A vort from the Rebbe on Parshas Bereishis. Parshas Bereishis starts, and this is actually the beginning of the whole Torah, with the words בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ, which means this talks about the creation of heaven and earth. And Rashi asks the question right away, the first Rashi, why does the Torah start with the story of the creation? It should have started with החודש הזה לכם, which is the first dinim. The Torah is to tell us the dinim, the halachot, so it should start with halachot. Why does it start with the story of the creation? And Rashi answers, because the goyim will come with a complaint saying the Yidden stole Eretz Yisrael from them. So to answer that question, the Torah tells us that the Eibershter created the world. And since He created it, He's the boss, He could give it to whoever He wants. So first He gave it to the goyim, and then He gave it to us. And mimeila, we are not we didn't steal it, the Eibershter gave it to us. But the Rebbe asks a question: from here it seems that because of the complaint of the goyim, the Eibershter changed the order of the Torah. Which means be'emes the order of the Torah should have been differently, and because the goyim will complain, Hashem changed the order. So it's not understood. Because the goyim's complaint, we have to change the proper order of the Torah? The Torah was given to the Yidden, so it should fit the way it fits according to the Yidden. Why would the Torah be changed the order of the Torah be changed because of the goyim's complaint? And even if it's true that some place the Torah would like to answer the question of the goyim, does that have to be the beginning? That should be some place later on that should be answered. The beginning is the foundation. Is this the foundation of the whole Torah?

And the Rebbe answers that the complaint of the goyim is not just a complaint, a monetary complaint, which means they have a ta'anah, you stole something from us, you stole a certain land from us. It's a philosophical complaint. The goyim know that we are the chosen nation, אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים, the Aibershter chose us, אתה בחרתנו, and we are special people, and we serve Hashem. So they ta'anah that you serve Hashem, your job is to serve השם ברוחניות, spiritually. Hashem is spiritual, you connect yourself in a spiritual way. What kind of connection do you have to a land? Why do you need a land? A land is a gashmiyusdike thing. The ikar is to keep the Torah. We know the famous statement of the Rav Saadia Gaon, he writes, אומתנו אינה אומה כי אם בתורתה. Our nation is a nation only with the Torah. Other nations are a nation because they have a certain place in a territory, they have a certain land. We're yidden because we have the Torah. So why is it noge'a to have the land? So the fact that you have a land specifically is gezeilah. It's a philosophical question. It's not a question physically, and that's not a question that they only ta'anah something that they ta'anah. They're telling the yidden what they think the yidden should do, it's noge'a to the yidden, that your way to serve Hashem has nothing to do with gashmiyus of a land.

And the truth is, it's not a ta'anah only that goyim say, a yid could think that way too. Actually, the goy that's within each yid, which is a נפש הבהמית, the יצר הרע of a person can ta'anah to him: you get involved in ruchniyus, that's your job, but don't get involved in the land. The land, gashmiyus, is not your your thing. And if you do care about the land, that's gezeilah. That's the ta'anah. And that is a philosophical question as a foundation in Yiddishkeit. What is the foundation of Yiddishkeit? So the Torah says this is wrong. We have to know before we even start everything, we have to know that the Aibershter wants we should make, as it says in מדרש, נתאווה לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים, to make a dwelling place for Hashem in this low world, world, in the gashmiyus. The Aibershter wants us to get involved in the gashmiyus and elevate the gashmiyus to ruchniyus.

So therefore, as the beginning of the Torah, the Torah באווארנט us, makes sure that we don't make a mistake in what the whole purpose of the Torah is. The whole purpose of the Torah that we have an ארץ, we have a land, and we have to bring kedushah into the land, we have to elevate the gashmiyut. And physically it was like that also. Eretz Yisrael is a physical land, and there are so many mitzvot to serve Hashem with the physical land, with the gashmiyut of the land. Because the תכלית הכוונה, the goal is of the Aibershter is to elevate this world, נתאווה לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים. And that's why this is the beginning of the Torah. It's not just to ask answer a kushya of the goyim, a complaint of the goyim of that we stole their things. It's a complaint that should make sense to the Yidden also in the whole approach to Yiddishkeit. So we might ta'anah that the whole inyan of getting involved in gashmiyut, in ארץ, is a mistake. It's a gezeilah. We're stealing it from the the velt. People in the velt have to do with gashmiyut, but not us. Comes the Torah and tells us you made this wrong, כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו, that the whole kavanah is that we should take the world, the land, the gashmiyut, and elevate the gashmiyut to godliness. As the Alter Rebbe said a famous statement, דער אייבערשטער גיט יידן גשמיות און יידן מאַכן פון גשמיות רוחניות. Hashem gives Yidden gashmiyut, and Yidden make from the gashmiyut ruchniyut, and this is the whole kavanah of almost, most mitzvot. Almost all mitzvot are connected to gashmiyut, because that's the kavanah what the Aibershter want. And the same idea is here, that that's the idea of having a land and elevating that land, the kedushah of the land, we should bring the mitzvot from the kedushah of the land. And that's why this is the beginning of the