298 Torah Book & Portion, Book of Genesis, Bereishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8), Source Book Keys, SINAI1 GENESIS | 1:1 beginning — GEN6 In the Book of Proverbs the wise Solo... GEN6 In the Book of Proverbs the wise Solomon [provides the insight]: “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” Proverbs 1:7. Wisdom, the knowledge of science, can give you explanations of phenomena as they occur today. It can formulate into laws of probability certain constant relations which seem to hold between phenomena. But “wisdom” of this kind if of little avail when we try to determine “beginnings.” When we ask about the origin of things, about the beginnings of life, even the beginnings of the hydroGenesis atom, science is blind and still. Neither science nor philosophy can answer the question: Why is there something rather than nothing? Nor will it help any to give science more time to discover the answer, for it lacks the very tools to do so. Questions relating to “beginnings and origins” and to “ultimates” are, in principle, beyond the competence and range of science. To determine these basic presuppositions, these first principles, and by finding ultimates to resolve questions of value, we must turn to the realm of religion, the world of faith. “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God”: first we must know that “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” [this verse]. In the light of this great, transcendent principle of Judaism …. We have a telling, accurate diagnosis of the ills of human society today. The unprecedented advances of science and technology have not been matched by a corresponding development in the religious and moral awareness of man. Wisdom, scientific knowledge, has merely supplied man with new weapons infinitely more devastating than anything previously known, to be used in his struggle to satisfy his basic greeds untempered by moral restraints. SINAI1 276-7 Share Print Source KeySINAI1Verse1:1Keyword(s)beginningSource Page(s)(See end of excerpt) Switch article GENESIS | 1:1 beginning — GEN5 Rabbi Elazar said, A good heart. P... Previous Article GENESIS | 1:1 create — GEN7 A general rule in Jewish life is to try to i... Next Article