Let’s talk a little more about these people. Those little people we call our kids, who are not really kids, but extraordinary people we have been blessed to help raise.
Forgive me while I ask another basic question.
What is a person, really? I mean, there’s over seven BILLION people in the world. That’s a lot. How much is one really worth?
As it turns out, the Mishna has something pretty radical to say. It’s a thought many of us have heard before but I’m going to take a minute to explore what it might really mean.
In the Torah’s account of creation – when the groundwork for the world was laid, and its mission established – we see a curious thing. G-d created an entire world with vast amounts of land and water, mountains and rivers, billions and trillions of plants, animals, insects, and fish… and one human being.
Everything else was created in huge numbers, or at the very least in pairs, but the human being was created solo. A pretty lonely existence, I would think, and for a social being no less.
Indeed, hardly any time had passed and the Torah tells us how G-d looked and said, “It is not good that man is alone,” and He created the woman to be his companion. Soon after they had kids, who had their own kids, and the world’s population exploded. But not at first. At first, he created just one.
Why?
G-d was creating the world with a message. He created an entire world of multitudes – and one Adam.
Everything in the world was created in a way that when one part is lost, it is easily replaced. Water that evaporates comes back down as rain, plants and wildlife grow anew once they are cut down. Animals and fish are part of great big food chains, where one is eaten and another comes to fill its place. It is a big, wonderful world full of amazing natural systems wherein each little creation plays its part. And while each species is integral to the big picture, the loss of an individual is usually quickly forgotten.
But not man.
Man was created alone – a singular, unique, and irreplaceable creation, created alone so he would never mistakenly think he doesn’t matter. He would know that his value was equal to all else in the world; it was up to him to determine the course of the world’s destiny.
No matter how many human beings walk this earth, G-d had made it clear: a man is not simply a creation among many others, a little cog in a large and sophisticated machine, but he is an indispensable being unlike any other. Each and every man alone is to Him the center of the universe, whose actions determine the fate of the world.
As the Mishna says, “Why was man created alone? To teach that one who cares for one Jewish soul is considered as though he has sustained an entire world.”
These are the people whom we are entrusted to raise, to love, to teach, and to guide in fulfilling their life’s mission.
It just doesn’t get more powerful than that.