Our tradition acknowledges that feeling, especially when we consider the mysteries of creation. What was it like before the Big Bang of Genesis? What was God "doing"?
The Rabbis of old grappled with this, and a fascinating passage in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, offers a glimpse into their thinking. Specifically, we're looking at Bereshit Rabbah 8.
Rav Ḥama bar Ḥanina kicks things off with a verse from Job (20:4): “Have you known this from oldest times?” He uses a brilliant analogy to explain how creation learned about itself. Imagine a city that relies on a constant stream of donkey drivers for supplies. The drivers entering the city naturally ask those leaving: "Hey, what’s the price of grain today?" The Friday drivers ask the Thursday drivers, who ask the Wednesday drivers, and so on, all the way back to Sunday.
But who does the Sunday driver ask? The businessmen of the city, of course! They are the source.
Rav Ḥama applies this to creation itself. Everything created on each day asked the day before: “What did the Holy One, blessed be He, create on your day?" The sixth day asked the fifth, and so on, all the way back to the first day. But whom did the first day ask?
Here’s where it gets really interesting. The first day, according to Rav Ḥama, would ask the Torah itself! Why? Because, as Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish says, the Torah preceded the creation of the world by two thousand years!
Think about that for a moment. The Torah, in this understanding, isn't just a book; it's a blueprint, a divine plan that existed before reality as we know it came into being. Proverbs 8:30 says, "I was with Him, as a protégé; [I was a delight day after day]". The Rabbis interpret this "I" as wisdom personified – the Torah. And because a day of the Holy One, blessed be He, is like a thousand years, as Psalm 90:4 tells us ("As one thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday"), "day after day" equals two thousand years.
So, going back to Job, "Have you known this from oldest times?" The Torah knows what preceded creation, but we humans are only licensed to explore from "when man was placed upon the earth." We can only start our investigation once humanity arrived on the scene.
Rabbi Elazar then brings in a wise saying from ben Sira: “Do not seek what is too great for you, do not interrogate what is stronger than you, do not seek knowledge of what is hidden from you, and do not ask regarding what is concealed from you. Observe what is permitted for you, and you have no business with the esoteric.”
In other words, there are limits to our understanding. It's okay to be curious, to explore the mysteries of the universe, but we also need to recognize that some things are simply beyond our grasp. There’s a humility in acknowledging the vastness of creation and the limits of human comprehension.
So, where does that leave us? Perhaps with a sense of wonder, a recognition of the profound depth of our tradition, and a gentle reminder that while exploration is encouraged, so is knowing when to say, "Wow, that's amazing, and maybe a little beyond me." Maybe, just maybe, that's where true wisdom begins.