Bereshit

Each year, when we reopen the scroll at its very beginning to Parsha Bereshit, we enjoy a fresh start of the initial pulse of creation, that enigmatic moment when the voice of Elohim shattered the quietness of an empty universe, shining light into the void. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Before light grazed the waters, before the first whisper of wind, there existed only Him, the Infinite One, the Ein Sof, who chose to reveal His benevolence through the act of creation.

Day by day, the sequence of creation develops in an intentional and sacred manner. Light and darkness, waters and expanse, earth and heavens, every command from God molding reality. When He says something, it is not mere sound; it is a divine plan being unfolded and established. On the third day, He assembles the seas so that dry land may emerge, and from its earth He summons etz pri oseh pri lemino, trees that yield fruit in accordance with their essence. Life is not accidental; it is purposeful and interconnected. Everything in existence attests to His chesed, His benevolence, and His dominion.

Then, on the sixth day, the story moves slowly, almost reverently. The same God who spoke galaxies into existence now shapes humankind from the dust of the ground. And into that clay, He breathes His neshamah chayah, a living soul. Mankind was quickened by the Spirit of God, and in this act, we discern the initial role of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, who imparts humanity with vitality and meaning.

Nonetheless, when we were granted freedom, we also received the potential for defiance. In the garden, Adam and Chavah are tested and fail. The serpent’s murmur introduces uncertainty “Did God really say…?” and this question becomes a test of compliance and a reflection of our innermost selves. Humanity reached for wisdom and knowledge devoid of submission, and through that deed, intimacy with the Creator is ruptured. The yoke of work, suffering, and mortality infiltrates reality, and for the first time, we notice our need for God’s Grace.

The Lord dresses them, already alluding to sacrifice, to atonement through blood. The story unfolds through Cain and Hevel, jealousy, brutality, exile, and a complete inversion of the plan for Eden. Degeneration falls upon the face of the earth, and sin reveals itself fast, and through the lineage of Seth, we meet Noach, “a righteous man, blameless in his time.” Even when the world darkens, God safeguards His plan.

Bereshit transcends the narrative of origin. It reveals the need we have for the Messiah. It’s not by chance that John starts his Gospel with identical words: “In the beginning was the Word.” The Davar Elohim who uttered creation into existence is the same Word who dressed Himself in flesh and dwelt among us. The breath that quickened Adam is the same Spirit that revived Yeshua’s disciples into a new creation. The radiance that once pierced through chaos shines anew in our hearts, inviting us back to communion, reinstating us from exile.

As we restart our Torah readings, we are called to go back and re-engage in this covenant narrative, allowing the Ruach to refashion us day by day, until His likeness is reflected in us once more. Let us stand before our Creator this week, therefore, not as passive recipients of Scripture but as active and zealous disciples in His continuous process of redeeming His Creation. The story that started in Bereshit is unfolding in us through the Messiah, will end only when new heavens and new earth come into existence, not a second before.