Writing this on the cusp of a new secular year, when the entire world celebrates a Jewish kid’s bris 2,026 years ago, I wish to examine the concepts of new and renewed.

Quietly buried in the first blessing before the Sh’ma is one of the most radical philosophical concepts ever developed—a concept that stretches from medieval times straight into the world of quantum mechanics.

In its praise of G-d as Creator, the first blessing before the Sh’ma twice mentions the idea that “G-d in His goodness renews the work of creation every day, constantly.” A simple reading of this text would imply a simple piece of wisdom. “A new dawn,” “Another day, another chance.” Or, for the Broadway oriented, “The sun will come up, tomorrow…” It is a comforting sentiment that our lives have continuity, and every day G-d grants us the gift of this world with all its wonders and the ability to enjoy it because of G-d’s goodness.

And if the prayer stopped there, dayyenu, it would be enough. Enough for us emotionally, and enough for G-d spiritually.

But wait, there’s more! The fact that this line is repeated almost verbatim toward the end of the prayer is a strong hint that something deeper is going on, and we miss the point if we simply accept the above-mentioned sentiment.

Let us examine the statement more carefully. The text could have simply read, “G-d in His goodness renews the work of creation every day.” But then it goes on to mention that G-d does this “constantly.” One might imagine that this means “always,” as in “forever.” The idea being that G-d will never destroy the world, or let it be destroyed, but instead will always be there renewing it.

But that’s not really what it means. The text is saying that G-d not only renews the work of creation daily. G-d renews the work of creation constantly. Every single second G-d recreates the world. It may look the same to us from one moment to the next. But that is because G-d has chosen to maintain that constancy. G-d could, theoretically, stop maintaining it, for a shorter or longer time. And that’s where miracles come from—disruptions of what to us is “the natural order” but to G-d is simply an effortlessly willed change of pattern.

There is a name for this idea. In the philosophical world, it is called Occasionalism, and it has an impressive pedigree. It was proposed by one of the greatest Muslim philosophers, al-Ghazali; had some influence on Hume, Berkeley, and Leibniz; and is echoed, believe it or not, in the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Prof. Karen Harding has written that, “In both cases, and contrary to common se nse, objects are viewed as having no inherent properties and no independent existence. In order for an object to exist, it must be brought into being either by G-d (al-Ghazali) or by an observer (the Copenhagen Interpretation).”

Dr. Seuss summed it up brilliantly:

“Out there things can happen, and frequently do,
To people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry, don’t stew.
Just go right along, you’ll start happening too!”