"Your eyes, have seen all the great work of Hashem, which He did." (Devarim 11:7)
The Wondrous Creation
The Ibn Ezra was once discussing the origins of the world, with a non-Jew who insisted that the world spontaneously came into existence.
During their argument, the non-Jew had to leave his room for a moment. While he was gone, the Ibn Ezra noticed that there was a poem on the desk that the non-Jew was working on. However, the last few stanzas were incomplete. He quickly finished the composition.
When the non-Jew returned, he noticed that the poem was complete. "Who finished my poem so beautifully?" he asked.
"While you were gone," began the Ibn Ezra, "the ink spilled all over the page and it finished the composition."
"Why are you mocking me! How can you tell me that something as beautiful as this prose happened accidentally!?"
The Ibn Ezra wittingly responded, "And you want me to believe that this complex and wondrous world was created spontaneously?"
"Who made your clothing?"
When you contemplate the essence of creation, you can recognize the Creator. The Midrash Temurah relates the following story:
A heretic once challenged R' Akiva to provide indisputable evidence that Hashem created the world, and that the entire creation was not pure happenstance.
"Who made your clothing?" R' Akiva asked.
"The weaver made it," the heretic replied.
"Can you prove that?"
"What do you mean? You don't know that we need a weaver to make clothing?"
"Don't you know that we need a Creator to create the world?"
The Midrash then describes that R' Akiva explained to his students, "Just like a house lets us know that there was a builder, clothing that there was a weaver, a door that there was a carpenter, so too, creation demonstrates that there is a Creator."
Believing is Seeing
When the Yemenites first immigrated to Eretz Yisroel, there was a group of children that were placed at a secular kibbutz where they wanted to uproot these children's emunah, faith.
Their teacher told them, "Sweet children! Only believe what your eyes can see. Do you see this table?"
"Yes!" they all eagerly shouted.
"Can you see this chair?"
"Yes!"
"Can you see Hashem?"
"No!"
"Then," concluded the teacher, "do not believe in Him."
One clever boy stood up immediately and said, "Friends, can you see the teacher's mind?"
"No..." they answered.
"Then this teacher doesn't have a brain!"
A person's words and actions can demonstrate their intellect. So too, the act of creation proves that there is a Creator who designed this world with His wisdom.
A world this complex and beautiful and wondrous could not have been created accidentally or as the result of a chain of spontaneous events.
A Beautiful World
A man once asked the Maggid, R' Shalom Shavdron, "Perhaps the world was created by a massive explosion in the universe?"
The Maggid answered: "If you were five feet tall and five feet wide, if one of your legs was long and fat and the other one short and skinny, and one of your eyes were horizontal and your nose was on your foot and your mouth was on your back, you might be able to think that the world came into existence by a large explosion. After all, that is what someone who survives an explosion looks like. But you were perfectly and beautifully designed. That cannot be the result of an explosion," answered the Maggid.
R' Mordechai Shlome from Boyan was once travelling on a train through the Swiss Alps and he never looked outside. His travel companions asked him, "Why doesn't the Rebbe look at the wondrous scenery and see Hashem's splendorous creation?"
The Rebbe replied, "It say in Iyuv (19:26), '... and from my flesh I see my Lord...' Even when a person sees only the wonderful perfection of his own physical body, he is already able to see Hashem's Greatness."
However, ordinary people are not typically impacted by the world's regular beauty. From the moment we open our eyes, we become accustomed to seeing the world around us. As children, we do not have the maturity to think about it. Therefore, we become numb. We don't feel inspired or impacted by this world's natural beauty. If we were born with a fully developed and mature intellect, we would immediately be awed by every aspect of creation. However, since we are so used to seeing it, we hardly take notice.
When the summer months arrive, however, we spend more time outside. Many people spend their vacations in places that have mountains, rivers and awe-inspiring vistas. They see and experience aspects of the world that they usually do not throughout the rest of the year. Therefore, they become inspired by what they see.
Now you need to take the time and become inspired by the world. You need to teach your children to appreciate the breadth of creation and its boundless beauty. And, while you are experiencing this now during the summer, you must take time throughout the year to contemplate creation. When you do, you will inevitably recognize that there is a Creator and purpose for His creation. This will and must reawaken your commitment to the mitzvos and the Torah that enable us to align the world with its purpose.
Our pasuk is describing this process to us. The Sefer Yetzirah teaches that each month corresponds to one of the body's limbs. The summer months, Taamuz and Av, as the "eyes." Therefore, the pasuk teaches that during the "eyes", the summer months, it is appropriate to "see all the great work of Hashem, which He did". It is a time when you remind yourselves that you are constantly surrounded by Hashem's glorious creation.
And, that realization should strengthen your commitment to Torah and mitzvos as the next pasuk states:" [Therefore] keep all the commandments that I command you this day..".
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