it so terrible to be alone because we are godly and god hates being alone or to say it in different words it is not human as far as the human system the human mentality being alone is much better but because we have this godly inheritance we are created in his image we have a somewhat superhuman instinct which says alone is terrible there's no goodness in it so being perfect means your existence is is absolute his maximum ultimate your your existence can't get any better but you still have no life having a perfect existence has no meaning has no content so what would be wrong with robinson crusoe living on an island by himself totally capable he can take care of himself he can build himself a house he can find food he can live very very well what's wrong with that why is that not perfect utopian because what's the point so you survive for what so this discomfort with being alone is first of all a humility i am otherwise perfect i'm otherwise all powerful all capable independent and that doesn't satisfy me because it's just me that's humility i perfect me is not enough that that's a humble realization so when god says i'm creating a world because there's just me and that's not good enough there's god's humility being me is not enough but if i have you then it's enough that's that is a mystical concept totally beyond our comprehension but that's the beauty of it and so we have that same thing when you're feeling really perfect when you're feeling totally in control and totally on top of your game that's when you want to get married why you're doing good keep it that way you get married and you're gonna have to make room for somebody else and you're gonna have to make all sorts of adjustments and why would you do that you're so perfect the way you are why would you do it nobody knows nobody knows it's the divine instinct in us and that's why marriage is a religious event everywhere for everybody get me to the church on time why do you have to have a church when you get married why do you need a priest why do you need a religious ceremony you don't have a religious ceremony when you buy a car without the religion marriage makes no sense you don't need this like many husbands say after they're married for two weeks i don't need this so what is what is this marriage business see if you're getting married out of need you're in trouble you become dependent or codependent all sorts of garbage so if you're needy when you get married you're get you're just getting yourself deeper into trouble you get married when you're not needy but when you're not needy why are you doing it the answer is god was not needy he was almighty all-powerful all-knowing and he created a world why because it's not good to be alone so he creates a world in which he can put a human being and he can give that human being freedom of choice why does the human being need freedom of choice because the whole purpose of creation is for god not to be alone if we don't have free choice he's still alone he creates angels he's still alone because angels are clones it's just more of him he's still alone if he didn't give us freedom of choice then after creating us you would still be alone because there's no one else it's all him when we have freedom of choice which enables us to reject him now he's not alone so that's why our freedom of choice is pretty much limited to mitzvos to do the mitzvah not do the mitzvah that's your freedom of choice everything else you don't really have freedom the school you're in the city you've moved to the house you buy no choice god decides the only real free choice you have is in your reaction to him and that makes sense because the one thing he can't choose is my love for him because if he makes me love him then it's not love so there he has to give us freedom of choice so that the relationship is real everything else we're much better off having him make the choice he makes better choices so there is no rational reason for this this taste that we have this this uh resistance we have to aloneness we don't know why that's painful we don't know why that is so unacceptable and yet it is more important and more crucial to us than almost anything else all the things that we understand rationally this touches us even deeper they're saying now that if you feel alone in the world your immune system crashes you become totally vulnerable to every disease you have no defenses so it's a health crisis as well as a as a life existential crisis so what is the answer what is the solution the solution is the recognition every morning that you are not alone that dear creator is more invested in you than you are in him so we wake up in the morning and we say mo da'ani you returned my soul to me what does that mean it's a statement of fact there's nothing i can do to bring my soul back god has to send it back okay that's not the real full meaning of it the full meaning of it is yes god sent my soul back why because despite all my failings despite my misbehavior despite my resistance he needs me to be so it's not that he created me once when i was born he invests in me every single morning i am not alone sometimes i wish i was can we take a break from each other so i can yeah but no he doesn't give us a break he doesn't want any separation so we are never alone and then of course there's marriage the only thing on the human level that takes away the feeling of aloneness is marriage having a good relationship with your parents doesn't do it you're still alone good friendships you're still alone you are you with friends but the you are still alone the only time you stop being alone is when the you becomes a we marriage when i becomes an us then i'm not alone that's why the torah says therefore should a man leave his mother and father and cling to his wife cleave to his wife and become one leave your mother and father because with them you'll never be one primarily because they have each other so you're number three not number one we have a sunday night program for vips that you might be interested in it's informal it's questions and answers it's conversation it's really 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Channel: Rabbi Manis Friedman

Views: 228,384

Keywords: education, educational, training, torah, judaism, chabad, religion, which religion in china, judaism beliefs, judaism definition, manis friedman, rabbi manis friedman, life, inspiration, inspirational, rabbi, life advice, adive, advice, life changing

Id: jTXdNunN3Rk

Length: 20min 10sec (1210 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 16 2021