* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion Parshas Bereishis For the week ending 26 Tishrei 5755 30 September & 1 October 1994 ========================================================================= Summary In the beginning, Hashem creates the entire universe, including time itself, out of nothingness. This process of creation continues for six days. On the seventh day, Hashem rests, bringing into existence the spiritual universe of Shabbos, which returns to us every seven days. Adam and Chava -- the Human pair -- are placed in the Garden of Eden. Chava is enticed by the serpent to eat from the forbidden fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil," and in turn gives the fruit to Adam. By absorbing "sin" into themselves, Adam and Chava render themselves incapable of remaining in the spiritual paradise of Eden and are banished. Death, hard work (both physical and spiritual), now enter the world, together with pain in childbirth. Now begins the struggle to correct the sin of Adam and Chava, which will be the subject of the history of the world. Cain and Hevel, the first two children of Adam and Chava, bring offerings to Hashem. Hevel gives the finest of his flock, and his offering is accepted, but Cain gives inferior produce and his offering is rejected. In the ensuing quarrel, Cain kills Hevel, and is condemned to wander the earth. The Torah traces the genealogy of the other children of Adam and Chava, and the descendants of Cain until the birth of Noach. After the death of Sheis, Mankind descends into evil, and Hashem decides that He will blot out Man in a flood which will deluge the world. However, one man, Noach, finds favor with Hashem. ========================================================================= Commentaries "In the beginning of G-d's creating the heavens and the earth" (1:1). The Torah is not a history book, but rather the instruction manual of the world, written by the Maker of the world. So why didn't the Torah begin with the first of the Maker's instructions? (The sanctification of the new moon in the Book of Shemos.) Instead, the Torah spends the whole Book of Bereishis identifying the Creator, and the connection of the Jewish People to Him. Rashi, in his commentary on the first words of Torah, asks this question, and answers that if the nations of the world should come and exclaim "You are thieves! You stole the land of the seven nations of Canaan!", then the Jewish People will be able to point to the Book of Bereishis in the Torah and say "The whole world is Hashem's; He created it and He gave it to whom He deemed fit; He decided to give Eretz Yisrael to them, and He decided to take it away from them and to give it to us." Of course, one could ask, "What if the nations of the world do not accept the veracity of the Torah? What kind of a deed of ownership is it that relies on such a self-serving argument!" The answer is that while we cannot demand that the nations of the world accept the Torah as compelling evidence, since they never stood at Sinai, nor have they the benefit of an unbroken chain of transmission of the Torah, we, however, must know that our right to Eretz Yisrael comes from the Owner of the World, and our title deed to it is His Torah. (Heard from Rabbi Nachman Bulman) "...G-d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good" (1:31). After Hashem made every part of Creation, the Torah says, "and G-d saw it was good," but after the creation of Man, it doesn't say that "G-d saw it was good." Why not? The idea of Hashem "seeing" something implies that the nature of that entity is transfixed and immutable for eternity. However, Man's nature is not fixed -- it is determined by his free will to choose either good or evil. Thus, about Man the Torah does not write "and G-d saw it was good." However, after the creation of Man, Hashem took a "second look" at the Creation and deemed it "very good." This is because now there was a being in the world who had the ability to choose to do Hashem's Will, rather than to act involuntarily like a flower or an animal or a star. So, when Man fulfills Hashem's Will he elevates the entire Creation from "good" to "very good." (Meshech Chochma) "Let Us make Man" (1:26). One of the reasons that the Torah speaks here in the plural "Let Us make Man" is to teach us that every human being is obliged to be a partner in the ongoing work of creation -- that he should make himself worthy to be the goal and purpose of creation. It is for this reason that the creation was concluded specifically with Man -- to indicate to him that he is the "end" -- the goal of creation. Thus, it is only fitting that man should perfect both his actions and body. The mitzvah of Bris Milah (circumcision) indicates that Man, by making himself a partner in his own physical and spiritual self-perfection, shares in the concomitant perfection of the world. (Rabbi Moshe Feinstein) "After a period of time, Cain brought an offering to Hashem of the fruit of the ground; and as for Hevel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock" (4:3). "The fruit of the ground" that Cain brought was flaxseed. This can help us understand the prohibition in the Torah against wearing Sha'atnez -- a garment which combines linen and wool. For linen is made from flax, Cain's offering, and wool from the fleece of a sheep, Hevel's offering. This combination would "remind" Hashem, as it were, about the first murder in history, which occurred as a result of these offerings. We, as Hashem's people, must not recall violence and murder, even by the clothes we wear. (Midrash Tanchuma) ========================================================================= What is the Haftorah? Nearly two thousand years ago, in the first years of the exile of the Jewish People from the Land of Israel, decrees were passed against the reading of the Torah in the synagaogue services. Because of the extremely severe penalty for transgressing this edict, the Sages ruled that we were exempt from publicly reading the weekly Torah portion. Instead, they instituted a reading from the prophets which dealt with a theme similar to the Parsha. The Sages never removed the institution of reading from the prophets even when the Jewish People were once again allowed to read from the Torah in services, but the name "Haftorah" -- meaning "exemption" -- remained as a reminder of those times of oppression. ========================================================================= Haftorah: Isaiah 42:5-43:10 The Haftorah takes up the Parsha's theme of creation. It stresses that the creation was not just a primordial event, but that Hashem creates the world anew every second. Without this constant re-creation, the world would cease to exist. Similarly, Hashem did not just create the world and then leave it to its own devices, like winding up a clock. Rather, He involves Himself with the smallest event in Creation. The Haftorah also mirrors the creation of Adam, who is the key player in Hashem's purpose for creating the world, with the role of The Jewish people who are to be the key role- model for the world -- a light unto the nations. Also, just as Adam sins and falls, and is given the opportunity to redeem himself in the Parsha, so too the Haftorah describes how The Jewish people falter and fall into sin, and yet, through Hashem's Mercy, Israel is never abandoned since they are the agents of Hashem's original purpose -- that Man should recognize his Creator. ========================================================================= Watch This Space! For a new series: Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 principles of faith starting next week - Parshas Noach ========================================================================= This Winter in Israel! 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