Bereishit-Parasha-D’var Torah

Making your Own Gan of Eden

בראשית…”In the beginning…” (1:1) “Why does the Torah start with the letter beit, the second letter of the Hebrew alef-beit, rather than with the first letter, alef?” my Torah teacher asked, when I was in Kitah Vav (6th grade)

The Torah consists of two parts, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The Torah starts with the second letter “Beit” to remind us that the Torah in fact consists of two parts. In addition, The Written Torah starts with the word “bereishit,” and the Oral Torah starts with the word “mei’ei’matai” מאימתי Thus, the first letters of the Written and Oral Torah spell the word “bam” בם This alludes to what our sages tell us on the words “vedibarta bam” “and you shall speak of them.” A person should use his speech and conversation for the study of the Written Torah and the Oral Torah and not for idle or forbidden talk. As I grew older and wiser I got it.

In the beginning

“In the beginning…” I was born and raised in Israel, and during my last two years of high school, my major graduate subjects were English and Tanach. I always liked to study Tanach. At a very young age I had a strong feeling the Tanach was a
very special book, and I knew I can learn a lot from it. I also intuitively knew there are many layers and different levels of understanding to each story.

My first Torah

I still remember the day I’ve received my very first Torah book. I was in 2nd grade. We went on a field trip to Chabad in B’nei brak, it was a beautiful sunny day, it was a very special day, a mile stone if you will, at the tender age of 7, I felt like I was a grown up … I was dressed in a white denim suit, I was happy to receive my book, in a special ceremony, THE BOOK that holds the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me G-d!

The Creation Stories

The Torah begins with the creation story, or should I say the creation stories because there are in fact two versions of how the creation happened.

During high school I needed G-d’s help. I had a rude awakening when during Tanach classes, out of the blue, I realized there is more than one creation story. Wait a second… what?! What do you mean?! shockingly I asked my teacher….but I thought… so which creation story is the “real” one?! I was confused. I felt betrayed. How can there be more than one creation story? Is there more than one truth? In retrospect it was a sign I had what it takes to become a rabbi; questioning and arguing.

First Creation Story

The first version is the one we are most familiar with, it talks about the world being created in six days, with human beings created at the end of the sixth day, and G-d resting on the seventh day.

Second Creation Story

The second version does not mention days, and man is created on the first day, and everything else is created after. The one part that most people are familiar with from this version is the part about Eve being created from Adam’s rib.

The Midrash writes that when G-d consulted with his angels in creating man, the angels asked, “What is man’s nature?” G-d responded that man is greater in wisdom then they are. He brought before the angels each of the animals that had been created and asked them what its name was. The angels were unable to answer. However, when G-d brought each animal before man, man gave a name to each one in turn (Bereishit 2:19).

G-d then asked man what his own name was, and man replied, “Adam because I was created from adamah [dirt].” Obviously the naming of animals was more than a matter of semantics or coming up with some random combination of letters and vowels that would be unique to each creature. It is impossible to believe that angels couldn’t do that, or that the ability to do so is more indicative or man’s wisdom than other cognitive tasks.

When the Torah tells us that man named each animal, it means that man was able to intuit that animal’s essence and purpose and ascribe to it a name that perfectly fit it’s spiritual character.
The angels lacked that same level of perception. If so, isn’t it odd that man should give himself a name like “Dirt”? Shouldn’t man’s name better reflect his own spiritual potential, especially given his having chochma (wisdom) greater even than that of the angels?

Rabbi Finkel-Alter of Slabodka explains that the greatness of man is precisely the fact that he has the ability to reflect and show the self-awareness that despite his great wisdom, he is no more than a creation made from a pile of dirt and can sink as fast as he rises. No other creation, either beast or angel, has the same ability to reflect on its own shortcomings and frailty, either physical or moral.

In the second version, after G-d creates Adam he places him in the Garden of Eden, Le’Ovdah U’LeShomrah, to till it and to tend it. This is significant because everything is not provided for him in the garden, he actually has to till the soil, but he also has another job. He has to tend the garden, which is not just clearing out the weeds, but the Hebrew word is Shomrah, to guard. Adam has to guard and protect the garden. So what does it mean to master the earth?

Mastering the earth means tilling the soil, making use of the bounty of the earth, but it also means protecting the earth. In fact we get that understanding from the language of subjugation. Because in Jewish law when someone becomes your slave you are not allowed to treat them however you want. If you injure your slave in any way then they go free. Having a slave is not just about having someone to do things for you, but it means that you are also responsible for someone’s welfare.

We are responsible for the earth. We need to till the soil in order to benefit from it, but we also need to protect it from harm. Without our action the earth would not sustain us with its bounty, but without our vigilance the earth would be ruined by our carelessness.

Adam and Eve

As the story goes, Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden, and commanded not to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” The serpent persuades Eve to violate the command, and she shares the forbidden fruit with her husband. Because of their sin, it is decreed that man will experience death, returning to the soil from which he was formed, and that all gain will come only through struggle and hardship. Man is banished from the Garden.

The Belzer Rebbe, has a wonderful psychological insight based on a careful reading of the p’sukim. When G-d commanded Adam not to eat from the eitz ha’da’at, He specified the tree by its exact name “M’eitz ha’da’at tov v’ra lo tochal mimenu,” “Do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” However, when Chavah told the snake what G-d had commanded, she does not name the tree, but instead only obliquely refers to it, saying that, “M’pri ha’eitz asher b’toch ha’gan… lo tochlu mimenu,” she could not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden (3:3).

Chavah was torn between the temptation to eat from the tree and the knowledge that G-d had referred to the tree as “tov v’ra,” as good and evil. This created a horrible feeling of cognitive dissonance that Chavah tried to escape by avoiding naming the tree. It was no longer the source of “tov v’ra,” but just another tree in the middle of the garden.

The snake recognized the significance of Chavah’s inability to name the tree and immediately capitalized on the situation. He told Chavah that once she ate, “V’hiyisem k’Elokim yod’ei tov v’ra,” she would possess knowledge like G-d himself (3:5). He reduced Chavah’s cognitive dissonance even further by explaining away the troublesome phrase of “tov v’ra” as not being a description of moral confusion that would result from eating, but rather a description of the potential knowledge that Chavah would come to possess. Chavah could now persuade herself that there was in fact nothing really wrong with eating and give into temptation.

Most of us know when something is wrong, but we want to do it anyway, so we also work out our cognitive dissonance by avoidance, by explaining things away, and all kinds of other defense mechanisms to avoid facing reality. Things don’t change much in the battle with the yetzer ha’ra.

Chazal teach us that we have an obligation of “mah hu, af atah,” of imitating G-d’s behavior. Just like G-d is rachum, we should show rachamanut; just like G-d visits the sick, buries the dead, so should we do the same. R’ Yitzchak Isaac Sher in his Sichot Mussar quotes a klal gadol from the Alter of Slabodka that extends this principle even further: just as G-d created Gan Eden for HaAdam haRishon, so too each one of us is obligated to create a Gan Eden for ourselves and our fellow man.

On this Shabbat Bereishit, let us celebrate all of creation, our family and friends, and all our responsibilities G-d’s partners in the stewardship over the earth, creating a Gan Eden for ourselves and our fellow man.

The 613 Mitzvot

In The Torah there are 613 commandments, mitzvot, also known as the Law of Moses (תרי״ג מצוות‎, taryag mitzvot). The 613 mitzvot are first recorded in the 3rd century CE, when Rabbi Simlai mentioned it in a sermon that is recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b.

The 613 commandments include 248 “positive commandments”, to perform an act (mitzvot aseh), and 365 “negative commandments”, to abstain from certain acts (mitzvot lo taaseh). The negative commandments number 365, which coincides with the number of days in the solar year, and the positive commandments number 248, a number ascribed to the number of bones and main organs in the human body.

Though the number 613 is mentioned in the Talmud, its real significance increased in later medieval rabbinic literature, including many works listing or arranged by the mitzvot. The most famous of these was an enumeration of the 613 commandments by Maimonides, The Rambam.

Many of the mitzvot cannot be observed now, following the destruction of the Second Temple, although they still retain religious significance. According to one standard reckoning, there are 77 positive and 194 negative commandments that can be observed today, of which there are 26 commands that apply only within the Land of Israel. Furthermore, there are some time-related commandments from which women are exempt (examples include shofar, sukkah, lulav, tzitzit and tefillin). Some depend on the special status of a person in Judaism (such as kohanim), while others apply only to men or only to women.

According to Rambam Organized by Parsha. based on Wikipedia and http://www.vaadrv.org/rambam613mitzvot.asp ONE BIG IMPORTANT NOTE WHEN USING THIS LISTING: This listing is not all inclusive. Rambam may site multiple sources for a mitzvah is his works but this list currently only gives one source for each mitzvah.

One Mitzvah in Parashat Bereisheet

1. To have children with one’s wife Gen. 1:28

Check out YedidYah “Let There Be Light” a song about The Story of Creation. music and Lyrics by Rabbi Yakira Yedidia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0GEYQYwDI0

Shabbat Shalom

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This blog article was inspired by chabbad.org