Playing by the Game Rules

My daughter received a board game as a gift over the holidays. She excitedly opened the package and immediately started reading the game rules.

“Why don’t you make up your own rules?” I asked her.

She rolled her eyes at me. “It doesn’t work that way, Totty! The game is only fun when you play the way the game makers decided. Otherwise, the board and pieces won’t make any sense!”

I couldn't argue with that.

This week we completed a full cycle of learning Torah and started from the beginning. Reading the opening words of the Torah describing creation an obvious question presents itself. Why must we learn about creation in a book meant to be a guidebook to Jewish life?

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, the 12th century sage popularly known as “Rashi,” wrote a commentary on the Torah which has been unanimously accepted as the gold standard of understanding the original Torah text for many centuries.

In his opening entry Rashi goes so far as to suggest that the first thirteen portions of the Torah are seemingly inconsistent with the purpose of the Torah as a Jewish code of law.

Here is how he answers this fundamental question:

For if the nations of the world should say to Israel, “You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan],” they (Israel) will reply, "The entire earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it (this we learn from the story of Creation) and gave it to whomever He deemed proper. When He wished, He gave it to them, and when He wished, He took it away from them and gave it to us.

Rashi lived in medieval France in the era of the Crusades. There was no Jewish autonomy in the land of Israel at the time and the typical five year old child studying Torah was unlikely to encounter this condemnation throughout his lifetime. So how is this explanation relevant?

Because the premise of the argument over Israel's ownership appears in many formats. Why is one day a week different from the rest? Why is this food permitted to some and forbidden to others?

Starting the narrative at Genesis helps circumvent 99% of the frustrations the Torah student will inevitably have. Why are the rules so invasive? Why are there instructions for every detail of life? Must I really follow standards that make no sense to me?

At the very beginning of G-d’s communication to humanity He presents His credentials and frames the Torah for what it truly is. As the Creator, He is gifting us the opportunity to live according to the standards found in the blueprint of the universe.

Like playing the game by the rules.

When understood properly and presented appropriately, this perspective will resonate not only in our private lives but on the geopolitical stage as well.