“In the beginning...” (1:1)
Our rabbis teach, “Lev Melachim v’sarim b’yad Hashem.” This means, “The hearts of kings and ministers are in the Hand of Hashem.” When it comes to international affairs, anything that impinges on the future of the world, even the most important leaders have no freedom of choice. They become puppets. And who pulls the strings of those puppets. We do. The Jewish People.
The very first word in the Torah is “Bereishis.” The Midrash expounds ‘Bereishis’ to read as ‘Bishvil Reishis’ – ‘Because of Reishis.’ One of the things the Gemara calls ‘Reishis’ is the Jewish People. Meaning that the world was created in the merit of the Jewish People.
Hashem set up this world in such a way that our every action, for the good or the not-so-good, ascends through all the spiritual worlds above to the highest possible places. It makes its effect there and then the power of that action descends back down through all those worlds to this, the lowest world, becoming a physical reality.
For example, when someone keeps Shabbos in Bristol or in Ramsgate or in Timbuktu, that spiritual energy ascends all the way to the control room of the universe and is sent back down as massive positive energy. A typhoon in the China Sea is cancelled, abundant rain falls in Niger, averting a famine.
Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair
The Gemara says, “Pnei Hador, k’pnei hakelev.” This means that the face of the generation just before Mashiach is like the face of a dog. Let’s pretend you were a visiting Martian, unfamiliar with Earth creatures and you saw a man and dog out for a walk. You would think that the dog was leading the man because he’s out in front. But the dog is constantly looking over its shoulder, finding out which way it should go.
The leaders of this world are not in charge. We are. Don’t look at the news to find out what the polls say, what the pundits say. The real news is being created by you. How did you treat your wife this morning? How did you treat your mother? How did you pray? Were you careful about what went into your mouth and were you just a careful about what type of words came out?
The anti-Semites of this world are right: the Jews do run the world. But not in the way they think. It’s not the puppets of politics who are the movers and shakers of this world. You are.
Reprinted from the Parashat Bereishet 5785 email of OHRNET, the Ohr Somayach Torah Magazine of the Internet.
