Published October 18, 2009
The parsha teaches us that it is incumbent on Man “to replenish the earth and to subdue it” (B’reishit 1:28). The purpose of this obligation was to establish the earth in its entirety as a sanctuary for the Divine presence, similar to what the Jewish People would subsequently build in the desert. The earth would be ruled by Man and through him by those G-dly attributes that give Man his identity as he who was created in G-d’s image.
“Rabbi Shmuel bar Abba said: G-d yearned for a home on earth just as he has one in the Heavens. For so he told Adam: ‘if you succeed, just as I am king in the Heavens I will make you king down below’”. Adam sinned thus failing in his task. This task was transferred to the Jewish People upon their redemption from Egypt: “you have left Egypt for the purpose of building me a sanctuary that I may rest my Divine Presence among you” (Tanhuma B’chukotai 5).
As Rambam makes clear, the world is not subdued by individuals but rather by nations. “Man is naturally a social/political being; by virtue of his nature he seeks to form communities” (Guide to the Perplexed II 40). It is the leadership of these national communities that legislates values binding the individual members despite their disparate natures. These communities, characterized by the values that obligate each of them, form civilizations. Only these civilize and “subdue” the territories of the world.
Thus the all-encompassing aim of Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and Moshe throughout their lives was to create a nation that would know G-d and that would serve Him (Guide III 51). Only a nation - not the Patriarchs themselves - could “subdue the earth” under the reign of a national civilization committed to those ideals that make Man “tzelem Elokim”, created in G-d’s image. To achieve its goal, writes Rav Kook, this nation needs “a political state… so that it will be known that not just wise and exceptional individuals… can be sustained by the light of the Divine ideal, but entire nations - that include all strata of human society” (Orot p.104).
Jews in the Land of Israel participate in a national Jewish life that cannot exist in the exile. This national aspect of Jewish life enables Man to work toward meeting his obligation of making the earth a sanctuary for the Divine presence.
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