Shabbat Greetings

Once again, we start at the beginning of the Torah with B’reishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8), the story of the creation of everything that exists. This portion covers a lot, starting with Creation and ending after the first ten generations of humanity. One thing that interests me about this text is how much it has been misinterpreted over the years. Today, I want to look at some of these misunderstandings.

We begin with the first chapter of the Torah, focusing on the very first word, B’reishit, which is often translated as “In the beginning God created.” However, this translation isn’t quite right. Rashi and the grammarian Abraham ibn Ezra pointed out that B’reishit means “at the beginning of” or “when something began.” This word appears four more times in the Book of Jeremiah, always meaning “at the beginning of.” For the Torah’s first word to mean what traditional translations suggest, it should be vocalized differently. So, the correct reading is “When God began to create.”

This changes our understanding: it suggests that the universe already existed before Earth was formed, which is different from the traditional view. The universe was shapeless and dark, but God’s spirit was there, and then God said, “Let there be light,” and light appeared. Common wisdom suggests that creating something from nothing is impossible. Yet, the mis-translation implies that God created the universe from nothing. In reality, there was already a universe, even if it was formless. God didn’t create everything from nothing; instead, God brought order to what was already there.

When God said, “Let there be light,” the universe began to take shape, and it’s still expanding today. Importantly, the act of creation in the Torah is not always instantaneous. For example, when God created plants, it wasn’t a sudden act; it happened over time as the earth did its work.

Now, let’s talk about the creation of humans. The first human, referred to as Adam, was actually a hermaphrodite. God took a part of this first human to create a woman, Chava (Eve). This indicates that both genders share a lot in common, but they also have distinct differences. Also, the story of Cain and Abel is often misinterpreted. Cain did kill Abel, but it was unintentional. God punished Cain but did not see it as murder. The so-called “mark of Cain” was actually a sign of protection, not disgrace.

So why do these misunderstandings happen? It’s because we often rely on others’ interpretations instead of reading the text ourselves. This can undermine our confidence in the Torah as the word or teaching of God. When we look closely at the first chapter of Genesis, we see details that couldn’t have been known thousands of years ago, like the idea of a Big Bang or life starting in water. This suggests that the Torah comes from divine knowledge.

Returning to the word B’reishit, if we translate it accurately, it seems grammatically odd. But what it really means is that creation is an ongoing process. The world has a beginning but continues to evolve. The Torah exists outside of time and is meant to be relevant for all time. This emphasizes the importance of studying the Torah for ourselves, without relying solely on others’ interpretations.

SHABBAT SHALOM