Wisdom by the Week

Wisdom by the Week: The Weekly Torah Portionas Inspiration for Thought and CreativityThe content of the weekly Torah portioninspired philosophers, writers, poets,composers, and artists in an epitome ofcreative culture. The creation of culture is acreation of a world. When we speak of theTorah as a source of inspiration for thinkers,writers, and artists, we are in fact recapitulatingthe words of the Sages, who saidthat the Torah preceded the world and wasthe inspiration for all creationMen and women who have wished toresemble God have looked into the Torahand built their own creative worlds. That iswhat the Rabbis of the Talmud and the Midrash,Saadiah Gaon, Judah Halevi, Maimonides,Hume, Spinoza, Kierkegaard,Rembrandt and many others have done.Philosophers, writers, painters, composersand poets, thinkers and artists have alllooked into the Torah and created worlds.The idea of reversing the sequence ofevents, of the Torah having preceded theworld, has deep dialogical roots. The Torahwas