Adapted from Leon Wieseltier's Kaddish, which is absolutely wonderful, by the way.
Once two rabbis, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua, were debating the ritual status of an oven. They argued well into the night, and at last Rabbi Eliezer called out, "If the law is as I say, may the Divine Voice so proclaim it." And immediately a voice boomed out from the heavens and said, "Why do you argue with Rabbi Eliezer? Thus is the law." Whereupon Rabbi Joshua proclaimed, "It is not in heaven."
Another rabbi explains: since the Torah was already given on Mount Sinai, we pay no heed to a Divine Voice." God smiled and said, "My sons have defeated Me. My sons have defeated Me."
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Gen.1
[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
[5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
(KJV)
I'm still thinking about the nature of words and creation. Here, it's important to note, God doesn't summon up light out of nowhere or build it up out of ingredients. Rather, he sees the light in the watery chaos and calls it forth; His word divides and names, turns muddles into forms.
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May I accept the things I cannot change. And change the things I cannot accept.
--a young man's prayer
