Of Buildings and Bowling Balls
Bereishit, Chapter 2, 16-18
Once there was a boy who lived with his father and mother. The boy was nine years old. He was an only child, and his parents loved him very much.
His father was an architect. That means he dreamed up buildings for other people to build. Some were magnificent structures that rose high into the sky. Some were little ones that rose no higher than a small tree. Big and small, he created them from nothing.
The father loved his son, as I said before. The house they lived in had a big basement. And I mean big! It ran the whole length of the house and had a giant playroom for the boy. With the father's help, the boy built a huge toy city in the basement that practically took up the whole room. There were giant Lego buildings, Lincoln Log palaces, and streets filled with toy cars and trucks. The city was filled with action figures standing here and there. A lake filled with blue water was made from a large plastic bowl on one side of the town, and toy boats floated in it. There was even a working electric train that shuttled people from one side of town to the other. It could take you to the toy airport, which was, of course, filled with all sorts of toy airplanes.The father helped the son build the town, and let me tell you, it was something to see.
In the center of the town, the boy built a giant mountain. It was open in the middle, like a volcano, and rose high above the buildings and trees of the town. In the center of the mountain, the boy placed a bowling ball. It wasn't the heaviest bowling ball, only about five pounds. The ball was shiny and blue, and on top of the mountain, it towered over the city.
Every few weeks, when the father thought the city was perfect, he would leave the boy downstairs to play. The father would be upstairs with his wife, working on the plans for a new building, or reading a book, or just eating an apple, when suddenly he would hear a loud crash!
The father would run downstairs to find that the boy had pushed the bowling ball out of the mountain. The ball would roll down on the town and smash the beautiful buildings, or the train, or the lake, or any of the perfect streets that had been lined with action figures.
"Why," the father would cry,"why?"
The boy would just smile and shrug.
This would happen every few weeks. The two would rebuild, and then the boy would send the ball flying. Each time it went in a new direction, and each time they would have to rebuild the town in a new way.
After seven or eight bowling ball mishaps, the father became vexed. That means he was pretty mad. With nowhere else to turn, he brought the boy to his Rabbi, the Hohokuser Rebbe.
The Rebbe served the boy and his father some tea and cookies and listened to their story carefully. He stroked his beard and swayed with concentration. When the father was done telling his story, the Rebbe smiled and light shone from his face.
"Don't you see Harvey," for that was the father's name, "Aaron is merely reenacting the Maaseh Bereishit, the original creation of the world."
The father stared at the Rabbi in confusion.
"Hashem created the world for man to use as he wishes. But it is up to man to make it and break it as he sees fit. Hashem will not force him onto a certain path. Sure, you and Aaron," for that was the boy's name, "built a gleaming toy city, but Aaron added bechira chofshit, free choice. Now the town can be rebuilt after the giant ball rolls down, and you never know where the ball will go or what it will do. And each time you rebuild, the town will be a new, wondrous creation. This town is a mirror of man and G-d's relationdhip in the world."
The father stared in disbelief, and the son folded his arms and smiled.
"I see a great future for this boy," the Hohokuser Rebbe said, patting him on the head. "Perhaps a great Rabbi, or a philosopher."
And when the boy grew up, he became a fireman.
kvell kvell kvell
don't forget the famous line from pirkei avos "raining bowling balls is G-d's way of telling you to build a bowling alley"
Posted by: Dan R | October 23, 2006 at 04:09 PM