Heaven and Earth: Hashem Loves Every Kind of Service

14“God created the heavens and the earth …” We can explain it this way, beginning with the verse “For Hashem is righteous; He loves righteous deeds.”¹ Our eyes see the way of people: what they already have is no longer dear to them, and they always long for something they do not have. The Creator, blessed be He, is not so. Although “Hashem is righteous in all His ways”² and gives tzedakah, righteous kindness, to all flesh, He still desires and longs for the righteous deeds of man. Yet if we are righteous, what do we give Him? He wants only to do us good in the end.³ That is why the verse says, “For Hashem is righteous; He loves righteous deeds”: although Hashem is righteous in Himself and lacks nothing in His attributes, still “He loves righteous deeds.” This is great praise of the Creator, exalted be His Name: He takes delight in us, though He has no need of us.

15Or we may say: “For Hashem is righteous …” The Creator, blessed be He, is one in His attributes; all His attributes are, with Him, a complete unity. But we, His people Israel, each differ in our middos, our traits, and each of us serves Him according to his own nature. This is the meaning of the verse “For Hashem is righteous”: even though the Creator is one in His righteousness, and with Him all is complete unity, still “He loves righteous deeds.” He loves and accepts from us every kind of righteousness, though each of us gives his tzedakah, his righteous giving, in his own way. Some intend it for Heaven alone, for the sake of His Name, and some intend their own benefit. Still He accepts it from them, for out of doing it not for its own sake a person comes to do it for its own sake.⁴ That is why “righteous deeds” is in the plural: He loves everything from us, every kind of righteous deed.

16So we can read “In the beginning … the heavens and the earth”: one who serves for the sake of Heaven corresponds to “the heavens,” and one who serves not for its own sake corresponds to “the earth.” He, blessed be His Name, created them all, and all of it with His full will. That is what the verse goes on to explain: “And the earth was formless …”⁵ The “earth” being “formless” means that serving not for its own sake is a low level; even so, Hashem desires it too. The verse gives the reason: “And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.” The Midrash says this is the spirit of Moshiach;⁶ that is, when Moshiach comes, everything will be set right.