Two ways to *correctly* translate this phrase into English:
“When Elohim (the high God) began to create” – Torah’s intended meaning.
“With the beginning Elohim was created” – Nahmanides observed meaning.
Now let’s put this phrase in proper context:
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָֽיְתָ֥ה תֹ֨הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְח֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם:
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִי־א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר:
“When God began to create the skies and the land, the land *was* (denotes “existing” already) astonishingly empty and darkness was on the face of the deep and the rushing-breath of Elohim was hovering (floating upon) the face of the waters …”
The first act of any kind of *creating* of anything מלאכה “creative-work,” according to this three-verse singular passage, is *”light”*, folks! Not the heavens and earth! Light with no source to its existence infused within the darkness itself. Elohim’s first terraforming act was to separate opposites from each other: light from darkness, land from water, day from night.
Nowhere does Torah say that “God” created the universe! It says that earth pre-existed *our* perceptual understanding of reality – existing for as long as Elohim exists.
With the beginning of Elohim’s creating, Elohim too was created. So says Torah in the ancient Hebrew itself! So, when Elohim takes a day off, it is obligatory for the body of Elohim to take a day off, as well. This means us life-forms, folks! We’ll get back to this in a moment.
Shabbat is about ceasing all our מלאכה “creative-work” for just one full day, everyone taking a break together and resting. If we get technical – according to Torah, itself – a day of complete resting from creative-work, which is experienced directly within your “gates” (your home and yard), before the start of the next week (which, in Torah, starts with the Gan Eyden story of creation that follows the Six Days of Creation story and first Shabbat – yes, they are *not* the same story repeated twice!).
[Hint now: Despite modern Jewish tradition, this Shabbat includes the “Rabbi” and his/her family being at home on Shabbat, as well. We have six days of every single week, as a community, to keep our Teachers/Leaders busy with our community needs. Shabbat is *the* special day of *rest* – for all breathing creatures upon this planet, so says Torah! So, learn your Siddurs – whether theistic or non-theistic oriented, and let the leaders rest, as well. Everyone is royalty this night and day – so take the lead!].
With this now said …
The Torah does not know anything about electricity. And Torah forbids putting words into its written pages as a means to speak for it. Further, electricity is not fire. But, electricity can start fires – and fires, for humans, are creative-work (because of our calculating, exploring, observant minds, that is ever bent on Creator manipulations!).
This distinction and those distinctions like this is what informs our Traditional Ethical Judaism (what some might call Secular Jewish Orthodoxy) when it comes to observing traditional Jewish halakha/halacha.
We believe in approaching Jewish traditional observance, not as a theistic-determined religious way of life that is tied down by near endless legal requirements governing every aspect of life in every moment, but as a culture uniquess in lifestyle that clearly defines us as Jews in this world of many different gentiles. (We are the deepest of Jews in mindset, hoping for the survival of all Jews in this world, regardless of community-encouraged beliefs!). Call it cultural Judaism, if you will. What this allows is for us to observe living life Jewishly in an outward focused relationship and interaction with modernity, not in separating reaction to historical changes that are inevitable.
Science is actually our best friend to fully realizing an understanding our own history as a people, the multitude of approaches and beliefs we’ve held towards faithfully fulling tradition, and to fully understanding what Torah is actually referring to in its mitzvots. And we need this for our ethno-religious survival upon this planet as Jews!
For example, Torah forbids kindling fire on Shabbat – along with not engaging in מלאכה, creative-work, and carrying things that is an act of creative-work in the public domain. The last two are self-explanatory. Just take a day off from working on the day of resting and just living in the presence and awareness of each other for a 25 hour moment, and you’ll fully understand.
The first and most important מלאכה, the kindling of fire, requires just a bit more explanation. Why is the Chef in the house cooking for others on the Sabbath?! On the day that *everyone* should be resting, hmmm?! On the Day of Resting for *all* “breathing-creatures,” humans and those blessed lifeforms that are domesticated by conscious and empathetic humans? Especially, when the manifested *body* (the Elohim of our Torah acclaimed existence), the awareness of life Itself is resting on this once-a-week day? Just why are we being slaves, as humans, to an endless week day work, always finding an excuse to light another fire?! Peace comes through Pause, folks!
Shabbat exists as a Jewish tradition to free us from engaging in acts of creative work on the weekly Day of Resting. This is why we pull out those Crock-Pots on the day before and have all food already prepared for the day of rest! But, in the same breath, we do not have to avoid turning on switches, using electronics, and going about places on Shabbat, because of possible sparks from electricity. Nor, do we need to avoid causing others to not observe the day of resting – encourage them to, yes, but avoid causing, no – because it is our ethnic tradition to fulfill!
When it comes to vehicle transportation on Shabbat, this can be a bit more challenging. Here’s why:
“There is all the difference in the world between electricity and fire. Fire is the result of a chemical reaction, a chemical reaction that produces heat and light. Not all chemical reaction produce heat and light and some only produce heat and some only produce light. Electricity is the result of charged particles either in motion (an electrical current) or not (static electricity).
In most cases for a fire to start there must be a quantity of heat energy available to get the chemical reaction started. Once started the chemical reaction can sustain itself until it runs out of fuel or oxygen.
In most cases an electrical current will produce heat and if it produces enough heat it can start the combustion process and there is a fire. Static electricity can produce a lot of heat when it discharges. The best example of this is lightening. This too can start a fire.
So, electricity can start a fire only if it produces enough heat to get the chemical reaction going. But the two, electricity and fire, are still very, very different from each other.”
(Physics Org by * Tom Young, Science Teacher at Whitehouse H.S., in response to the differences between electricity and fire.)
The purpose of not kindling fire on Shabbat is to not have someone Jewish engaged in creative working on the day of resting. But, when it comes to vehicles – even though it doesn’t seem like work – you can kindle fire by starting the motor. Interestingly, the Torah unintentionally foresaw this in its telling us to stay home within our neighborhood on Shabbat. But, are we to observe this prohibition as a standalone prohibition on these days where it is to be applied? Or, are we to observe no kindling of fires in relation with the prohibition of not engaging in melacha on these days?
A group photo after Havdalah, after sharing Shabbat with friends and families.
We as a Secular Orthodox Jewish community leave the answer to individual families to answer – for Torah must be lived and wrestled with! But, we can take this one step further: What if you drive an all electric vehicle? There is no concern with kindling fire in the safe and conscientious use of an all electric vehicle. Score one for moving to sustainable living, being free of fossil fuels! Still, yet – regardless how families in our community address such questions – in our Secular Orthodox Jewish community, we encourage staying home and resting for this one day of the week – and getting to know your family members again! Form those interpersonal relationships that keep tradition and healthy families/communities alive for generations to come!