CREATING NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH

 TROTE
316. CREATING NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH
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God constantly creates new heavens and a new earth from the new meanings that are discovered in the Torah. When the Torah was given to Moses, tens of thousands of angels on high were about to burn him with the flames of their mouths, but God protected him. Since then, whenever a new interpretation of the Torah is uttered, the saying rises adorned with a crown, and then stands before God. And God guards that saying and keeps it hidden, and shelters the person who said it, to prevent the angels from envying him until a new heaven and a new earth are created from that saying. Thus every word that receives a new interpretation by one who delves into the study of the Torah creates a new heaven and a new earth, as it is said, "That I may plant the heavens, and lay the founda- tions of the earth" (Isa. 51:16). hurt al odw ano This myth, based on Isaiah 66:22, demonstrates the primary role of interpreting the Torah, going as far as to assert that new interpretations are not only essential, but that God sees that they are crowned, protects them from the envy of the angels, and uses them as the basis for creating a new heaven and a new earth. What does "a new heaven and a new earth" mean? It means that the new interpretations that arise about the meanings of the Torah so radically change the perspective and understanding of those who receive them, that the heavens and earth seem new to them. This myth is thus an ode to the remarkable power of interpretation, and of the necessity for new interpretations to continue to be made, to prevent the views of the Torah from becoming static. See "A New Torah," p. 522.
Sources: Zohar 1:4b-5a.