Tag Archives: Bereshit

Shabbat Bereshit: the power of naming

This week marks the beginning, again; once again we turn to the opening pages of our Torah and read of the beginning. Except that we do not. The first words of our Torah are בראשית ברא אלהים  Bereshit bara Elohim Which literally means “during the beginning, G*d created…” And what does that mean? Well, we alreadyContinue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: the power of naming”

Shabbat Bereshit: Starting Over Again

Happy 5779! Every year at this time, our Jewish tradition invites us to consider the possibility of starting over in our lives; that it is possible, and more, that there is much Jewish wisdom to support one who seeks to return, to renew, to restart. On this Shabbat when we begin again with the beginning,Continue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: Starting Over Again”

Shabbat Bereshit: Till It and Tend It

This Shabbat we return to our regularly-scheduled Torah, as it were, after the excitement on Simkhat Torah of reading the very end and the very beginning of the scroll. Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our teacher, dies, and is bewailed, and then the people move on – and we find ourselves, following them, suddenly in a GardenContinue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: Till It and Tend It”

Shabbat Bereshit: Get Naked

This week, as we begin again to encounter Torah, we are back at the beginning. The first chapters encompass so much: The world is created: human beings exist, and interact with all other forms of life on earth as well as with each other. And there, of course, is where it gets complicated. Here’s where we start:Continue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: Get Naked”

Shabbat Bereshit: We’ll Keep the Light On

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep (Bereshit 1:2) First comes darkness, then light.  (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 77b) At the beginning, there is darkness. This is not only true of the account of Creation as we find it in the Book we call Bereshit, known in English as “Genesis”.Continue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: We’ll Keep the Light On”

Shabbat Bereshit: Beginning Again, But Not at the Beginning

Here we go again with the beginning! This week we begin once again to read the Torah. Our parashah is Bereshit, “in [the process of] beginning”. We all know how it begins, and we all know what happens in the story: creation of the world, then of plants, animals and human beings, and then theContinue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: Beginning Again, But Not at the Beginning”

Shabbat Bereshit 5774: Take a Bite

 This is very simply a photograph of an apple I bought at an Israeli grocery store. The sticker on it it what makes it priceless: Bereshit (“Genesis”) / taam Gan Eden (“the taste of the Garden of Eden”) The term Bereshit is the name of an Israeli fruit produce company. The word eden is related to the HebrewContinue reading “Shabbat Bereshit 5774: Take a Bite”