Parashat Bereshit - Insights and Questions
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
Imagine a brand-new world at its very beginning. There are no wars, lies or jealousy, and then man arrives. Created in the image of God, he receives an entire Garden of Eden, and still manages to lose it.
Within just six chapters we move from the creation of the world to the first murder described in the Torah, and from the Garden of Eden to a humanity standing on the brink of destruction.
God creates the world in six days: light and darkness, heaven and earth, plants, stars, animals and finally man. On the seventh day He rests from the work of creation.
Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent manages to persuade Eve to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. She gives some to Adam as well, and the two are forced to leave the garden.
Later Cain and Abel are born. Both bring offerings to God. Abel’s offering is accepted, while Cain’s offering is not. Cain is filled with anger, and later murders his brother.
Humanity multiplies, develops and builds a culture, but violence and evil spread as well, until the Holy One, blessed be He, decides to wipe off the face of the ground man, and with him the animals, the creeping things and the birds of the sky (Genesis 6:7).
And then, precisely when everything seems lost, the Torah ends the parashah with one man who finds favor in the eyes of the Holy One, blessed be He: Noah. Within the approaching destruction, a spark of hope appears.
Source: Genesis 1:1 - 6:8
1. How was there light before there was a sun?
The light appears already on the first day, but the luminaries are created only on the fourth day!
An interpretive thought: perhaps the Torah invites us to think that light is not only something physical, but also an expression of order, of hope and of a new beginning.
Genesis 1:3; 1:14-19
2. The first time the Torah says explicitly of a certain situation that it is not good is when man is alone!
Even before the sin of the tree of knowledge, God determines that it is not good for man to be alone.
Insight: even in a perfect world, in which man lacks nothing materially, he lacks human connection. Perhaps precisely here lies one of the deep messages of creation: wholeness is not necessarily self-sufficient solitude, but the ability to live with the other.
Genesis 2:18
3. Who said that Eve ate an apple?
This is perhaps the most famous detail in the story, but the Torah does not identify the forbidden fruit as an apple at all!
Insight: sometimes we are so sure we know a story well that we stop checking what is actually written in it.
Genesis 3:1-6
4. God drives Adam and Eve out, but first sees to their clothing.
After the sin and the punishment, God prepares garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothes them.
A moving interpretive insight: even when man fails and has to bear the consequences, the care for him does not disappear. One can see here a combination of responsibility and compassion.
Genesis 3:21-24
5. The first murder in the Torah is not between enemies, but between brothers.
Cain does not kill a stranger. He kills his own brother, Abel.
And the most surprising part? Even before the murder God warns Cain about sin and sets before him the possibility of ruling over it.
Insight: feelings such as jealousy and anger do not have to determine our actions. The choice of what to do with them is still in our hands.
Genesis 4:3-10
Notice the striking contrast: at the beginning of the parashah God looks at creation and sees that it is very good (Genesis 1:31). At its end He sees the great evil that has developed in the heart of man (Genesis 6:5).
My interpretation: Parashat Bereshit is not only a story about how the world was created. It is a story about the question of what we, human beings, do with the world we received.
And it ends in hope: despite everything that went wrong, one Noah manages to find favor in the eyes of God (Genesis 6:8).
Perhaps this is the most beautiful message: even when it seems that the whole world is going in the wrong direction, one person can be the beginning of a change.
Two questions of the Holy One, blessed be He: Where are you, and where is Abel your brother
There are two questions of the Holy One, blessed be He, in Parashat Bereshit, which appear in two different stories. But when we connect them, an especially deep idea is revealed.
And the surprising part? Both appear in verse 9, in two consecutive chapters!
After Adam sins and eats from the tree of knowledge, the Holy One, blessed be He, asks him:
“ayekah” (Where are you?) (Genesis 3:9)
One chapter later, Cain murders his brother Abel. And the Holy One, blessed be He, asks him:
“ei Hevel achicha” (Where is Abel your brother?) (Genesis 4:9)
The first time, the Holy One, blessed be He, asks man where he himself is. The second time, He asks man where his brother is.
The connection between the two questions is already found in Radak’s commentary on Genesis 4:9. Following this comparison, one may suggest a further conceptual reading: the first question stirs man to examine his responsibility for his own actions, and the second stirs him to examine his responsibility for his brother.
One can see here the two great tests of man in the world.
The first test - responsibility for yourself.
Are you able to look at your actions, face your mistakes and not run away from the truth?
The second test - responsibility for the other.
Do you see the pain of the other? Are you able to care for your brother and not think only of yourself?
And that is not all.
When the Holy One, blessed be He, asks Cain about Abel, Cain answers:
“hashomer achi anochi” (Am I my brother’s keeper?) (Genesis 4:9)
One can understand the whole story of the murder as a terrible attempt to evade responsibility for the other.
My interpretation: the Torah begins with the creation of heaven and earth, but very quickly shifts the focus of the story to moral questions.
Man is not measured only by what he knows, by what he achieves or by what he creates.
He is measured also by his ability to answer two basic questions:
Where do you stand morally? And where is your brother when he needs you?
And perhaps this is the great insight: a whole world can be created in six days, but building a human world in which people take responsibility for one another is a task that continues to this day.
Note: the fact that both questions appear in verse 9 in two consecutive chapters is an interesting observation. However, the accepted chapter division and the numbering of the verses are late, although the division into verses itself is ancient. Therefore the numbering should not be seen as evidence of an original intention of the Torah.
Questions on Parashat Bereshit
Secrets of the creation of the world
- How can it be that the light was created on the first day, but the sun and the moon were created only on the fourth day? What exactly lit the world during the first three days, and is this a light entirely different from the light we know? (Genesis 1:3-19)
- Why is it precisely on the second day of creation that it is not said that the creation is good, while on the third day it is said twice that it is good? Is a secret hidden here about the divisions and separations in the world? (Genesis 1:6-13)
- Why does the Torah at first describe the sun and the moon as two great luminaries, but immediately afterwards describe one as great and one as small? Did a change take place here, and what can be learned from it about jealousy and status? (Genesis 1:16)
- Why are evening and morning described on all six days of creation, while precisely on the seventh day this description disappears? Is there a special meaning to the fact that the Torah does not describe the end of the seventh day in the same way? (Genesis 1:5-31; 2:1-3)
- Why does the Torah describe the creation of man in two ways that seem different from each other? In the first chapter male and female are created together, while the second chapter tells of the forming of the woman from the man. What is the meaning of the difference? (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7-22)
The great mysteries of the Garden of Eden
- What does the creation of man in the image of God really mean? Is it intellect, soul, free choice, or something far deeper that changes our understanding of the worth of every person? (Genesis 1:26-27)
- How is it possible that in the Garden of Eden, even before the sin, there was already something that was not good? Why is it precisely man’s loneliness that is described as a lack in the world God created? (Genesis 2:18)
- Why was man required to work and keep the Garden of Eden even before he sinned? If work is sometimes seen as a result of the sin, why did man already have a task in the Garden of Eden? (Genesis 2:15; 3:17-19)
- Why did God place in the Garden of Eden both the tree of knowledge and the tree of life, but at first forbid precisely eating from the tree of knowledge? And what is the mysterious connection between knowing good and evil and eternal life? (Genesis 2:9-17; 3:22-24)
- Did the serpent manage to make Eve stumble with just one question? How did he change the presentation of the divine command right at the start of the conversation, and what can be learned from this about psychological manipulation? (Genesis 3:1-5)
- Who added the prohibition against touching the tree of knowledge, when in the original command it was eating that was forbidden? Was this change one of the keys to the success of the serpent’s temptation? (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:2-3)
- The serpent promised Eve that their eyes would be opened, and they were indeed opened. So why was the first thing they discovered precisely their nakedness? What deep secret about consciousness, shame and knowledge is hidden here? (Genesis 3:4-7)
- Why did God ask Adam where he was, even though He knows everything? Is this a question about a physical place at all, or can one see in it one of the deepest questions ever asked of man? (Genesis 3:8-9)
- Why did Adam blame Eve, and Eve blame the serpent, instead of each of them taking full responsibility for their actions? Does the story of the first sin expose a psychological mechanism that accompanies humanity to this day? (Genesis 3:11-13)
- Why did God Himself prepare clothes for Adam and Eve after they sinned, precisely before He drove them out of the Garden of Eden? Is one of the most moving expressions of divine compassion hidden within the punishment? (Genesis 3:21-24)
- Why, after the sin, did God prevent man from reaching the tree of life and living forever? Can death be understood not only as a punishment, but also as a limitation that carries deep meaning for humanity? (Genesis 3:22-24)
Cain and Abel - the first murder and the unsolved mysteries
- What really was the difference between Cain’s offering and Abel’s offering, which caused the one to be accepted and the other not? Is the secret in the gift itself, in the person who brought it, or in a small detail in the Torah’s wording? (Genesis 4:3-5)
- The Torah tells that Cain said something to Abel just before he murdered him, but does not specify what he said. Why is this important conversation missing? And what can be discovered about the first quarrel between brothers from this silence? (Genesis 4:8)
- If God warned Cain about sin even before the murder, why did the warning not prevent the disaster? Does one of the most important secrets of free choice lie here? (Genesis 4:5-8)
- Why did God give Cain, the first murderer, a sign meant to protect him from anyone who would kill him? Does the Torah seek to teach something surprising here about justice, revenge and the possibility of a person going on living after a grave sin? (Genesis 4:13-15)
- How is it possible that Cain was sentenced to be a restless wanderer on the earth, but later we are told that he builds a city? Is this an apparent contradiction, or is there a deep connection between a sense of insecurity and the desire to build a city and perpetuate a name? (Genesis 4:11-17)
- Why is it precisely the descendants of Cain, the first murderer, who are described as connected to the development of music, herding and metalworking? Does the Torah hint that technological and cultural progress does not guarantee moral progress? (Genesis 4:17-22)
- What is the secret behind the strange speech of Lamech to his two wives, in which he speaks of killing and of a vengeance many times greater than that of Cain? Is this a description of a violent event, boasting, or a deep critique of the decline of humanity? (Genesis 4:23-24)
The mysterious secrets of the first generations
- Who was Enoch, the man whose end the Torah does not describe like the death of the others of his generation, but tells instead that God took him? What really happened to him, and why did his figure become one of the most intriguing in the stories of the first generations? (Genesis 5:21-24)
- Who were the sons of God and the Nephilim who suddenly appear at the end of Parashat Bereshit, and what is the connection between them and the decline of humanity up to the divine decision to wipe it out? And how, precisely within this dark description, does Noah appear, the man who finds favor in the eyes of God? (Genesis 6:1-8)
Daily Aliyot
Parashat Bereshit - First Aliyah
The first aliyah of Parashat Bereshit is one of the deepest and most central passages in the entire Torah. It opens the book of Genesis and sets before us the six days of creation and the Shabbat of creation, the divine act that establishes the whole world.
Parashat Bereshit - Second Aliyah
The second aliyah changes lens: from the account of the creation of the whole world to the story of the birth of man and his immediate world. It opens with the framing heading 'These are the generations of the heavens and the earth' and stresses that the purpose of creation ripens only when there is someone to recognize the good and work the land.
Parashat Bereshit - Third Aliyah
The third aliyah leads from the human search for companionship and partnership to the failure of the first moral test. Man gives names to the animals, but for man no helper opposite him was found (Genesis 2:20).
Parashat Bereshit - Fourth Aliyah
The fourth aliyah closes the gates of the garden and opens the doors of human history. Outside the garden new life is born, and the two brothers take shape as two callings.
Parashat Bereshit - Fifth Aliyah
The fifth aliyah presents the sprouting of human culture alongside a deepening of its fractures. Lamech breaks the first model of marriage: he takes two wives (Genesis 4:19).
Parashat Bereshit - Sixth Aliyah
Lamech delivers a sharp song about vengeance and protection, and then the story returns to the house of Adam and Eve. After that the sixth aliyah opens a book of families: 'This is the book of the generations of Adam' (Genesis 5:1).
Parashat Bereshit - Seventh Aliyah
The seventh aliyah seals the book of genealogy up to Noah and opens a window onto the destruction of the world and the hope of rescue. The death of Methuselah and the births of Lamech and Noah are recorded one after another.