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TIFERES SHLOMO_________________________________________________________________________1
B’reishis
In the beginning
"
In the beginning…. With wisdom
"
(
Targum Yirushalmi 
 ) 
To understand this, let us first explain the
 pasuk
in
tehilim
(104:24)
:
”
How great is the work of g-d,he has made all of them with wisdom, the world is filled with what he acquired.
”
 
It says in
 
 Avos
(6:11):
Five acquirements g-d acquired in his world. Torah is one acquirement. Heaven andearth is one acquirement.
 Avraham
is one acquirement.
Yisrael
is one acquirement. The
 Beis Hamikdosh
is one acquirement."
 A number of questions arise in the understanding of the
mishnah.
1. Since the Torah was already given to us, what difference does it make if g-d has acquired it ornot?2. The
 Midrash Shmuel 
asks, why is each item followed by the words "is one acquirement"? The seconditem should have been followed by the words; "…is the second acquirement" and the same for the thirdetc.., similar to the way the days of creation are listed in the Torah?3. By calling each item the "one acquirement", it would seem to be telling us that there is no other. Theword one is used in this way when we say that g-d is one. We do not mean to say that g-d is the first of many, rather, we mean to say that g-d is the only one. However, if we read the
mishnah
this way, eachitem contradicts the others in being the one and only acquirement?4. What lesson in the service of g-d is the
mishnah
intending to teach us by listing these fiveacquirements?It seems, that this
mishnah
is coming to teach us the kind ways of g-d and the intentions of kindnessthat g-d had in creating the world. This will also explain why this
mishnah
was chosen to end
 Mesechta Avos
which was taught entirely as a gate to the proper ways that lead a person to his share in the worldto come. This concept is made known to us by the words we read before learning
 Avos
(Sanhedrin
 
TIFERES SHLOMO_________________________________________________________________________2
10:1); "all of Yisrael have a share in the world to come" and in what we read following our learning from
 Avos
(Makos 3:16); "g-d wanted to merit Israel therefore he increased for them Torah and Mitzvos".We can learn from the recital of these texts that the focus of 
 Avos
is to guide a person to the correctways that will lead one to receive his share in the world to come. We also see that this was g-d'sintention when creating man and he therefore increases the
Torah
and
mitzvos
which are the pathwaysto receiving our share in the world to come.Now, one may find it difficult to comprehend how we can possibly reach these goals. It is clear andobvious that no person in our generation is saturated with
Torah
and
 Mitzvos
as the mishnaic sageswere. We may find one who is capable of understanding
Torah
but does not have the means to fulfillthe mitzvah of charity. We may also find one who fulfills the mitzvah of charity but does not have thetime or understanding to learn the Torah. There are even many who do not have the privilege of either.How is it then possible for one to reach his portion of the world to come? Is g-d so passive that he willgive rewards to those who did not properly earn it?The author of the
mishnah
is therefore teaching us that there are five independent acquirements thatg-d made in this world and with each individual "one", a person can obtain a share in the world tocome. Let us explain each acquirement individually:
Torah is one acquirement:
 
This is teaching us that even if one can only acquire torah knowledgealone without the ability to perform acts of charity, he is still acquiring a portion of the only one and istherefore acquiring a portion in the world to come.
The heavens and earth are one acquirement:
 
To understand the significance of this, we will firstread the words of the
 Rambam zt"l 
(
Yesodei HaTorah
2:2):
“What is the way to love and fear God? Whenever one contemplates the great wonders of God's works and creations, and one sees that they are a product of a wisdom that has no bounds or limits, one will immediately love, laud and glorify [God] with an immensepassion to know the Great Name, like David has said, "My soul thirsts for God, for theliving God". When one thinks about these matters one will feel a great fear andtrepidation, and one will know that one is a low and insignificant creation, with hardly an iota of intelligence compared to that of God, like David has said, "When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers...what is man, that You are heedful of him?”
If one constantly bares this in mind and yearns to have this glory and greatness of g-d revealed to theworld, he has also acquired a portion of the only one despite his lack of ability in acquiring Torah.
 Avraham is one acquirement:
 
We find that
 Avraham
converted many people to the service of g-dso that they would privilege entering the world to come. (The difference between this quality and thequality of one who acquires heaven and earth by wanting people to realize g-ds greatness through thecreations is that the latter is acting solely out of his love for g-d, while the former is also acting out of love for his fellow human beings and his concern for their lives.) It follows therefore, that even if oneonly assists others in coming close to the service of g-d, he too has acquired a portion of the only one.
 Yisrael is one acquirement:
 
Even if one does not possess the previous qualities but has a love forall of Israel and therefore keeps the commandment of (?) "
Love your brother as you love yourself 
", he too has acquired a portion of the only one.
 
TIFERES SHLOMO_________________________________________________________________________3
The Beis-Hamikdash is one acquirement:
 
This is to say, that even if one does not possess any of the above qualities yet he mourns the destruction of the temple and the pain suffered by the Jewishnation as a result of it. Even he, has acquired a portion of the only one. This concept can also help usunderstand what it says "
you shall rejoice in the joy of those who mourned over it 
". Is it not obviousthat those who mourned the destruction of the
 Beis-Hamikdosh
will rejoice its rebuilding? We can now understand it to be saying that in this merit alone of mourning its destruction; you have acquired aportion of the only one and therefore have acquired a portion in the world to come.This is why the
mishnah
ends with "
all that g-d created.." 
to understand this we can use the parable toa earthly king who has many thousands of officers. No two officers can really perform the same tasks.One of the officers is in charge of the kings beverages while another is the kings baker, tailor, army general etc.. Would one come to think that the king does not appreciate the soldier in his army becausethe soldier does not provide the king with food to eat? Obviously not, because it is known to eachofficer that no single person can provide all that the king needs and each officer is therefore equally important to the king. Similarly, g-d created every individual thing for his honor and every individualneeds the service of his fellow to complete this.Now we can understand the
 passuk
"
how great is the work of g-d, he has made all of them with wisdom, the world is filled with what he acquired
".
If a person will wonder how it ispossible for a mere human being to serve g-d whose "work is so great" and is so far above humancomprehension, to this it says "
the world is filled with what he acquired 
". Meaning, there are many (five) acquirements that g-d has in this world to choose from and with either of them a person canacquire a part of g-d in this world.
 
In the beginning "
elokim  
" created the heavens andearth
 Rashi 
in the name of 
 Midrash Rabbah:
Originally it arose in his thought to create the world with the attribute of judgment*. When he saw that the world would not survive, he started the world with the attribute of mercy and later partnered it with the attribute of judgment as it says "on the day that
 Hashem* Elokim
made earth and heaven".
We will begin to explain this with a
 passuk
in
Yisro
(
Shemos
20:15):
 
(the following was said by theJewish nation after hearing the first two of the Ten Commandments directly from g-d);"
 You speak tous now and we will listen and let not
 Elokim
speak with us lest we die
"Now, let us first explain the concept of mitigating judgments at the very source of judgment. The truesource and purpose of judgments is to test the
tzaddikim.
This is because the wicked fall easily beneaththe judgments and get stuck in them. This is the source of the evil inclination which brings them to only pursue the desires of the world. The
tzaddikim
however, tame the judgments and are able to stay abovethem. This is what the
 pasuk
alludes to when it says (
 Hoshea
14:10): "
the ways of g-d are straight,
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