An entire genre of literature is in the midst of being created after October 7th, written by the survivors themselves, for us to listen to, and ultimately tell the world. In 2024, not even a year after the events of 10/7, an anthology was published, called, A Difficult Beginning: A Post-October 7th Commentary on the Book of Genesis. Two years later, we open the Book of Genesis again and learn about creation. The same questions we have asked for centuries arise: What is the root of evil? How do we deal with suffering? Rabbi Claudia Marbach writes a piece titled, “God is Crying.” The Talmud tells us that God has a secret room to cry. Rabbi Kalonimus Kalman Shapira of the Warsaw Ghetto teaches that God needed that place because God’s tears would be too much for us to bear. Rabbi Chaim Vital suggests, “When one weeps and sheds tears for a good person, they also cause tears to be shed on high.”

Last night, we were graced with the angelic story of Nili Margalit, a pediatric nurse at Soroka hospital, who was kidnapped for 55 days in Gaza by Hamas.

Nili was asked, “What kept you going?” Her answer, “A human being desires to live.” 

This Shabbat, we will read of a world in tohu vavohu, full of chaos. While God brings the world into being by creating light, there are times when darkness remains. What did Nili do in her time in a Hamas tunnel? She told the terrorists that the elderly hostages needed medication. She showed the others how to continue for one more minute, one more hour, one more day.

We know how the Torah goes. This week, we begin with creation, and by next week, a flood wreaks havoc on the earth because of the hatred in the world.

And yet, as Nili reminded us last night, it only takes a glimmer of hope to know there is light nearby.