Partners with G-d in Creation

11/11/22

Watching elections always fascinates me. Regardless of how different the platforms and parties may be, every politician states that it is their intention to correct the country's issues and make America a better place.

In Jewish terminology, this idea is referred to as Tikkun Olam. The world is not perfect, and we must fix it, leaving it better than it was when we came in.

But I'd like to ask a simple and obvious question:

Why would God create a world that is blemished and needs our fixing? Or, to put it differently, isn't the fact that the world contains suffering, negativity, pain—imperfection—proof that God did not create it? After all, if God really did create the world, wouldn't he create a perfect one?

So here's a little thought based on an essay I read this week from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Schneerson:

If the world had been created in perfect shape, and we were constantly happy, content, had what we needed, and there were no looming crises, there would be a tremendous downside: while we would perhaps be living in a "perfect world," we would be reduced to being mere creatures.

We would be recipients, but we would not be providers. We would be creations but not creators.

But God, creating man in his image, wanted us to be Godlike. We are to be creators.

So He created a fractured world, leaving it to us to mend and repair. And thus, in the words of the Talmud, "God made us his partners in the creation." Opportunities to create a better world for ourselves and others are an expression of God's calling on us to become his partners in creation!

So when we see someone suffering, or we find something in need of fixing, it is not proof of God's failure, but of his will that we heal the fractured world He created, and in so doing, that we become His partners in creation.

When we labor for our livelihood, help alleviate someone's pain, feed the poor, heal the sick, or bring spirituality into a world devoid of it, we behave as Godlike as we can: we become creators.