It was December 1943. World War II was raging, and in Kazan, Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber, zt”l, found himself listening to some of the Soviet Union’s leading scientists. Many had been relocated there during the war, and they had gathered to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Sir Isaac Newton.
Among the speakers was Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. As Rabbi Zilber listened, Vavilov discussed Newton’s extraordinary scientific achievements and quoted from his writings. Then came words Rabbi Zilber never expected to hear in that room: Newton, reflecting upon the forces operating throughout the universe, saw in them the omnipresence of G-d. Rabbi Zilber shuddered.
This was the Soviet Union, where atheism was official doctrine and openly living as a religious Jew could carry serious consequences. Yet the president of its Academy of Sciences had just stood before a hall of scholars and repeated Newton’s words about G-d without removing or explaining them away. Rabbi Zilber’s mind immediately went to the words of Yeshayahu: “The whole earth is full of His glory.”
That moment captures something essential about Parashat Bereishit. The Torah begins with the creation of the world, but Rabbi Zilber teaches us something about how to live within that world. Its wonders need not lead us away from the Creator. They can lead us toward Him.
Even the Torah’s first letter carries a lesson. Rabbi Zilber points to the enlarged beit of Bereishit, closed above, below, and behind but open in the direction the Torah proceeds. There are limits to what the human mind can know about what preceded Creation. Our task is to move forward, looking carefully at the world G-d has given us and recognizing what it can teach us.
Everyone in that hall in Kazan heard the same lecture. They heard Newton, physics, and science. Rabbi Zilber heard all of that too. But in those same words, a young Jew living under a regime determined to erase faith heard an ancient declaration from Yeshayahu: “The whole earth is full of His glory.” Perhaps that is one of the first lessons of Bereishit. The world is constantly telling us something. The question is whether we are listening.
Parashat Bereishit sponsored by David, Natalie & Avia Rose Zavurov.
Rabbi Yitzchok Zilber, zt”l, dedicated his life to teaching Torah, and his impactful writings continue to inspire Jews worldwide. Copyright 2023 by The LaMaalot Foundation. Conversations on the Torah is catalogued at The Library of Congress. All rights reserved. www.LaMaalot.org
Parashat Bereishit: The World Was Speaking
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