Articles, Papers, and Talks
AJR Science D’var Torah Prize Winners
2022 Winner: Parshat Bereshit: The Creation of Ability by Carl Sayres
We’re accustomed to thinking about the six days of creation as the story of God creating the world and everything in it. But I’d like to suggest another way to look at the story of creation. That in six days, God created abilities. Think about that for a moment, we all have abilities of various kinds, and some of us have challenges with certain abilities. But the abilities themselves didn’t exist before the creation of the world, because abilities only have context in the world. So in creating the world, God created abilities.
On the first day, God famously declares “Let there be light!” … And there was sight! Sight doesn’t have any meaning or any context without light. We could have a lens, a cornea, a retina, and it would have no purpose. We would wonder why there were these round marbles in our faces. It’s only in the presence of light that our eyes have any meaning. And in creating light, God provided the resource for such an important ability for us. Not all of us have the ability of sight. Some of us may have partial sight, or even no sight at all, living in complete darkness. It’s interesting that the Torah does not describe the creation of darkness. Darkness apparently already existed, but God separated the light from the darkness and he gave them names – Day and Night. And humans, and all sorts of life, have evolved organs called eyes which can detect the light which God created. Eyes are extremely useful in the Day. Not so much in the Night. The separation of the light from the darkness defines a time where sighted people have a tremendous advantage. And it also defines a time in which the ability to see has no advantage. In the darkness, those with sight become afraid. Their dependence on sight compromises their ability to function. And perhaps those without sight, who are accustomed to functioning without light, find an advantage in the Night.
On the second day, God creates an expanse between the water above and the water below. He names this expanse Sky. In doing this, God creates our ability to hear. Without the atmosphere that surrounds us, sound has no meaning. As the water below moves, vibrations propagate through the air that fills the expanse. And the water above, with all sorts of phenomenon – wind, rain, lightning – cause all varieties of sound. And humans, and all sorts of life, have evolved organs called ears which can detect the vibrations that exist only in this expanse which God created. We know today that if we travel outside of the expanse, above our atmosphere, there is no sound. It simply doesn’t have any meaning in a vacuum. Sound does have meaning for many animals that live in the water below, but human hearing is very poor at detecting sound in water. Each of us have different amounts hearing, and some of us have no hearing at all. And other animals that God created have hearing abilities far different than humans. Hearing different frequency ranges, or using hearing for echo location or sonar. Everything is relative – to a bat or a dolphin, all humans are quite hearing disabled! To such animals, hearing provides a detailed visual depiction of the world around them. They take for granted an ability that we humans can barely comprehend.
On the third day, God gathers the waters below together to expose dry land. And God causes the land to be filled with vegetation, seed bearing plants and fruit trees. God is creating the fundamental abilities which we may take for granted, but that all life depends on – photosynthesis and sexual reproduction. God doesn’t just create plants. God explicitly creates seed bearing plants and fruit trees. In creating the system of stamens (male) and pistils (female), combined with the wind (see the 2nd day), God creates the ability for life to cross-breed and evolve. In doing this, God creates the ability for every life to be truly unique and express itself independently. And in filling the earth with fruit trees and pollenating plants, God creates the ability to smell. Our olfactory system has no meaning, no context, if the expanse is not filled with pollen.
On the fourth day, God creates lights in the Sky above the expanse – the stars, Sun and Moon. And God explicitly states that their purpose is to set the cycles of time – days, months, seasons, years. God creates the ability to understand the passing of time – to understand causation – what comes before and what comes after. This may seem like such an obvious skill that it wouldn’t even be considered an ability. But some of us have tremendous difficulty with this. My own son, who just turned 13 years old, has very little understanding of the passing of time. He can’t comprehend causation. If you do A, then you will get B. It doesn’t matter how badly he wants B, he can’t understand causation enough to do A.
On the fifth day, God fills the Water with fish and the Sky with birds. Swarms of creatures which will employ the abilities that were created in the previous four days in order to survive. God blesses them, and commands them to be fertile and increase. Though this is not stated, God has created ecosystems and food chains. In order for these life forms to be fertile and increase, they will need to eat. They will eat the plants and the fruit, and they will also eat each other. And they will require an ability to know which foods are good to eat and which are not. God has created taste.
On the sixth day, God fills the land with animals, and also creates humans in God’s image. These animals employ all of the abilities that were previously created. They have one additional need. The land is vast, and animals need to be able to move around in order to find food and shelter. They also need to move in order to find each other for companionship and in order to reproduce. God has created the ability of locomotion. This is such a critical ability for most land animals. Those who lose it, quickly perish. But what about humans, created in God’s image? It is only in the case of human civilization, when people’s ability of locomotion is compromised, that we provide ways for them to live full lives. Perhaps that is the meaning of being created in God’s image. That we have the ability to affect change in the world. We are not helpless in the face of the cruelty of nature. An animal with a broken limb or born with a congenital abnormality has little chance of survival. But humans have created a society where we can thrive, even with disabilities.
And then came the seventh day. God ceased work. Creation was finished. Or was it?
On the seventh day, God created rest. This is an ability which is so critical to all life. And when we are unable to rest, it impairs our lives. Sleep apnea is a debilitating disability. And in the extreme, those who cannot sleep, die.
In giving us Shabbat, God also created the ability to experience joy and pleasure. To experience the beauty of all of creation. To have time to meditate and study Torah. These abilities are shared by all people, each in our own way, and each regardless of how able we are in other ways. God saw that all he created on the first six days was good. And that includes us, created in God’s image, with all of our abilities and disabilities.
Articles and Papers
D’var Torah on Sitting/Standing for Kaddish
by Jeff Hoffman
This d’var torah was presented to the students at AJR on February 22, 2010
Read D’var Torah
To a Land that I Will Show You: Training Rabbis for the Future
by David Greenstein
This essay was commissioned by the journal, Teaching Theology & Religion, Published by Blackwell Publishing in Cooperation with the Wabash Center for Teaching Learning in Theology and Religion. It was included in the April 2006 issue. (www.blackwell-synergy.com)
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By the Sweat of Your Brow: Approaching Kashrut from a Pluralistic Perspective
by David Greenstein
This essay is posted with permission from the journal Conservative Judaism, where it was first published in the Fall 2003 (56:1) issue.
Download pdf
What is a M’qom Torah – A Place of Torah?
by David Greenstein
A written version of a presentation given to the student body of AJR outlining a theological foundation for pluralism, February, 2001.
Read Presentation
Lectures and Talks
D’var Torah on Sitting/Standing for Kaddish
by Jeff Hoffman
This d’var torah was presented to the students at AJR on February 22, 2010.
Read D’var Torah
B’tzelem Elohim-Continuing Education Certificate
All We Have is Our Body: Nishmat and the Body as the Source of Praise to God
Rabbi Jeff Hoffman
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Reading Materials:
Preliminary Chart of Nishmat (Hebrew only)
Preliminary Chart of Nishmat (Hebrew and English)
Berakhot 54a
Berakhot 59b
Pesachim 117b-118a
Mahzor Vitry
Final Chart of Nishmat Kol Hai
Tallit and Tefillin: Binding OUrselves to God’s Body
Rabbi Jill Hammer
January 19, 2010
Texts for session
Bodies and Boundaries: Chaos and Order in Jewish and Chrisitian Embodiment.
Jay Michaelson
February 2, 2010
AJR Bodies and Boundaries.doc
Spring 5768 Intensive
Schedule
Community Audit
Staying Connected Shiur
Hazzan Ram’n Tasat
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Materials:
Adon Olam
Adon HaSelihot
Deror Ykera
El Adon
Ki Hine kaHomer
Lekha Dodi
Presentation on ‘Parashat Vayigash: Love, Loss and Reconciliation’ at The Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning, as part of their on-going series, ‘AfterWords:New Perspectives on the Weekly Torah Portion.’
Rabbi David Greenstein
Thursday, December 13, 2007
To listen to a podcast of the talk, please click here and select AfterWords 009-Vayigash. To listen you must have iTunes on your computer. It is a free download.
Staying Connected Shiur
Rabbi Jill Hammer
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Reading Materials:
Sukkot and Its Message for the Earth
Staying Connected Shiur
Rabbi David Greenstein
Monday, February 5, 2007
Reading Materials:
Top 15 Biblical Ways to Acquire a Wife
Ketubot 7a-7b (English)
Ketubot 7b (Hebrew)
Ketubot 8a (Hebrew)
Nedarim 20a-b (English)
Nedarim 20a(Hebrew)
Nedarim 20b (Hebrew)
Rambam: The Book of Holiness (English, pp 134-135)
Rambam: The Book of Holiness (English, pp 136-137)
Rambam: The Book of Holiness (Hebrew)
Staying Connected Shiur
Rabbi Jeff Hoffman
Monday, January 12, 2010
Reading Materials:
Final Chart of Nishmat Kol Hai
Berakhot 59b
Mahzor Vitry
Pesachim 117b-118a
Preliminary Chart of Nishmat (Hebrew only)
Preliminary Chart of Nishmat (Hebrew and English)
