Before the beginning of God’s creating

There was nothing but God’s will.

There was harmony, peace,

Divine perfection and unity.

God was all knowing, all-powerful, all present, perfect,

and all alone.

There was no challenge, no change, no relationships,

No feelings, no creativity, no vision,

And no partner to love.

So God decided to create the heavens and the earth.

Not just space and time

Billions of galaxies over billions of years,

The laws of physics and math,

But also uncertainty, probability, and randomness

To evolve creatures with free will

To inspire, love, redeem and relate to.

In order to accomplish this God chose to self-limit.

To offer some of the Divine power, knowledge, freedom and creativity

To others, so they could learn, change, create and love.

Able to choose each other and God

In committed relationships- covenant partnerships.

It would be hard on God

And on the creatures created in God’s image.

There would be competition, cooperation and consciousness;

Growth and decay, good and evil, love and hate,

War and peace, success and failure, illness and health,

Mitsvot and malice.

Yet God created our world and saw that it was good

And added blessings, holiness and Shabbat

So that it would be very good.

                                                                              by Rabbi MallerRabbi Allen S. Maller