Bereishis 5784: Creation (Ch.1), Man and Woman (Ch.2), First sin (Ch.3), First murder (Ch.4), The ten generations from Adam to Noach (Ch.5). At the very end of the parsha, the Torah tells us of the corruption of man upon earth. The pasukim tell us (Bereishis 6:6-8) כִּֽי־עָשָׂ֥ה ’ה וַיִּנָּ֣חֶם אֶל־לִבּֽוֹ וַיִּתְעַצֵּ֖ב בָּאָ֑רֶץ אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם - and Hashem reconsidered having made man on earth, and He was pained in His heart (keviyachol); And Hashem said: נֵיפְּ מֵעַל רָאתִיבָּ-רשֶׁאֲ הָאָדָם-אֶת אֶמְחֶה יתִםשִׂעֲ יכִּ ,יתִּנִחַמְ יכִּ :מָיִםשָּׁהַ עוֹף-וְעַד רֶמֶשׂ-עַד ,הֵמָהבְּ-עַד מֵאָדָם ,הָאֲדָמָה - I will erase man whom I created from upon the face of the earth - from man to animal, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky; for I have reconsidered My having made them; And Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem.
On the words “And He was pained in His heart”, Rashi teaches:
He mourned over the destruction of His handiwork: And this I have written as an answer to the heretics (who deny that G-d knows the future): A certain non-Jew asked the Tanna R’ Yehoshua b. Karchah a question and said to him, “Do you not admit that Hashem knows the future?” R’ Yehoshua said to him, “Yes (He does know the future).” The non-Jew said, “But it is written, and ‘He was pained in His heart,’ which indicates that G-d did not foresee the outcome of creating man!” R’ Yehoshua answered him, “Has a male child been born to you in your lifetime?” The non-Jew said “Yes.” R’ Yehoshua said to him, “And what did you do (when the child was born)?” He said to him, “I rejoiced, and I made everybody rejoice with me.” R’ Yehoshua said to him, “But did you not know that his destiny is to die (like all of man)?” The non-Jew said to him, “אֶבְלָא אֶבְלָא בִּשְׁעַת חֶדְוָתָא חֶדְוָתָא בִּשְׁעַת - at a time of joy, we rejoice, and at a time of mourning, we mourn.” Said R’ Yehoshua, “So too HKB”H. Even though it was revealed before Him that man’s destiny is to die, and to suffer destruction, He did not refrain from creating man, for the sake of the tzadikim (righteous) who are destined to arise.
As we face a threat to our treasured and holy nation, Am Yisrael; our beautiful Holy Land, Eretz Yisrael; and our miraculous medinah, Medinat Yisrael, such that has never been seen since the establishment of the State in 1948, let us remember that אֶבְלָא אֶבְלָא בִּשְׁעַת חֶדְוָתָא חֶדְוָתָא בִּשְׁעַת, at a time of rejoicing, we rejoice, and in a time of mourning, we all mourn. No matter where a Jew lives today, no matter his religious affiliation, we are all in an intense, deep state of national mourning. With over a thousand kedoshim, Jewish neshamos, taken from us; tayer yiddishe kinder, babies and children, women and men in captivity R”L; close to 3,000 injured; soldiers fighting for the State, for us and for their lives; with the country under attack of rockets from North to South; and battling terror infiltration on the northern and southern borders, Hashem yerachem v’yaazor... אֲבֵלוֹת צִיּוֹן רְכֵידַּ.
