World 2.0

I was recently sharing rabbi experiences with an old friend of mine.  We had both been through the many changes that had taken place both in society in general, as well as changes specific to the Jewish world. It was not difficult for us to agree that the world of our early rabbinates was nothing like the world we now live in.  We were now living, as it were, in World 2.0, while we grew up in World 1.0.

He relayed a story to me – true or not, it does not matter.  A rabbi was waiting to begin a gravesite funeral, and a gentleman approached him and asked if the rabbi knew the Wi-Fi of the cemetery. The rabbi was outraged and responded, “The Wi-Fi of the cemetery? Have some respect for the dead!”  The gentleman answered, “Is that all in lower case?”

Indeed, we are in a different world.

But the Torah, in the incredibly well known story of Noah, is telling us that this is exactly what we must expect.  The Torah starts with the creation of the world.  And Noah tells of the re-creation of the world.  The parallels are subtle, but they are there, nonetheless.

Before the creation starts there is a wind of God blowing over the waters.  When the flood ends, it is a wind from God that blows the water away.  Next in the creation God separates the waters that were above the horizon from those which were below the horizon.  When God causes the flood to cease, the waters from above and the waters from below are both stopped up.  Next in the creation is the formation of dry land, and it is the dry land that first appears after the flood.  The creation concludes with birds, beasts and people populating the earth, and as the ark is opened, the beasts and people follow the birds to inhabit the land.

Halpern’s Rule #18 – There Are No Coincidences.  This is not a coincidence.

The story of Noah is a story about the re-creation of the world.  But it is not the only re-creation.  The world has been re-created many, many times.

But there is one more subtle message about this in the Torah. In the Noah story as the flood begins, God closes up the ark.  The world that God created, World 1.0, is about to end.  When the flood waters have receded, Noah opens up the ark and re-populates the world.  World 2.0, and every other variation of the world, will now be created by people.

A Midrash tells the story of God showing Adam and Eve around the Garden.  God tells them that many worlds have been created before, but this is the last one.  If they do not take care of this world, he says, there will be no one to repair it.  Noah was World 2.0.  We continue to re-create.  Unless we are careful, we could re-create World Last, and nothing will be left for any future re-creation.

B’Shalom
Rabbi Stanley Halpern