Creation and Destruction

I went to Israel for 3.5 weeks, to study in a seminary called Neve Yerushalayim and to visit family. I learned a crazy amount of knowledge in Neve and I am in love with the way of learning I was immersed in. So intelligent, deep, and philosophical... Perfect!

This post is based off a class I had with Rabbi Brown of Neve.
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How did G-d create the world?
There was no great flash of light, or sparkles clouding the earth. There wasn’t some big show, either…

G-d spoke, and the world was created. Through His words, creation came about.

Speech can create. Speech can also destroy.
Words of destruction, aka Lashon Hara, are then the complete antithesis of all G-d is. If you were trying to be the opposite of His kindness and power, good job! With these negative words, you’ve really done it.

The first temple was destroyed because of the Jews’ lowering themselves to doing the three cardinal sins: Immoral Relations, Idolatry, and Murder.

The second temple, however, was destroyed because of baseless hatred between the Jewish people, through Lashon hara. Aha! You see, those negative words brought about destruction! That’s because words are powerful, and can either create something beautiful, or destroy the world as we know it.

If this is the case, don’t you think we should watch ourselves more? This way of speaking, the negative words we say about things or people, that’s what destroyed the second temple! That’s why we still don’t have a temple now!

Just because we’re not all on the same level of observance, or even on the spectrum, does not give anybody the right to judge others based on their lack of or insufficiency of religious observance. Just because someone’s ancestors are from Spain and someone else is from Poland does not mean that a rift should be there.

Differences are just that, differences. G-d created us all in His image, but no one person is exactly the same. We were created with differences, put into unique life situations, and we should be grateful for that instead of looking at other people and judging. G-d knows what He’s doing; he created the world, He’s obviously had practice!