I just listened to Phil Chernofsky's OU Torah Tidbits show (
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/2571 ) this evening and learned a little something new...
The Talmud teaches us that Hashem created worlds before he created this world, Phil stated the # 973 worlds {but I have not been able to find a reference to this}.
This information is helpful in trying to understand some things like dinosaurs and fossils, etc. Phil didn't explore the concept very deeply but I thought about discussing this here.
Here is an article which talks about this idea:
http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5763/bereishis.html
The Paradigm of "If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Try Again"
The pasuk says, "And G-d saw all that He created and behold (hinei) it was very good" [Bereshis 1:31]. The Medrash explains that G-d created worlds and then destroyed them until he created this world. This is the implication of the world 'Hinei' [behold], which implies that all of a sudden, G-d created a world that was good (so he did not destroy it).
The simple reading of this Medrash is that G-d engaged in a number of 'trial runs' until He finally "got it right" and created a world with which He was happy. It is described as if there was an architect at a drawing table with a large pad. He drew out some plans that he did not like. So he ripped off the paper, crumpled it up, threw it in the garbage, and started over again. "Back to the drawing board!"
This obviously would be heresy and is clearly not what the Medrash is saying. I saw an interesting insight into this Medrash in the name of Rav Soloveitchik, zt"l. Rav Soloveitchik stated that every parsha in the Torah is coming to teach us a lesson. However, the description of Creation (ma'aseh Bereshis) is so obscure and so incomprehensible that one must wonder what its inclusion in the Torah could possibly teach.
Even after reading the account of creation, we still do not understand what happened. It is clearly not a historical account. The account of creation seems very imprecise to us. So what are we supposed to learn from it?
Rav Soloveitchik taught that there is a mitzvah in the Torah called "Mah hu, af attah" (Imitatio Dei -- Just as is with Him; so too it shall be with you). A person must try to emulate G-d. We make a mistake by thinking that the command of "You shall walk in His ways" [Devorim 28:9] is limited to the attributes of compassion and mercy [Shabbat 133b] or to certain very specific acts of kindness (e.g. - burying the dead; clothing the naked, etc.) [Sotah 14a]. Rav Soloveitchik said that "Mah hu, af attah" is a much broader concept than that.
The story of Creation teaches us that G-d is a creator of worlds. But the Medrash is teaching us that one can create worlds and they can be failures, but one should not become discouraged. One should start over and do it again until he succeeds. G-d specifically created worlds and destroyed them -- not because He could not get it right the first time. Rather, He wanted to show us mortals how difficult it sometimes is to create something. Sometimes one can exert effort for a good part of one's life and then realize that the product of his efforts has been a flop. The tendency is to throw up one's hands in despair and proclaim, "I've had it!" The Master of the World, therefore, did something "totally out of character" for Him -- He goofed! Not, Heaven Forbid, out of incompetence; but rather because He wanted to give us the paradigm of not getting it right the first time. Failure should not inhibit our creativity and should not inhibit our ambition. We each must become 'creators of worlds' in our own limited capacities. If our creations fail, so be it. We can follow G-d's example and try it again.
Who was the first 'person' to say, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again"? It was, as it were, G-d Himself. That is the lesson of the Medrash that G-d created worlds and destroyed them.
Topic: Insight into Noach : Previous Worlds Destroyed (Read 2104 times)