In Praise of Limits

Drawing on Andre Wenin's exegesis, this essay reinterprets the Genesis creation narratives to argue that limits, rather than deficiencies, are the very condition for life and relationship. It reads God's creative acts of separation, the institution of Shabbat, and the Jewish mystical concept of tzimtzum as expressions of a 'meek omnipotence' in which divine power is exercised through self-restraint rather than domination. The essay reframes the so-called Fall as humanity's mistrust of God's gift of limits rather than mere disobedience, and extends this reading to the Law as liberating rather than restrictive. It closes by drawing ecological and ethical implications, proposing that embracing limits, after the model of God's own restraint, offers a corrective to a culture of limitless consumption and power.