Breishit: How Great are Your Acts!

The Book of Genesis opens with words that are simple yet staggering. God spoke—and from the void came light, sky, land, and sea. A world was born, shaped not by force but by speech, by a Divine word that summoned matter from nothing and order from chaos.

The grandeur of creation is everywhere, vast and undeniable. The stars scattered across the heavens, the ocean stretching beyond sight, the mountains standing firm and unshaken. We see it, we marvel at it—but then comes the deeper question.

What was behind this act of creation? What wisdom shaped it? The psalmist, awestruck, gives voice to the mystery: "How great are Your works, O Lord; how deep are Your thoughts" (Psalms 92:6).

Three Types of People

Imagine standing before a towering sequoia, its dizzying height almost defying belief. You tilt your head back and blink in astonishment. The question is: how do people react when they see  something so enormous, so magnificent?

Some don’t react at all. They march right past, eyes on their phones, lost in thought. Maybe they’re worrying about dinner. Maybe they’re composing an angry email. Who knows? The point is, they don’t look up. It’s a tree. They’ve seen trees before. Next.

Others stop, stare, and let out a low whistle. Wow. They take it in, admire it, maybe even snap a selfie—Me and the big tree. They appreciate greatness when they see it, even if it’s just for a moment before they move on to the next spectacle.

And then there are the wise ones. They look up at the towering redwood—and then look down at the ground beneath the tree. They know that for a tree to rise so high, something unseen must be at work: a massive root system anchoring it in place, providing balance and strength. Invisible to the casual observer, this hidden network is essential for the tree to grow and thrive.

How Deep Are Your Thoughts!

The psalmist stands in wonder before creation. He sees "the greatness of God’s acts"—the towering mountains, the vast oceans, the endless stars. But he does not stop there. He also marvels at "the depth of His thoughts"—the wisdom beneath the surface, the hidden order that sustains the world.

Yet not everyone sees it. "The boorish person does not know," he writes. Some live surrounded by wonder but never lift their eyes to notice it. They are too distracted, too absorbed in the smallness of their lives to take in the magnificence of the universe.

Then there are the "fools"—those who see, but only superficially. They look up at a mighty tree and say, Impressive! But they never think to ask what holds it up, what unseen roots give it strength. They admire what is obvious but miss what is hidden—the depth that enables everything to stand tall.

The psalmist reminds us: the world is not just what we see. It is also what lies beneath—the depth, the design, the Divine wisdom that sustains all things. To truly appreciate the grandeur of creation, we must look beyond the surface. For in what is hidden, we find the deepest truths of all.

(Adapted from Mishlei Yaakov, pp. 380-381)