Rashi [Bereshit 1:1] notes — in the name of ‘Rabbi Yitzchak’ — that it would have been logical for the Torah to begin with the first Commandment “This month for you is the beginning of months” [Shmot 12:2]. Why then does the Torah begin with the story of Creation?

The Torah began with the story of Creation because it wished to convey the message of the verse “The power of His acts He told to His people, in order to give them the estate of nations” [Tehillim 111:6]. If the nations of the world will say to Israel ‘You are bandits for you conquered the lands of the seven nations who inhabited Canaan’, Israel will respond that the whole world belongs to G-d. He created it and He gave it to whoever was proper in his eyes. By His wish He gave it to them and by His wish He took it from them and gave it to us. These are the words of Rashi.

Rashi’s first point is that since the Torah is meant primarily to teach laws, it should have started with the first law in the Torah.  But why doesn’t Rashi propose that it start with the more central laws of the Torah, like for example the ten commandments?  One answer would be that Rashi is simply choosing the place where a law first appears in the Torah, and that law happens to be the law prescribing the sanctification of the new moon, kiddush hahodesh. Or perhaps this law is chosen because it shows the central place of the Jew in the law, for it is the Jew, the Sanhedrin that proclaims the new month and hence the calendar. There cannot be a calendar without the Jews creating it and therefore all the holidays are dependent on man. Man and God are partners in Torah.  But there is a still deeper connection to the law of Kiddush HaHodesh.

In the story of the creation of the moon it is written: There shall be lights in the heavenly sky to divide between day and night. They shall serve as signs [to define] festivals, days and years. (1:14) So we see that particularly, the moon and the sun were destined from inception to be observed and used as holiday markers by the Jews.  Creation itself was built for the halachic use of the Jew. Rashi’s thought is that the Torah should start with the application of halachic to creation. But this would imply that creation’s only value is for the use of man.  But creation has an intrinsic value for God. And so Rashi explains that creation is a manifestation of God’s strength (Psalms 111:6). And that is independent of the Jews particular needs. Furthermore, God gave the Land of Israel to another nation before he gave it to Jews. Jews are not the sole focus of creation.

God’s world is a fact.  It is the choice of the Jews and the Gentiles whether they will participate in God’s plan.  There are no guarantees for us. But the world is constant. To quote George Carlin, “The world doesn’t need saving, we need saving.”