Rabbi Ackerman's Blog
Rabbi David Ackerman
10/05/2010 - Bashevis Singer on God & Creativity
Browsing has its benefits. And the Beth Am Israel library collection, housed in the chapel, turns out to be a superb spot in which to browse. Last week, in search of something else [the specifics of which I no longer remember] I came across a collection of stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer that I had never seen called "Gifts." Singer's introduction to the volume, published in 1985, took my breath away. In just a few pages he traces both his own growth as a writer along with a truly stunning theology that focuses on God as creator. In this week between the great creation saga of Bereshit and the renewal of that creation in Noah, I'd like to share some of the famous Yiddish writer's words with you.
"God was for me an eternal belletrist. His main attribute was creativity. God was creativity, and what He created was made of the same stuff as He and shared His desire: to create again. I quoted to myself that passage from the Midrash which says God created and destroyed many worlds before he created this one. Like my brother [the writer IJ Singer] and myself God threw His unsuccessful works into the wastebasket. The Flood, the destruction of Sodom, the wanderings of the Jews in the desert, the wars of Joshua - these were all episodes in a divine novel, full of suspense and adventure. Yes, God was a creator, and that which He created had a passion to create. Each atom, each molecule had creative needs and possibilities. The sun, the planets, the fixed stars, the whole cosmos seethed with creativity and creative fantasies. I could feel this turmoil within myself."
And if that weren't beautiful enough, Singer, near the end of his little essay adds this:
"God creates continuously, and continuous creation is Man's destiny, too. God, like the artist, is free. Like the artist's His work cannot be predetermined. Laws are aesthetic and ethical and therefore bound to change. Continual change is their very essence. Beauty is their purpose. God's fantasy is their limit. God, like the artist, never knows clearly what He will do and how His work will develop. Only the intention is clear: to bring out a masterpiece and to improve it all the time. I have once called God a struggling artist. This continual aspiration is what men call suffering. In this system emotions are not passive, as in Spinoza's philosophy. God Himself is emotion. God thinks and feels. Compassion and beauty are two of His endless attributes..."
Wow! May the seething creativity within each of us yield endless compassion and beauty.
On 10/07/2010 Marc Slovak said...
On Sunday's when I attend minyan in our chapel/library I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be nice if all of these books were cataloged and that catalog be available on our website." I know how to do that however I just don't have the time to enter all of the data for the books. If we could muster a team of helpers to do some data entry I would be happy to create such an index. If you're interested in a project like this let me know.
Marc
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03/31/2013 - Pesah and the Language of Longing (Most Recent)02/15/2013 - Rabbi David Hartman z"l
01/18/2013 - MLK Friday Night Welcome
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04/20/2011 - Pesah 5771
02/25/2011 - Shabbat Vayakhel
11/22/2010 - Thinking About the Big Stuff
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10/05/2010 - Bashevis Singer on God & Creativity (Current display)
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