In this week’s parsha we learn about the creation of the world. When the Torah talks about creating all the various different species, the Torah writes: וירא אלקים כי טוב - “And G-d saw that it was good”. However, when G-d creates Man, we do not find this expression. There is no ‘ki tov’ by the creation of Adam. The insect gets a ‘ki tov’. The elephant gets a ‘ki tov’. Every creature gets ‘ki tov’. But man himself, formed in G-d’s own image, the top of the pyramid, does not merit a ‘ki tov’!
The Sefer HaIkrim by Rav Yosef Albo discusses this matter: When an insect is created, it is possible to say, ‘It is good’. When an apple tree is created, it is possible to say, ‘It is good’. Concerning every creation in the world it is possible to say, ‘It is good’. The reason why is that when an elephant is created it has reached perfection. We do not expect anything more from that elephant. When an apple tree is created, it is perfect. We do not expect anything more from the apples. Everything is ‘good’ as created, except for man.
However, regarding man, it is not merely sufficient that he was created. That is only the beginning. He is far from perfect. We expect more from man. We wait a lifetime for man, because a man has to grow. He has to reach his potential. The apple tree, the bird, and the insect have all reached their potential on day one. But man is a vast bundle of potential that is waiting to grow, that is waiting to happen, that is waiting to blossom. We cannot say ‘ki tov’ yet. Maybe we can say ‘ki tov’ after 120 years, when that potential is finally reached, but not on the day of creation.
The Gemara in Berachos (17a) says: When the Rabbis used to take leave of each other, they gave themselves a blessing: “You should see your world in your lifetime” (olamecha tireh b’chayecha). What do these words mean? What kind of blessing is this?
Rav Shimon Schwab explains, the word ‘olamecha’ (“your world”) comes from the root he’elem (that which is hidden). He’elem is the word for potential. The blessing of “olamecha tireh b’chayecha” was that they should be able to see their own potential in their lifetime.
Divrei Torah for the Shabbos Table
The blessing was “Let us be able to say on you a ‘ki tov’, to see in you the potential that every human being has”. But this potential is never visible on day one.
I once heard a similar thought in the name of Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, zt” l. When Adam ate from the eitz hada’as [tree of knowledge], G-d gave everyone a curse. G-d cursed the snake. G-d cursed Chavah. But G-d said to Adam, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree that I forbade you to eat from, the earth will be cursed because of you; with pain you will eat from it, all the days of your life.”
Rav Shraga Feivel asks, the curse seems to be directed to man — that he would have to work hard to take food out from the earth. Why then does the Torah say that the earth will be cursed?
Rav Shraga Feivel answers that the earth received the worst curse of all. If it is hard to take the fruits out from the land, the earth cannot see its potential. That is the worst curse. “I cannot give forth my fruits.” To be unable to meet its potential, to have the potential but have it suppressed and inaccessible is an awesome curse.
Inability to see one’s potential is a curse for mankind as well. The blessing that we should hope for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren is “olamecha tireh b’chayecha” — we should see our potential in our own lifetime. (R’ Frand)
