Ran Abbahu speaks of God having created and destroyed multiple worlds before creating the one we now inhabit (Bereishit Rabbah 3:7). Commenting on this midrash , Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik strikingly observes that “here we have God not only creating, as in the Biblical text, but also recreating, rebuilding after destructions.” Why is this important? Because, Rabbi Soloveitchik suggests, the way God is portrayed here is meant to teach us a profound ethical and spiritual lesson: “As God creates and recreates… so too, should [human beings] be ready to rebuild and reconstruct, even as previous structures collapse.” This is not easy, Soloveitchik admits: “To build initially is difficult, but to rebuild is even more challenging.” Faced with destruction and devastation, we are nevertheless “bidden to start over again with faith and resourcefulness, as God did. … This, then, is what the Torah requires of [human beings]: to act, to create and, when necessary, to recreate, ...
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