Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

19
Bereishit
The Greatest Partnership of All
Rav Jake Vidomlanski
W e are conditioned from a young age to assume that anything related to grammar
and detail is by definition boring and uninspiring. However, in this week’s parasha,
if we are willing to suspend our grammar bias the payoff can be great. When God
decides to create the human species the Torah introduces the creation of man with
the following words: “Let us make man” (1:26). In those four words there is a vexing
grammatical question: God is a single entity and He alone is the Creator; the Torah
should have written “I shall make man.” The use of the word “us” seems out of place.
Rashi was sensitive to the seemingly out of place use of the word “us” and suggested
that what we have here is a lesson in humility. Although all of creation was orchestrated
by God and God alone, nevertheless Hashem did not want the angels to feel like they
were unimportant or insignificant. People may draw a wrong conclusion about the
nature of creation and perhaps assume there is more than one creator, Heaven forbid,
but nevertheless Hashem felt sensitivity to others, and the need to avoid hurt feelings
is paramount. He therefore said “Let us make man” even at the risk of giving people
the wrong impression about creation.
There is another explanation brought by the “Yismach Moshe” and quoted by Rav
Baruch Simon in his book (Imrei Baruch) on Bereishis. Generally speaking when an
object is being fashioned one can point to two stages in the evolution of that which
is being created; initial completion and ultimate completion. For example, if I am a
contractor and I build a home, when the construction is over we would regard that