Bereishit With Hashem
Our world was not the first draft. The Midrash says God built worlds and took them down until He made this one.
מלמד שהיה בורא עולמות ומחריבן, עד שברא את אלו, אמר דין הנין לי, יתהון לא הנין לי
This teaches that He kept creating worlds and destroying them, until He created these and said: this one pleases Me, those did not please Me.
Rabbi Abahu, Bereishit Rabbah 3:7
A partner in the act of Creation
Twice the Gemara gives a human being the title shutaf laKadosh Baruch Hu b’ma’aseh Bereishit, a partner of the Holy One in the act of Creation. The first is a judge who judges truthfully, even for one hour (Shabbat 10a). The second is anyone who says Vayechulu on Friday night.
וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכָל צְבָאָם
The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host.
Bereishit 2:1, with Rav Hamnuna in Shabbat 119b
The Kol Tehom reading
This is the reading of Kol Tehom, Book 3 (N-Door). A soul refines its infinitely unique light through a thousand lifetimes, and the training has a purpose. The purpose is Bereishit itself: building a world together with God.
Every soul is infinitely unique, so every world built this way will be unique too. Where the Sages disagree, N-Door holds that both sides are correct, each one right for the universe it will be used to build. Each soul will choose the view that fits the world it makes with Him.
Every Friday night, saying Vayechulu over the Shabbat lights, you rehearse that partnership.
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