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Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Bereshis 1

This first class of the new cycle covers the first twelve pesukim (verses) of Bereshis: why the Torah opens with creation, and what Hashem made on the first three days. It begins with an introduction to the Me'am Loez, the commentary we are learning, and a ground rule for learning Kabbalah. Two ideas keep coming back: the world was created for people to keep the Torah, and there are things about creation we are told not to probe.

The pesukim

Bereshis 1:1

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

The Torah opens with the creation of the world, and Rashi asks why. If the Torah is the book of what Hashem asks of us, it should have opened with the first commandment. Rashi answers that the world was created by Hashem, so it is His to give: when the Jewish people take the land of Canaan, it is not theft but His decision. The Ramban goes deeper: belief in creation is the root of our faith, and someone who thinks the world always existed has no Torah at all. A mitzvah only counts when you know Who created you and commanded it.
Bereshis 1:2

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃

The earth was without form and empty, with darkness on the face of the depths, but God's spirit moved on the water's surface.

The earth was chaos and void. The Torah could have skipped this, but it teaches something: everything that exists was created in the six days, and chaos itself was part of the plan. That is why Hashem can return the world to that state when people do not keep the Torah, as He did in the flood, without changing anything about creation. The world stands on a condition, and the condition is us.
Bereshis 1:3

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃

God said, "There shall be light," and light came into existence.

God said, let there be light, and there was light. With this the Torah begins the account of what was made on each day. According to Rabbi Nechemia, everything was created on this first day as raw material and took its form over the days that followed. Nothing with intelligence was made on day one, so that no one could ever say the angels helped.
Bereshis 1:4

וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃

God saw that the light was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness.

God saw that the light was good and divided it from the darkness. This was not the light of the sun, which shows surfaces and colors, but a light that showed the true nature and purpose of everything. Because the wicked would misuse it, Hashem hid it away for the righteous, and the Zohar says He hid it in the Torah. The more a person learns, the more of the world he sees.
Bereshis 1:5

וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד׃

God named the light "Day," and the darkness He named "Night." It was evening and it was morning, one day.

God called the light day and the darkness night, and the Torah counts them together: it was evening, it was morning, one day. Light came out of darkness, so the night belongs to the day that follows it. This is why the Jewish day, Shabbos and every holiday begin the evening before.
Bereshis 1:6–7

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃

God said, "There shall be a sky in the middle of the water, and it shall divide between water and water."

וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִ֒יעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֙יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃

God [thus] made the sky, and it separated the water below the sky from the water above the sky. It remained that way.

On the second day Hashem made the firmament, the heavens, to divide the waters below from the waters above. Until then all of creation was water, and the heavens themselves were formed from it. The upper waters are spiritual, the counterpart of the water we know, and they stay in place by nothing but Hashem's word.
Bereshis 1:8

וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי׃

God named the sky "Heaven." It was evening and it was morning, a second day.

God called the firmament heaven, and the second day ended. It is the one day the Torah does not call good, even though the heavens and the angels were made on it. The purpose of creation is people keeping the Torah on earth, and there was no earth yet to stand on. Nothing is called good until it is finished.
Bereshis 1:9–10

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יִקָּו֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֶל־מָק֣וֹם אֶחָ֔ד וְתֵרָאֶ֖ה הַיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃

God said, "The waters under the heaven shall be gathered to one place, and dry land shall be seen." It happened.

וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לַיַּבָּשָׁה֙ אֶ֔רֶץ וּלְמִקְוֵ֥ה הַמַּ֖יִם קָרָ֣א יַמִּ֑ים וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃

God named the dry land "Earth," and the gatherings of water, He named "Seas." God saw that it was good.

On the third day the waters gathered to one place and dry land appeared; God called the land earth and the waters seas, and saw that it was good. The land had already dried itself before the command was given. The Hebrew for land, eretz, comes from ratz, to run: the earth ran to do Hashem's will. When there is a chance to do good, do not wait.
Bereshis 1:11–12

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תַּֽדְשֵׁ֤א הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ דֶּ֗שֶׁא עֵ֚שֶׂב מַזְרִ֣יעַ זֶ֔רַע עֵ֣ץ פְּרִ֞י עֹ֤שֶׂה פְּרִי֙ לְמִינ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃

God said, "The earth shall send forth vegetation. Seedbearing plants and fruit trees that produce their own kinds of fruits with seeds shall be on the earth." It happened.

וַתּוֹצֵ֨א הָאָ֜רֶץ דֶּ֠שֶׁא עֵ֣שֶׂב מַזְרִ֤יעַ זֶ֙רַע֙ לְמִינֵ֔הוּ וְעֵ֧ץ עֹֽשֶׂה־פְּרִ֛י אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ לְמִינֵ֑הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃

The earth sent forth vegetation, plants bearing their own kinds of seeds, and trees producing fruits containing their own kinds of seeds. God saw that it was good.

God told the earth to grow grass, seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, and the earth did. The plants did more than they were told and separated themselves by species. The trees did less: their wood did not taste like their fruit, and for that the ground was later cursed. From here we learn that Hashem does not overlook one wrong because of many good deeds; each is judged on its own, and only teshuvah changes the judgment.

English from The Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, used with the permission of the Kaplan family. Hebrew: Miqra according to the Masorah (CC BY-SA).

Takeaways

  • A mitzvah starts with knowing Who you are doing it for. That is why the Torah begins with creation and not with a commandment.
  • The light of the first day is hidden in the Torah. The more you learn, the more clearly you see the world.
  • Nothing is called good until it is finished. Finish the job.
  • The earth ran to do Hashem's will before it was asked. When you have the chance to do something good, do it now.
  • Good deeds do not cancel out a wrong. Teshuvah does.
Going deeper— the stories, Kabbalah and the reasons behind the reasons

The Me'am Loez: the commentary we are learning

  • The Me'am Loez was written by Rabbi Yaakov Culi of Constantinople, who lived until 1732 and was one of the great rabbis of his time.
  • Rabbi Culi was secretary to the author of the Mishneh LaMelech, the commentary printed alongside the Rambam (Maimonides). That author left his work as notes, and Rabbi Culi compiled them into one work.
  • He wrote the Me'am Loez in Ladino, the Jewish Spanish of his community, to give people the whole Torah in one package.
  • It was translated into Hebrew in the 1960s or 70s by Rabbi Yerushalmi. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan then translated the Hebrew into English and checked it against the entire Ladino original, which is why we use his version.
  • It is a yalkut, an anthology. It weaves together Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah and the Rishonim (the rabbis of about a thousand years ago). When two commentaries seem to contradict each other, they are different viewpoints, not a real contradiction.
  • We will not cover everything in it, and especially not the detailed laws. The goal is a solid understanding of the five books of the Torah.

A ground rule for Kabbalah

  • We live in a finite world, but reality is infinite. Kabbalah is the science of that infinite world, and a finite mind has no points of reference for it.
  • So we take what the Kabbalists teach as it is. We do not come to our own conclusions about what it means.
  • The danger for someone who is not yet at that level is imagining a fantasy world that does not exist. That is not what the Kabbalists are teaching.

Pasuk 1: Why does the Torah start with creation?

  • The purpose of the Torah is to tell a person what his job is in this world. So it should have started with the first commandment. Rashi asks why it starts with creation instead.
  • Rashi's answer: the Jewish people would one day conquer the land of Canaan from seven nations. The Torah opens by establishing that Hashem created the world, so He decides whose land is whose.
  • The Ramban's answer: creation is the root of our faith. Someone who does not believe Hashem created the world, and thinks it always existed, denies the very foundation and has no Torah at all. That is why a mitzvah only counts as a mitzvah when you know that Hashem created the world, that He is the only One, and that you are doing it to fulfill His will.
  • No human being witnessed creation. Everything from Adam onward was seen by people, but this account was not known until the Torah was given at Sinai in the year 2448. That is why the commentary on it comes through Kabbalah.
  • The Me'am Loez warns us not to probe what existed before heaven and earth, or what will be after them. Of someone who spends his time on that, it says it would have been better for him not to have been created.
  • A Midrash on the letter beis, the first letter of the Torah, makes the same point. Its shape is open only in the forward direction: do not think about what came before.
  • They say the Vilna Gaon was able to think past these realms, and stopped himself because it is forbidden.

Pasuk 2: Chaos and void

  • Everything that exists was created during the six days. Nothing new was created afterwards, and Shabbos testifies that the world is complete.
  • Wicked people could argue that Hashem therefore cannot bring new punishments on the world. So the Torah tells us that tohu vavohu, chaos and void, was itself part of creation.
  • Returning the world to that state, as Hashem did in the great flood, is not a change in creation. It was built in from the start.
  • This is a condition of the world: if people keep the Torah it stands, and if they do not it can revert to chaos.
  • Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan translates the words as "without form and empty".

Day one: what was created, and when

  • Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nechemia disagree. Rabbi Yehuda says the universe was created over six days. Rabbi Nechemia says everything was created on the first day, as raw material, and took form over the days that followed.
  • The Talmud has a dispute over whether the world was created in Nissan or in Tishrei. The answer is both: Hashem first thought to create it in Tishrei, the month of strict judgment, saw that a world created through judgment would not last, and created it in Nissan.
  • Ten things were created on the first day: heaven (fire and water congealed together), earth, light, darkness, chaos, void, water, day, night, and the winds that blow from the four directions.
  • Nothing with intelligence was created on the first day, so that no one could say the angels helped create the world. Hashem created it alone.
  • The one living thing created on the first day was the angel of death. Since everyone knows he only destroys, no one would think he had a part in creation.
  • The Torah says "one day" and not "the first day". Light came out of darkness, so the evening and the morning together make one day. This is why the Jewish day begins at night, and why Shabbos and the holidays start the evening before.

The four winds

  • Each wind has its hours and an angel in charge of it.
  • The east wind blows from morning until noon and brings healing. It is under the angel Michael.
  • The west wind blows from noon until nightfall and gives beauty to growing things. It is under the angel Rafael.
  • The south wind blows from nightfall until midnight and warms the earth's cold at night. It is under the angel Uriel, and it is hard on the sick.
  • The north wind blows from midnight until daybreak. It is the strongest wind and is good for the sick, which is why a sick person feels better in the morning.
  • Rafael is the angel of healing, yet the wind of healing is under Michael. This shows that the power is Hashem's, not the angel's.
  • The wicked in Gehinnom (purgatory) are judged between nightfall and midnight, because people are asleep then and no one is praying for them.
  • King David hung his harp so that the north wind would play it at midnight. It was his alarm clock. He got up to praise Hashem at the hour when the angels and the righteous in Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) sing.
  • A person should learn Torah at night, even one word. A house where Torah is heard at night is promised that it will not be destroyed.

Pasuk 4: The light that was hidden away

  • The light of the sun shows us surfaces and colors. The light of the first day showed the reality of things: the purpose of each creation and how it connects to everything else.
  • With it a person could see past, present and future, and from one end of the world to the other. It also exposed the heavens and the angels, like the house lights coming on after a play so that you can see backstage.
  • Hashem saw that evil people would misuse this light, so He hid it away for tzaddikim (righteous people).
  • Where is it hidden? The Me'am Loez says it was set aside for the righteous in the World to Come. The Zohar says it is hidden in the Torah.
  • So the more a person learns Torah, the more clearly he sees the world. Those who have been learning this past year can feel it.
  • A story about the Baba Sali: when someone was kidnapped, he drew a map of the building where the person was being held, and it turned out to be exactly right. He was tapping into that light.
  • The light left in our world is only a seventh of it. Some say it was 60,075 times as bright as the sun.

Day two: the firmament between the waters

  • At this point all of creation was water. Hashem made the firmament, the heavens, to divide the waters below from the waters above.
  • The upper waters are spiritual. Everything in this world has a spiritual counterpart, and a human being is the one creation that combines both the spiritual and the physical.
  • The distance from the earth to the firmament is the same as the distance from the firmament to the waters above it.
  • A gentile asked Rabbi Meir how water can stay suspended in the air. Rabbi Meir filled a jug that was full of holes and sealed the top with his finger, and the water stayed in. If a person's finger can do that, all the more so can Hashem hold up the upper waters with His word.
  • King David calls on "the waters above the heavens" to praise Hashem, in a chapter of Tehillim (Psalms) we say every day. He speaks of them as real water even though they are spiritual.
  • One stream comes from the deep and one from Gehinnom. They almost meet, and the firmament keeps them apart. Some of the water does mix, which is why the world has dangerous hot and sulfur springs. The springs of Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) were never contaminated, and their waters heal.
  • The fire of Gehinnom was also created on the second day.

The seven heavens

  • Rabbi Yehuda says there are two firmaments. Reish Lakish says there are seven, and that is the accepted opinion. The different words for heaven in Tanach are not synonyms. They are separate levels.
  • Vilon is the first. When we say that Hashem renews the act of creation every day, it refers to this firmament.
  • Rakia is where the sun, the moon, the stars and the planets hang.
  • Shechakim is where the manna is prepared for the righteous in the World to Come. It is also the source of mercy in times of trouble.
  • Zevul holds the heavenly Yerushalayim and the heavenly Beis HaMikdash (Temple), the spiritual counterparts of the ones on earth. The angel Michael, the guardian angel of the Jewish people, has an altar there, and on it he offers the souls of the righteous who have passed away.
  • Ma'on is where myriads of angels sing before Hashem all night. By day they are silent so that the prayers of the Jewish people can be heard.
  • Machon has chambers holding destructive dews, hurricane winds and poisonous waters. King David prayed, and these forces were moved down into the depths of the earth. Now Hashem's anger passes before punishment comes. This is the pasuk in Tehillim: fire and hail, snow and vapor, the storm wind fulfilling His word.
  • Aravos is the highest. It holds life, peace, blessing and success, and the dew with which the dead will be brought back to life. It also holds the souls of the righteous, in two chambers: those who have completed their mission, and those who have not yet come down to this world.
  • A soul in Aravos has the same form as the body it will come down into. The way a person looks is the way his neshama (soul) looks.
  • The Me'am Loez gives the distance from the earth to the firmament as 500 miles. Each firmament is that thick, and that is the distance between one firmament and the next.
  • Above the heavens are the angels called Chayos, described in the book of Yechezkel (Ezekiel). Above that, we have no permission to probe.

What to have in mind at "Echad" in Shema

  • Echad, "one", is spelled alef, ches, dalet. Alef is 1. Ches is 8: the seven heavens and the earth. Dalet is 4: the four directions. Hashem is One in all of them.
  • At the dalet a person should also have in mind the four death penalties of beis din (the court): stoning, burning, decapitation and strangulation. He should picture that he would give up his life by any of them rather than serve idols.
  • When a Jew intends to do something good, Hashem counts it as if he did it. So a person who has this in mind twice a day is considered as if he gave up his life for Hashem.
  • There is a teaching that Rebbi would move his eyes in every direction at this point. We cover our eyes at Shema so that it does not look as if we are rolling our eyes.

Why day two is never called "good"

  • On every other day the Torah says that Hashem saw it was good. On the second day it does not. On the third day it says it twice.
  • One reason: the lower world was still all water and had not taken form. "Good" means completed. Nothing is called good until it is finished, and whoever does the last detail gets the credit. So finish the job.
  • Other reasons: Gehinnom was created that day, the waters of that day were set aside for the flood, and the heavens were not yet complete because the stars had not been created.
  • The strongest reason: the heavens and the angels are not the purpose of creation. The purpose is people keeping the Torah on earth. Until there was land, the place where the Torah can be kept, the work could not be called good.
  • This world is the only place to do mitzvos. Once a person leaves it he cannot add anything. It is like going out to sea, or up to the space station: you only have what you packed.
  • The second day also brought the first strife. The lower waters cried that they were far from Hashem. He consoled them with two things. The upper waters may not sing praise until the lower waters do. And their water and salt are used on the mizbeach (altar): the water libations of Sukkos, and the salt on every offering.
  • It was really the angel appointed over the sea who cried. Every creation has an angel in charge of it.
  • The firmament brought peace between the waters. Nothing can exist without unity, and it was only when there was unity that the Torah said "it was good".

Day three: land, seas and plants

  • Until the third day earth and water were mixed together like mud, and nothing could grow. Hashem told the waters to gather in one place.
  • The land dried itself before the waters had gathered. It anticipated what Hashem would want. The Hebrew for land, eretz, comes from ratz, "it ran": the earth ran to do Hashem's will. So when there is a chance to do something good, do not push it off.
  • The Torah says "seas" in the plural although the oceans are all connected, because fish from different ports taste different.
  • Hashem set the sand as the boundary of the sea. The water comes up to it and goes back.
  • There are seven seas. They were created on condition that the sea would split for the Jewish people.
  • Every plant and tree has a guardian angel that tells it to grow. Four species have none, because Hashem oversees them Himself: lulav, esrog, hadasim and aravos. That is one reason we celebrate with them on Sukkos.
  • Some say that trees without fruit had fruit when they were created. Others say they are as they always were, and that the medicines and other useful things we take from them are their fruit.

Where the plants and trees differed from the command

  • Hashem commanded only the trees to grow separately, each species in its own place. The plants went beyond the command and separated themselves by species too.
  • Hashem commanded that the tree itself should taste like its fruit. What grew was a tree whose fruit can be eaten and whose wood cannot. For this the ground was later cursed.
  • Some say that in Gan Eden the wood of the Tree of Knowledge did taste like its fruit.
  • The tree could have argued that it did everything else right. The lesson: no one should say Hashem will overlook one wrong because of all the good he has done.
  • The Torah says in Devarim (Deuteronomy) that Hashem does not take bribes. Everything is His already, so this means He cannot be bribed with good deeds. Every act is judged on its own.
  • The one real way to change the judgment is teshuvah (repentance). Hashem accepts it immediately and wipes the wrong away.

"And God saw that it was good"

  • Hashem knew what He was creating before He created it. He did not need to look at it afterwards to find out whether it was good.
  • The words are there for us: everything came out exactly as He intended, and we can trust that it is good.
  • It is forbidden to ask why one thing was created before another. Whoever delves into it confuses himself. It is better to learn Torah and know what we are obligated to do.
Review questions
  1. Who wrote the Me'am Loez, in what language, and how did Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan produce the English translation?
  2. What are Rashi's and the Ramban's answers to why the Torah begins with creation?
  3. Why does the Torah need to tell us that the earth was "chaos and void"?
  4. Where was the light of the first day hidden, according to the Talmud and according to the Zohar?
  5. Name the seven heavens. What is in Zevul, and what did King David do about Machon?
  6. Give two reasons the second day is not called "good". What were the lower waters promised?
  7. What does the word eretz teach, and what is the practical lesson?
Sources
  • Me'am Loez (Rabbi Yaakov Culi), in Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's English translation
  • Rashi on Bereshis 1:1 — why the Torah begins with creation: Hashem decides whose land is whose
  • Ramban on Bereshis 1:1 — creation is the foundation of every mitzvah
  • Midrash on the letter beis — open only forward
  • Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nechemia — created over six days, or all on the first day and revealed afterwards
  • Talmud — whether the world was created in Nissan or Tishrei
  • Talmud — King David's harp and the north wind at midnight
  • Talmud and Zohar — where the first light was hidden: the World to Come, or the Torah
  • Rabbi Meir and the gentile — the jug of water and the upper waters
  • Rabbi Yehuda and Reish Lakish — two firmaments or seven
  • Tehillim — "the waters above the heavens"; "fire and hail, snow and vapor, storm wind fulfilling His word"
  • Yechezkel — the angels called Chayos
  • Devarim — Hashem does not show favor or take bribes