“G-d blessed the seventh day and He sanctified it...” (Bereishis 2:3)
The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh writes that Hashem created the world with energy to only exist for six days. When Hashem created Shabbos, the soul of the world, it infused the world with energy to exist for another six days. [This is what the pasuk means that Hashem completed His work of creation on Shabbos even though he didn’t create anything new on Shabbos. On Shabbos he gave everything that was already created the ability to exist for another week.]
Ohr Hachaim continues that in order for the blessing of Shabbos to take effect there must be those who observe Shabbos and accept its sanctity upon themselves. Since the world was created there has always been at least one person who observed Shabbos – Adam, Shes, Mesushelach, Noach, Avrohom, etc. This pattern of the world being renewed and reinvigorated each Shabbos has repeated itself every single week since the beginning of creation, and continues to do so.
This is what Chazal mean, “Whoever recites ‘Vayichulu’ becomes a partner with Hashem in creation”. By accepting upon one’s self the sanctity of Shabbos one gives the entire universe an infusion of energy to exist for another week. In that sense he has partnered with the Creator Himself who is only able to renew the world if we accept the kedusha of Shabbos.
The words of the Ohr Hachaim are absolutely mind-boggling. When we sit at our Shabbos tables each week singing zemiros and relating divrei Torah in the glow of the Shabbos iicht and its hallowed aura, we are literally elevating the entire world and giving all of creation the ability to exist for the coming week!
In the beginning (bereishit) G-d created the heaven and the earth (1:1)
Our Sages tell us that the entire world was created solely for the sake of the two things that are called "reishit" ("first") - Israel (the Jewish people) and the Torah. Speaking about the Messianic Era, the Prophet Isaiah said, "The nation and the kingdom that does not serve you will be destroyed." When Moshiach comes the nations of the world will lend aid and support to the Jewish people, recognizing that their very existence depends on their service; those who refuse to accept their subservient position will disappear from the face of the earth. (Likutei Sichot)
In the beginning... (1:1) From the Midrash
Rabbi Eliezer bar Chanina said in the name of Rav Acha: For 26 generations [from Adam to Moshe] the letter aleph complained before Hashem's throne. She said, "Master of the Universe! I am the first of the letters, but you did not create Your world with me." [The first word in the Torah, "Bereishit," begins with the second letter, bet.] Hashem responded: The entire world and everything in it were created for the Torah. In the future I will give the Torah at Sinai and I will begin with you, as it is written, "Anochi" / "I am Hashem." (Bereishit Rabbah, ch. 1) R' Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman z"l (1868-1953; rabbi in Glasgow and London; father-in-law of Israeli Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Herzog z"l) explains this midrash as follows: Ordinarily one would have a purpose in mind for a building before he begins to build the building. One does not usually gather the materials and build the building before determining what the purpose of the building will be. In this sense, the purpose of a building can be called its "aleph" and the construction of the building its "bet." The world, too, was created for a purpose, i.e., so that man could keep the Torah's laws. That was (and is) the "aleph" of the world. Yet, Hashem waited 26 generations before giving the Torah. For 26 generations, man did not know what the world's purpose was. For 26 generations, the "aleph," the purpose, was ignored and the "bet," the construction of the world, was given primacy. Why? R' Hillman explains that just as Torah cannot be taught to a newborn baby, so the earliest generations could not receive the Torah. True, some individuals, for example Avraham, did discover the world's purpose and did keep the Torah even before it was given, just as some precocious children may be prepared to learn before their contemporaries are. However, not until 26 generations of development and maturity had been attained was the world as a whole ready for the Torah. (Derashot Ohr Hayashar)
And G-d blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it (1:28)
The birth of a Jewish child brings joy not only to his parents and extended family but to the entire Jewish people, for it signifies a step closer to the coming of Moshiach. The Talmud states that Moshiach will not arrive until "all the souls in guf" (the storehouse in which they await their descent into the physical world) have been born. The birth of a Jewish baby therefore hastens the Redemption and brings closer the blessings of the Messianic Era. (The Rebbe)
