The World Was Created for the Sake of Torah
All for His Honor
Chazal said: הארץ ואת השמים את אלוקים ברא בראשית, the Ribbono shel Olam created the world בראשית, because of the Torah which is called ראשית. The entire purpose of creating the world was for the Torah, which is called reishis. Chazal also tell us that everything HaKadosh Baruch Hu created in This World was created for His honor. It is important to clarify the concept that the world was created for Torah. We have become accustomed to hearing these words—so much so that we don’t properly reflect on the deep meaning and wisdom hidden therein. And so, we must study this idea so that it will, we hope, impact our deeds.
Everything Has a Purpose
The Rambam, in his introduction to his Pirush HaMishnayos, writes, “The Kadmonim pondered a great philosophical question: What is the purpose of all the creations in the world? A person looks around him and sees billions of creations—each one of which is comprised of countless parts and components. What is the tachlis of Hashem having created all these creations?
The Rambam explains his question with the following parable: Suppose that a person is setting out to fashion a saw for cutting wood. He surely has his specifications in mind. The idea is to create something that will slice with ease, with speed, with precision.... How can I go about creating something that will meet these specifications? He thinks about this, and he comes up with a tool that has large, strong handles and large, strong teeth. This person thought first about the tachlis, the purpose, of what he wishes to accomplish—and then he set about creating a tool that would accomplish the objectives.
Million-Dollar Machines
Let us speak about our world: We tend to be familiar only with small appliances that are found in every home... a washing machine and dryer, an oven and a refrigerator, and so forth. But when we go into a large factory, we will find unfamiliar enormous machines, each of which can be worth millions of dollars—and there are similar machines dispersed in thousands of factories throughout the world.
We stand there in awe, wondering who innovated all these machines. But there are geniuses, engineers, and inventors who study these things, and spend their lives devising enormous machines—each of which has a different purpose.
What Is the Purpose of Billions of People?
Says the Rambam: The Ribbono shel Olam has created billions of creatures—each of which is far more sophisticated than the most complex and most advanced machine in the world—and it cannot be that He created them for no reason, for no one does anything without a reason. And so, the question is only: What is the purpose of all these creations we see around us?
The truth is that this question should really give us no rest. We have been turned into creatures of rote and habit such that these questions don’t bother us; we’re so immersed in our ta’avos that they don’t interest us. But it’s a great wonder. We serve Hashem, we learn, and we daven, and we never pause to think about this question: What is the purpose of these billions of creations? What were they created for? We live in communities in Eretz Yisrael, America, or Europe... and this is what we know. We don’t think about the millions of people in the Far East, in Africa, and other continents. For what purpose were they all created?
Only to Serve Me
Answers the Rambam: This much is clear: The categories of creation of חי, צומח, דומם inanimate (earth and rock), growing (produce and grass), and living (animals) are created to serve the category of מדבר, the species that speaks (humans). We see, for example, that animals serve humans in myriad ways—and the more we think about it, the more we realize that there are more and more ways in which humans are served by animals. Some uses can only be known through prophecy. Shlomo HaMelech, in his great wisdom, understood many of these uses. But we, even with our limited capacity to understand, don’t reflect enough upon these things. Throughout history, we have seen wise men who have contemplated these ideas, and they have through this meditation attained ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem.
Constant Discovery
When we look at fruits, vegetables, and plants, we see the same thing. They all have a purpose to serve man—many of them through their healing properties. The Rambam is saying an incredible thought: Look around and you will see that as the years go on, there are innovations on a constant basis—in which we discover uses and purposes for things which we never dreamed of earlier. The moment that HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides to do so, He gives people the wisdom to discover those purposes that were hidden until that moment. We see this especially in the world of medicine, where there are constant innovations for natural properties; for example, antibiotics, which were developed barely a century ago.
All this technology is based in creation. They sat there all along, and the Ribbono shel Olam designated a precise moment when they will be revealed so they can begin to serve humans. And when we see revelations and discoveries that didn’t exist fifty years ago, we can understand that in twenty years there will be discoveries that we can’t possibly fathom now.
This illustrates how every one of the billions of beings in creation has a purpose—some of which have already been revealed and some which have yet to be discovered.
The Purpose of Man
Having established that the חי, צומח, דומם all have a purpose—and that is to serve man—we come to the question of: What is the purpose for having created man himself? The Rambam explains that every being tends to have a special ability. For example, the spider has the ability to spin webs, and thereby it traps flies and insects. Every animal has a special ability.
When we look at humans, we will see that we have many talents and abilities—but the human mind, with its ability to understand things, is what sets Man apart from all other creations, and it is what earns him the status of being served by other creations.
The purpose of having created man with wisdom is for him to use his wisdom to search for the truth, acquire true wisdom, recognize Hashem, and know what to do in This World. When a person does so, he fulfills his purpose. The Rambam explains that the innate abilities in a person are divided in two: Some of his abilities are given to him so that he will discover things, while others are needed for his survival and to perpetuate the human race. But when we analyze it, according to philosophy, even a goy will agree that there is a reason that other creatures must serve man—the pinnacle of creation—and that the purpose of man is to dedicate himself to wisdom and intelligence. This is the only thing that sets us apart from the other creatures. Our lives can’t be about pursuing pleasure, for then we would be no different from the animals.
And so, the purpose of all creatures is to serve man—and the purpose of man is for his wisdom to lead him to discover and recognize his Creator and to know how to serve Him (for wisdom without deeds is worthless).
