2 Hidden Messages in the first Chapter of Breishit (Genesis)
A little quantum mechanics too
When most people open the Torah scroll which begins with Parshat Breishit, they see the story of beginnings: light and dark, sky and land, animals and people.
But if you slow down and read carefully, there are two ideas hiding in plain sight - ideas that can shape how we think about what it means to be human.
The first is about gratitude.
The second is about potential.
Here’s something easy to miss: the Chapter never says, “Be thankful.”
Not once in Genesis 1 does G-d ask for thanks.
And yet the moment humanity exists, something changes.
By existing, we owe.
Think about it: every gift creates a debt.
If someone saves your life, you can’t just say “thanks” and move on.
You feel that you owe them something.
To be clear, it’s not that you that person something that they receive.
Your debt is to make the life they saved worth saving.
The same is true with existence itself.
Just being here means we’re holding something we didn’t earn.
But it’s not a debt with strings attached - G-d doesn’t need us to pay Him back.
What He wants is that we recognize that the debt has meaning, has mission.
Gratitude, in this sense, is not about politeness.
It’s about realizing we are in debt, and then asking: what do we do with that debt?
That’s where purpose-driven gratitude comes in.
Saying “thank you” is step one.
Step two is doing something with what you’ve been given.
That’s how gratitude turns into responsibility.
Ramban’s Hidden Force of Potential
Now let’s integrate a second idea.
On the verse “And G-d said: Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), Ramban opens up a Pandora’s box to an idea that is vastly different from most other traditional commentaries.
First, he points out the obvious: this couldn’t have been sunlight.
The reason is that the sun and moon don’t show up until day four.
Where he hits 11 on the speakers is with his interpretation that G-d created כח פועל מה שאין נברא - “an active force for what was not yet created.”
Ramban is saying that G-d didn’t just create light.
He created a force that contains potential itself.
A kind of energy that would later give rise to everything else.
Not symbolic, not metaphorical, but real.
It’s hard not to hear an echo of modern physics here.
Quantum mechanics tells us the universe begins not with solid objects but with probabilities - potential states. And then, through intention or observation, one possibility becomes reality.
Genesis is describing the same rhythm:
first intention → then potential → then reality.
Shabbat and Human Potential
You have to stop for a minute and just ponder what this 3-part rhythmic roadmap means.
If potential is a real force (not just an abstract idea), how does that reconcile with the contours of Shabbat observance when we’re told not to create?
The answer is that only G-d creates “cosmic potential.”
Human beings do something slightly different. We inherit G-d’’s cosmic potential and use it with the raw material of the world to give it form.
That’s what the 39 kinds of work in the Mishkan are about - shaping, building, transforming.
On Shabbat, we stop doing that kind of transformation.
We don’t manifest.
But that doesn’t mean we stop being creative.
For G-d, Shabbat was the seventh day - the end of creation.
For us, it’s almost like the first day of our ability to emulate G-d which is the moment we step into the “Ready-to-be-finished” world.
And what do we do on this “Sabbath day”?
We stop to recognize the debt, and we chart what we will do with the week ahead.
Shabbat becomes the time when we honor the source of the gift of potential and also map out the human potential we’ll carry forward.
Gratitude and Potential Together
Now the two ideas meet.
Gratitude is how we recognize the debt of existence.
Potential is the force we’ve been entrusted with.
Gratitude without action is hollow.
Potential without gratitude is dangerous.
Together, they set the framework for human life: receive, thank, act.
That’s why the first creating part of the creation story ends with Hineh Tov Me’od - “Behold, it was very good.”
It’s not just a review.
It’s a handoff.
G-d created the force of potential and put it in our hands.
Our gratitude is not just to say thank you, but to do something with it.
That is how we become partners in creation.
So what do we take away from the first chapter of Breishit?
That life itself is a gift - and a debt.
That gratitude is not the end of the story but the start of the mission. That potential is not just an idea but a real force in the world. And that our job is to link the two: to show our gratitude by turning potential into reality.
That’s a conversation worth having around any dinner table: What debts do we owe for being alive? And what will we do, this week, with the potential we’ve been given?
KEEP GOING FOR A SURPRISE POSTSCRIPT
P.S. Taking this theme of gratitude and potential a little further, I put together a big thank you to President Trump for the return of the live hostages this week.
The thank you is in the form of the well known Dayenu song.
Keep in mind, there are many layers here because for years, each bold move in the song was supposed to blow up the Middle East.
Move the embassy? Apocalypse.
Recognize the Golan? Chaos.
Take out Soleimani? World War III.
Instead, the vision for a new paradigm in the Middle East has continued to move forward.
And now, after 2 very long years, the hostages finally returned.
So in the spirit of counting blessings one by one here’s a modern Dayenu.
(Yes I know it’s the wrong holiday).
Fifteen steps, each one big enough on its own to say thank you.
Together, they got the world to this day.
And now it’s our job to continue manifesting the potential that has been unleashed.
DAYENU for 15 U.S. Actions Since Trump’s First Presidency
If America had moved the embassy to Jerusalem - Dayenu (2018)
Proved the world wouldn’t collapse when U.S. policy was finally enforced.If America had recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights - Dayenu (2019)
It exposed the paper tiger of the Middle East - the predicted Arab revolt never came.If America had withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal - Dayenu (2018)
It pressured Tehran and reminded allies and adversaries that sanctions had teeth.If America had taken out Qasem Soleimani - Dayenu (2020)
Removed Iran’s top battlefield strategist and sent shockwaves through its proxies.If America had declared the IRGC a terrorist group - Dayenu (2019)
Further isolated Iran by labeling it a terror organization.If America had signed the Abraham Accords - Dayenu (2020)
This broke the long-standing taboo and proved peace could skip over Ramallah.If America had cut funding to UNRWA - Dayenu (2018)
Forced scrutiny of an agency accused of perpetuating the refugee crisis.If America had closed the U.S. consulate to Palestinians in Jerusalem - Dayenu (2019)
Ended dual-track diplomacy that treated Jerusalem as capital as negotiable.If America had strengthened Israel’s missile defense - Dayenu (2018 onward)
Ensured Iron Dome and David’s Sling could blunt rockets & save lives.If Congress had affirmed Israel’s right to self-defense - Dayenu (ongoing)
Support for Israel’s survival transcends party politics in Washington.If America had struck Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq - Dayenu (2018–2025)
Signaled that the U.S. would confront Iran’s expansion, not just condemn it.If America had bombed the Houthis - Dayenu (2024–2025)
Showed that threats to shipping and allies would meet direct American firepower.If America had sanctioned Hamas financiers and froze accounts - Dayenu (2023–2025)
Made it harder for Hamas to sustain hostage-taking and war.If America had investigated antisemitism on U.S. campuses - Dayenu (2023–2024)
Federal probes reinforced that Jewish safety and rights are protected under law.If the hostages had been freed - Dayenu (2025)
Pressure, policy, and persistence, finally paid off. Families reunited, lives restored.Forgive some of the typos below
Amen! @Jason Ciment