Role Models: The Almighty
Many people find the subject of G-d difficult. It is more in the realm of Faith than Religion. That is why I actually find it refreshing. People often feel more comfortable with details than the big picture but there is no point to religion if G-d is not the essence.
We begin the Torah with the ultimate role model: the Creator Himself. But how can we Bh possibly learn from a G-d whose nature is beyond our understanding? Perhaps the answer lies not in what G-d is, but in what He does.
Most weeks, when I write about a role model, I write about a person. Someone who displayed courage under pressure, demonstrated leadership or whose life offers lessons worth learning.
This week is different.
We are starting the Torah cycle with Bereshit, the story of creation. So it seems fitting to begin with the ultimate role model, G-d Himself.
That may sound like an impossible choice. Judaism does not teach that we can become G-d or fully understand Him. Quite the opposite. G-d is infinite; we are finite. He sees the entirety of creation; we struggle to see beyond the horizon.
Yet the more I read Bereshit, the more I am struck by how little the Torah tells us about what G-d is and how much it tells us about what G-d does and wants.
He creates. He gives. He entrusts humanity with freedom. He holds us accountable. And even after Adam and Eve disobey Him, He clothes them before they leave the Garden.
Perhaps that is itself the lesson. Human beings spend enormous amounts of time arguing about theology. The Torah begins by showing us divine action.
And that gives us something to aspire to.
Many ask, including Rashi, why the Torah starts with Bereshit. One answer is the Jewish right to the Land but another is a very simple message we should all hear. Both Jews about their fellow Jews and all of us about all of us.
The Torah also begins with a universal story. Before Abraham, before Sinai, before there is even a Jewish people, there is G-d, creation and humanity.
One of the earliest statements about humanity is among the most powerful in all of scripture:
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ
“And G-d created humankind in His image.” (Genesis 1:27)
Every human being. Not just Jews. Not just those who agree with us or live as we do.
Rabbi Akiva develops this idea further in the Mishnah:
חביב אדם שנברא בצלם
“Beloved is man, for he was created in the image of G-d.” (Pirkei Avot 3:14)
Notice the word adam. Humanity. Every person possesses inherent dignity because every person bears something of the Divine image. That dignity is not something we grant to others because we approve of them. It is something they already possess.
Far from weakening Judaism, I believe this deepens it.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch expressed this powerfully:
“The more the Jew is a Jew, the more universalist will his views and aspirations be.”
That is a remarkable statement. Many assume that the stronger one’s Jewish identity becomes, the narrower one’s concern for the wider world should be. Rav Hirsch argued precisely the opposite.
Authentic Judaism should expand our vision, not shrink it.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks developed a related idea in The Dignity of Difference:
“The unity of [G-d] is to be found in the diversity of creation.”
Rabbi Sacks was not arguing that all beliefs are identical or that truth is relative. He remained unwaveringly committed to Torah Judaism. His point was that if G-d is infinite, no finite human being can fully comprehend Him.
We can possess conviction without arrogance. We can remain deeply committed to our faith while recognising the dignity of those whose beliefs differ from ours.
That feels particularly relevant in an age where political, religious and social divisions seem to dominate everything. Bereshit reminds us that before all those divisions, we were all created by the same G-d.
But being created in G-d’s image does not mean being created perfect.
And, let’s be fair, the first human characters who kick off the story of the world are hardly ideal role models themselves. Adam and Eve disobey G-d’s explicit prohibition. Cain murders his brother. If this were a recruitment exercise for humanity’s founding leadership team, I suspect the interviews would not have gone particularly well.
Yet perhaps that is precisely the point.
G-d gives humanity the freedom to choose, including the freedom to make terrible choices. Humanity’s story begins not with perfection, but with disobedience, responsibility and consequences.
We are not programmed to do good. We are challenged to choose it.
Since developing PSP, I have become increasingly conscious of the distinction between control and responsibility. There is so much I can no longer control, including some of the neurological and behavioural changes that now affect me. Even my ability to choose how I respond is not always as straightforward as it once was. Yet I still try to take responsibility for those responses where I can, and for learning from them when I get things wrong.
Reading Bereshit reminds me that human imperfection and the challenge of responsibility have been with us from the very beginning.
But there is another lesson which brings me back to G-d as our role model, and which the Gemara in Sotah 14a expresses beautifully.
The Gemara asks how it is possible for a human being to walk in G-d’s ways. After all, how can a finite human being imitate the infinite Creator?
The answer is wonderfully practical. Just as G-d clothed Adam and Eve, so should we clothe those in need. Just as He visited the sick, so should we visit the sick. Just as He comforted mourners, so should we comfort mourners.
The lesson is not that we can become G-d. It is that we can strive to imitate His actions.
And notice where the Gemara’s first example comes from. Bereshit. Even after humanity’s first act of disobedience, G-d demonstrates care.
That is a powerful role model.
We cannot create a universe, but we can create opportunities. We cannot give life as G-d does, but we can enrich the lives of others. We cannot fully comprehend divine justice, but we can strive to act justly.
And most importantly, if we genuinely believe that every person was created in G-d’s image, we have to behave as though we believe it.
That is the difficult part.
It is relatively easy to speak about human dignity when discussing people we like or agree with. It is considerably harder when dealing with people whose beliefs or actions we find deeply objectionable. Especially as we approach an election season, we must resist the arrogance that dismisses different perspectives out of hand. We are all imperfect works in progress, attempting to navigate a complex world. Disagreement does not erase humanity.
We cannot claim to honour the Creator while casually dismissing the dignity of His creations.
So why choose G-d as a role model this week?
Because Bereshit takes us back to first principles. Humanity was created with dignity, freedom was given alongside responsibility, and even the first human beings, who made rather a mess of things almost immediately, were not abandoned.
We are not expected to be perfect. We are expected to recognise our responsibilities, learn from our mistakes and use whatever freedom we have to make the world a little better.
Most weeks, my role model is a person. This week, at the beginning of the Torah and the beginning of the story, it seems fitting to start where the Torah itself starts.
With the Almighty.
