A recipe for creation

My take on this portion is to examine that many concepts associated with creating something new: an idea, a piece of art, telling a story… Hashem gives us the blueprint for walking through our own creations which are inevitably based on this example of studying a problem and finding a solution with grace and beauty.

Read the Torah portion from the URJ. (More)

For another point of view, here is a Chabad version, (More)

Recipe for Creation

Steps nesessary for any creative project by example

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Instructions

Let there be light
Light is good. Separate light from dark. Call light day and dark night. (End Day 1)
With all this light, it became obvious that there needed more to make day and night better. Create sky. (End Day 2)
What is this under the water? Pull the water together so the stuff under it can dry out. Wet stuff called seas. Dry stuff is now land.
Land boring. Add vegetation generously. Make self sustaining by letting fruits produce seeds to make more plants. (End Day 3)
Create a big Ball of Bright (BoB) and not so big Ball of not so Bright (BonsB). Assign Bob to daytime duty and BonsB to night shift. These big orbs in the sky will be used to count days and years. (End Day 4)
Vegetation doesn’t move much. Time to add sea creatures and bird. Tell them to multiply. (End Day 5)
Add land creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts. “You guys rule over the sea and sky creatures.”
Create something inspired by your own magnificence. Call it man. (End Day 6)
Rest it is important.

Notes

So, God enjoyed making stuff. I think there are many ways reasons to examine the steps that were taken in creation. As God examined the problem, God saw each step offered another opportunity to further advance the creation of the world.

Quoting Julian K. Jarboe from Everyone on the Moon Is Essential Personnel “God blessed me by making me transsexual for the same reason he made wheat but not bread and fruit but not wine: so that humanity might share in the act of creation.”

For so many people, an act of creation brings a lot of joy. For many transpeople, this act of creation may come with many perils but at the end of the journey (as determined by the individual’s experience) it is worth it. I’d like us to consider how can when we create, we learn and grow. When we help someone else create, we share joy and also grow, possibly even more.