Bereshit

The Foundation of the Universe

“Before G-d created the universe, the Holy one Blessed be He and his great name were alone. It came to mind to create the universe. He would etch out the universe in front of him and it would not stand. This is proverbial to a king who wished to build his palace. If he does not etch out the foundations and the boundaries, the entrances and exits, he may not begin building. In such a way did G-d etch out the universe, It would not stand until he created repentance.” (Perkie Derebbe Eliezer 3)

The above quote is explained by Rabbi David Luria – the RADAL that the world would not stand because man, who is most important to the world would in the future sin, therefore the possibility to repent was created. That is to say that the universe has built into its foundations the possibility for human imperfection, mistakes and even maliciousness, and that all of these can be fixed through repentance. This is alikened to the rubber band which stretches. Just as the rubber band would be useless without its permeability. Similarly, in the absence of repentance the world could not even last for the shortest amount of time.