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Monday, October 5, 2026

Bereshis 5

This class covers Bereshis 2:4–7. Here the Torah moves from the general picture of the six days to the details, above all the creation of Adam. We look at the small hey in "behibar'am," why Hashem's four-letter name first appears here, why the plants waited for Adam's prayer, why the world is watered by rain, and how man was formed from dust and given a soul. Two ideas keep coming back. Hashem made us needy and lowly so that we stay humble and keep looking up to Him. And the soul Hashem breathed into us is ours to build through free will, Torah and mitzvos.

The pesukim

Bereshis 2:4

אֵ֣לֶּה תוֹלְד֧וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם עֲשׂ֛וֹת יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃

These are the chronicles of heaven and earth when they were created, on the day God completed earth and heaven.

"These are the chronicles of heaven and earth when they were created, on the day Hashem Elohim completed earth and heaven." Here the Torah begins the detailed account of creation, and for the first time it uses Hashem's four-letter name (Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei) next to Elohim. Elohim speaks of strength and power, so it is used for each separate creation, because those things break down, decay and die. The four-letter name, the highest of the names, was not fitting for things that do not last. It appears only now, when the world is complete and the verse speaks of heaven and earth, which will exist forever. The lesson is that the Torah uses Hashem's name only where it truly belongs, so we too should be careful with it.
Bereshis 2:5

וְכֹ֣ל ׀ שִׂ֣יחַ הַשָּׂדֶ֗ה טֶ֚רֶם יִֽהְיֶ֣ה בָאָ֔רֶץ וְכׇל־עֵ֥שֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה טֶ֣רֶם יִצְמָ֑ח כִּי֩ לֹ֨א הִמְטִ֜יר יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאָדָ֣ם אַ֔יִן לַֽעֲבֹ֖ד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃

All the wild shrubs did not yet exist on the earth, and all the wild plants had not yet sprouted. This was because God had not brought rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground.

"No wild shrub was yet on the earth and no wild plant had yet sprouted, because Hashem had not brought rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground." The plants were created on the third day, but they did not come up out of the ground until Adam was created and prayed for rain. Hashem did this because He wants people to always turn their attention upward, toward Him. That is why He made us with constant needs: a person who lacks something remembers that he needs Hashem, and he turns that drive into prayer.
Bereshis 2:6

וְאֵ֖ד יַֽעֲלֶ֣ה מִן־הָאָ֑רֶץ וְהִשְׁקָ֖ה אֶֽת־כׇּל־פְּנֵ֥י הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃

A mist rose up from the earth, and it watered the entire surface of the ground.

"A mist rose up from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground." The Tikunei Zohar explains that the mist rising from the earth is the good deeds of the people who live on it. Rain only comes down once something goes up from below, so the earth became worthy of rain only after Adam was created and could do good deeds. The same is true for us. When we stir ourselves, do sincere teshuvah (returning to Hashem) and follow the Torah, the rain comes down.
Bereshis 2:7

וַיִּ֩יצֶר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃

God formed man out of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life. Man [thus] became a living creature.

"Hashem Elohim formed man out of dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and man became a living creature." Hashem made everything else with a word, but He formed man with His own hands, so to speak. He used fine dust and not gold, so that a person who remembers where he comes from can be humble. Then Hashem breathed a soul into that dust, and the soul is the only real difference between a person and an animal. So we should stay humble about our bodies and keep our souls alive.

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

  • Lacking something isn't a punishment: Hashem gave us needs so we keep looking up to Him in prayer.
  • Thank Hashem for what you already have before you ask for more.
  • Remember you were formed from dust, even if you have wisdom, wealth and strength.
  • Every free choice to do good builds your neshama, and the more you build during the week, the more extra soul you receive on Shabbos.
  • Treat Hashem's name with care in every language: say "gosh," not "God," in casual speech.
Going deeper— the stories, Kabbalah and the reasons behind the reasons

The full spelling of toldos and the small hey

  • In this verse the word toldos (chronicles) is spelled with both of its vavs. Everywhere else in the Torah it has one vav or none, and the only other place it is spelled in full is Megillas Rus (Rus 4:18).
  • The hey in behibar'am ("when they were created") is written small, to teach that the world was created with the letter hey.
  • A hey is open at the bottom and open at the top. The opening at the bottom is the one through which the wicked easily fall and go down to Gehinnom (purgatory). The opening at the top is there for anyone who chooses good and wants to climb. Falling is easy and climbing takes effort, but no one forces a person either way: both openings are always there.
  • In a Torah scroll the hey also carries a small crown (tagin, the decorative crowns on certain letters). This teaches that a wicked person who repents and climbs back up is also given a crown by Hashem.
  • You can say hey without using your tongue at all. This shows that creating the whole world took Hashem no more effort than saying that easy letter.
  • Matzah also ends in a hey. The same bread can be the bread of affliction or the bread of freedom, depending on which opening a person takes.

Avraham hidden inside "when they were created"

  • If you rearrange the letters of behibar'am, they spell b'Avraham, "through Avraham."
  • Avraham was full of chesed (kindness) and always wanted to do good for others. The hint teaches that the world was created through good deeds and following the Torah, and that this is the only thing that keeps it standing.

Elohim, nature, and guarding Hashem's name

  • In the account of creation the Torah uses Elohim, the name of strength and power, to answer anyone who claims the world runs by itself. Nature and everything in it come from Hashem.
  • The numerical value (gematria) of Elohim is 86, the same as hateva, "nature." Elohim is Hashem as He controls the natural world. The four-letter name points to the deeper intention behind creation, which chapter two now begins to reveal.
  • Whenever we say Elokim, as in "Elokeinu" in the Shema, the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 5) says to have in mind that Hashem is takif (strong), baal hayecholes (able to do anything) and baal hakochos kulam (the source of all power).
  • The Knesses HaGedolah teaches that a person should not use Hashem's name loosely in any language. That is why we say "oh my gosh" instead of "oh my God." We do this out of respect, because Hashem is holy and His name is holy.

Why the verse says "earth and heaven"

  • The Torah's first verse says "heaven and earth," but this verse ends with "earth and heaven."
  • The first reason, from the Ahavas Tzion: before man was created, heaven came first because the angels were more precious than the world. Once Adam was created, a human being of flesh and blood became more precious to Hashem than the heavens, so earth now comes first.
  • The second reason, from the Zohar and from Rabbi Yochanan in Bereshis Rabbah (12:12): switching the order shows that neither one came first. Heaven and earth were made in a single act of creation.

Why Hashem made us needy

  • Hashem could have made people who need only one meal a year. Instead we have to work every day for food, a house and the basics.
  • Someone with no needs and no responsibilities starts sleeping late and drifting. He wastes his days and forgets Hashem. A person with a "poor man's mentality" gets up early and is always ready to put in the effort.
  • In the blessing Borei Nefashos we thank Hashem for creating living beings together with the things they lack. Lacking keeps us driven, and we can turn that drive toward Hashem in prayer.
  • The Midrash teaches that rain is held back because of the sin of pride, the feeling that "I don't need Hashem anymore." Even when a person has plenty, the way to keep it is to stay in the mindset of "Hashem, I need You."

Why rain and not rivers

  • If fields were watered only by rivers and channels, wicked people would divert the water to their own fields and leave others dry. Nobody can divert rain.
  • Rain also cleans the air, and it waters every piece of land equally, even ground that a stream could never reach without a pump.
  • Rabbi Yochanan teaches in the Gemara (Taanis 2a) that Hashem keeps the key to rain in His own hands, along with the keys to childbirth and to the resurrection of the dead. He alone turns it on and off.
  • The most important reason, from Bereshis Rabbah, is that rain makes a person's eyes turn to heaven. When it doesn't rain, everyone looks up, and they remember where their sustenance comes from.

What rain does for us, and why we praise it before asking for it

  • The whole world lives on rain. In the days of wooden ships, sailors poured water on the hull so the wood wouldn't crack. Without rain, the world would fall apart the way a desert does.
  • Rain also drives the economy, and when people have a livelihood there is peace between them. Poverty brings fighting and chaos. So rain is a hidden mechanism that keeps society together, not just something that gives us apples.
  • From Shemini Atzeres we start praising Hashem as the One who "makes the wind blow and the rain fall" (Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem). Outside Israel we only add the request for rain (V'sein tal umatar) in December; this year it starts at Maariv on Friday night, December 4. You can't request something before you appreciate it. That is also why Shemoneh Esrei opens with praise before any requests.
  • If we want more, we first have to appreciate what we already have. It did not rain until there was a man who could appreciate it.
  • The praise of rain is in the second blessing of Shemoneh Esrei, the blessing about the resurrection of the dead. This teaches that rain is a miracle on the same level as the resurrection. Water rises from the salty ocean and leaves the salt behind, and winds carry the clouds to the tops of mountains, where they water everything in exactly the right amount.

More benefits of rain

  • Rain brings health. In hot, dry weather people get sick, and when it rains the air is fresh. Even the fish grow in the rainy season: in Akko, a fish caught in the dry season looked like 300 pounds and weighed 200, and one caught after the rains looked like 200 and weighed 300 (Bereshis Rabbah 13:16).
  • Rain brings people to teshuvah. A thinking person sees that while he sleeps in bed, Hashem is making sure his food grows, and a lack of rain brings poverty, which can push a person off the right path.
  • A gentile friend of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korchah once told him he wished there were one day a year they could celebrate together, since whenever the Jews are happy his people are sad. Rabbi Yehoshua answered that there is such a day: the day the rain that's needed falls (Bereshis Rabbah 13:6).

When and how Adam was formed

  • The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah (10b–11a) brings a debate: Rabbi Eliezer says the world was created in Tishrei, and Rabbi Yehoshua says in Nisan. The Ran explains Rabbi Eliezer: the first day of creation was the 25th of Elul, so Adam, made on the sixth day, was created on the first of Tishrei. That is why Rosh Hashanah celebrates the creation of humanity.
  • Man was made of four colors, like the earth: green for the inner organs, red for the blood, white for the bones, sinews and blood vessels, and yellow for the rest of the body.
  • The Gemara (Sanhedrin 38a–b) teaches that Adam's head came from the earth of the Holy Land, his torso from Bavel (Babylon), and his hands and feet from the rest of the world. Hashem kneaded this dust with water from all over the world. Because of this, wherever a person is buried, the earth accepts him back instead of spitting him out.
  • The Zohar Chadash says Hashem could have made man from dust with gold in it, but then people would want money even more than they already do. He also used fine dust and not coarse earth, so that man would have the ability to be humble.
  • Animals were made from hard, coarse earth. That is why they are aggressive, always face down, never speak and never come to recognize Hashem. The Me'am Loez learns from this that a person who feels pulled toward a sin should look up at the sky, and this helps calm the desire.
  • Bereshis Rabbah teaches that Hashem took earth from the place of the altar in the Beis HaMikdash, the place of atonement.

Adam's size, age and appearance

  • The Gemara in Chagigah (12a) brings two opinions: Adam stretched from one end of the earth to the other, or from the ground to the sky. The two don't contradict each other, because the two distances are equal. Some commentaries explain that this describes his mind, not his body: he could see and understand everything in heaven and on earth.
  • Bereshis Rabbah brings Rabbi Yochanan's teaching that Adam and Chava were created at about twenty years old.
  • There is a debate over whether Adam was created already circumcised. Avos deRabbi Nasan says he was. The Yafeh To'ar says he was not, since the Torah doesn't say "it was good" about his creation, because he was not yet complete. Bris milah shows that we are not created complete, physically or spiritually. We have to finish the job by working on ourselves.
  • Adam was extremely handsome. His face shone with the hidden light that Hashem stored away for the righteous.
  • The Gemara in Sanhedrin (38b) gives the order of that sixth day, which began at sunrise. In the first hour the earth was gathered, in the second it was kneaded, in the third his limbs were formed, in the fourth the soul was breathed in, and in the fifth he stood up. Hashem could have done it in an instant, but He took His time, the way a person works carefully on something precious, to show the angels how important man is to Him.

Where the soul lives and where it comes from

  • Every morning in the prayers we say, "Man has no advantage over the animal, for all is futile" (Koheles 3:19): in body we are no different. The only difference is the pure neshama (soul), which will one day stand before Hashem for judgment and reckoning.
  • Where is the soul? In the Zohar Chadash, Rabbi Dostai answers that a person who works to keep the Torah and contemplates Hashem's wonders every day can come to sense his own soul. Rabbi Azaria says the soul is in the heart. Just as the heart sends nourishment to the whole body, the soul is the life force of every limb, and the soul's own life comes from Hashem.
  • The highest heaven, Aravos, is the treasury of souls. It has one section for souls not yet born and another for the righteous who have left this world. When someone passes away, we pray that his soul be placed in that treasury of eternal life.
  • Every day an announcement goes out on High: Hashem gives the good a holy soul from a place higher than His Throne of Glory (Kisei HaKavod). A soul formed from dust has an end. Learning and keeping the Torah makes a person worthy of an immortal soul.
  • "One who comes to purify himself is helped" (Shabbos 104a, Yoma 38b, Menachos 29b). Until bar or bas mitzvah, a child is mostly interested in worldly things. At thirteen for a boy, or twelve for a girl, Hashem examines the child, and if He sees the child trying to be good, He gives a holy soul. The more we tap in, the more of that soul we receive.
  • The Zohar Chadash tells that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai once made a feast for the sages on an ordinary weekday. When they asked why, he said his son was becoming bar mitzvah that day and was worthy of receiving a holy, immortal soul.

Healings at idolatrous shrines

  • In the Zohar Chadash, Rabbi Yehuda asks why so many idol worshippers who go to their shrines to pray for healing are actually healed. Rabbi Shimon answers that this is not mercy. It reinforces their error, so they stay on the path they chose. As the Gemara says (Makkos 10b), a person is led along the path he wants to take.
  • Rabbi Yochanan tells of a Jew suffering from an incurable illness who saw others with the same illness healed at a shrine, and he went to see it for himself. At night a man came in and put medicine on each sick person, and each one was healed, but he passed by the Jew. When the Jew begged him, the man said, "I am the Satan. I do this only for the idol worshippers so they stay faithful to their idols. I have no authority to heal a Jew unless Hashem Himself wants it." The Jew wept and declared, "Happy is the man who walks the straight path of the holy Torah. He has a divine soul and will enjoy his portion in the World to Come."

Nefesh, ruach and neshama: the three levels of the soul

  • There is a debate over whether these are three souls or three parts of one soul. The nefesh fills the body and makes it grow to maturity, like a plant. The ruach lets a person act and lives in the liver. Animals have both of these, though a human's ruach is different from an animal's. Only humans have the neshama, which lets a person think and understand and lives in the brain. If a person is not drawn after his instincts, the neshama earns a share in the World to Come.
  • Rabbi Berkowitz explains it this way: the nefesh sits in our DNA, and the ruach is the pipe connecting the nefesh to the neshama. Free will lives in the ruach. When we choose to do good, the action flows through the pipe and builds the neshama. When we choose wrongly, it damages the neshama. An action done without any choice doesn't affect the neshama at all.
  • Some people have only a nefesh, some have a nefesh and ruach, and some have all three. It depends on how much a person builds himself through Torah and mitzvos.
  • On Shabbos each person receives extra soul, matched to what he has during the week: someone with one level gets one more, and someone with all three gets three more.
  • Before the golden calf, a person could receive that extra soul every day. After that sin it comes only on Shabbos. A baal teshuvah, someone who wasn't observant and returned, can merit that extra soul every day.

Antoninus: the blind man and the lame man

  • The emperor Antoninus asked Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi how either body or soul could be judged. The body can say every sin was the soul's, since without it the body lies like a stone. The soul can say that once it left the body it flew off and had nothing more to do with sin.
  • Rabbi Yehudah answered with a parable. A king set two guards over his orchard of rare fruit: one blind and one with no feet, so neither could steal. The lame man climbed onto the blind man's shoulders, and together they picked the fruit and ate it.
  • Each pleaded innocent: "Can I see the fruit?" "Can I reach the tree?" The king put the lame man back on the blind man's shoulders and judged them together.
  • So too, Hashem returns the soul to the body and judges them together (Sanhedrin 91a–b).

When the soul enters the body

  • Antoninus also asked Rabbi Yehudah when the soul enters the body: at conception, or once the embryo is formed? Rabbi Yehudah said once it is formed.
  • Antoninus objected that meat left unpreserved for three days spoils, so the embryo must have a soul from the start. Rabbi Yehudah agreed, and would say, "This I learned from Antoninus" (Sanhedrin 91b).

Why the soul comes down at all

  • The body is earthly and pulls toward sin, so a soul can lose its high level here. Why should it come down at all?
  • Before it is born, the soul has no Torah or mitzvos of its own. It is like a guest eating at a host's table on charity, ashamed to look him in the face, and so it cannot enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah (Divine Presence).
  • In this world it can keep the Torah, and every mitzvah raises it a step. When it returns, it enjoys the Shechinah as something it earned.

Sin injures the soul

  • The soul has the same shape as the body: 248 limbs and 365 vessels, spiritual instead of physical, each bound to its counterpart in the body. Just as the body needs food and clothing, the soul needs both Torah study and mitzvos.
  • A sin with a limb injures that limb of the soul. Gazing at another man's wife blinds the soul's eyes, and then a person can look at a simple page of Gemara and not understand it, because real sight depends on the eyes of the soul.
  • The mouth sins most easily: gossip, malicious speech, and Hashem's name said in vain. A sin of the mouth strikes the soul's mouth dumb, so a person can't say an original thought in Torah.
  • When someone is ill, the first thing a doctor watches is what goes into his mouth. All the more so must a person guard his mouth for the sake of his soul.

Before the soul comes down

  • Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught that before Hashem sends a soul down, He warns it many times to keep the mitzvos and shows it the heights it can reach if it leaves the world pure.
  • Thirty days before it comes down, the soul is led around Gan Eden to see the greatness of the righteous. If it later sins, the Torah laments: after seeing such greatness, how could you rebel against your Creator? (Zohar, Vayikra)

How Heaven knows: the king's son-in-law

  • How is what a person does in his innermost rooms known above? A king told his visiting son-in-law exactly what he had done the night before. The young man blamed his servants, since no one else knew.
  • The king answered: "Fool, your wife is my daughter. How could she refuse to tell me anything?" The soul is Hashem's "daughter," and every night it goes up and reports everything the person did that day (Yalkut Reuveni).

Adam's tail

  • "He breathed into his nostrils nishmas chaim": nishmas means "breath of" and can also be read "soul of." The whole discussion of the soul is hinted in these words.
  • "Man became a nefesh chaya" can also be read as a beast, because chaya can mean an animal. Hashem created Adam with a tail so he would be humble and remember he came from dust like any other creature, and out of respect for man He removed it right away.
  • Even if a person is given wisdom, wealth and strength, he should remember that he was made from dust and created with a tail, and never become proud.
  • A "living soul" also means a person should wake up in the morning with his soul alive, not just his body. When someone's soul is alive, you can see it: he is locked in and ready to go.
Review questions
  1. Why does Hashem's four-letter name first appear in Bereshis 2:4 and not in chapter one?
  2. What do the two openings and the crown of the small hey in behibar'am teach?
  3. Why didn't the plants come up until Adam prayed, and what does that teach about why Hashem made us needy?
  4. Give two reasons Hashem waters the world with rain and not rivers, and say which one is the most important.
  5. Why was Adam formed from earth gathered all over the world, and why from fine dust and not gold?
  6. How does the ruach connect the nefesh and the neshama, and what role does free will play in it?
Sources
  • The Living Torah (Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan) — the English translation of the pesukim
  • Me'am Loez — the main commentary followed through these pesukim, including the four colors of Adam's earth and looking up at the sky to calm the desire to sin
  • Megillas Rus 4:18 — the only other place toldos is spelled in full
  • Ahavas Tzion — why earth comes before heaven once man is created
  • Knesses HaGedolah — not using Hashem's name loosely in any language
  • Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 5 — what to have in mind when saying Elokim
  • Bereshis Rabbah (12:12; 13:9; 13:14; 14:7; 14:8; 14:10) — heaven and earth in one act, rain makes eyes turn to heaven, rain withheld for pride, Adam created at about twenty, earth from the altar's place, Adam's tail
  • Zohar, Zohar Chadash and Tikunei Zohar — the mist as good deeds, dust without gold, where the soul is, the daily announcement, Rabbi Shimon's bar mitzvah feast, and healings at shrines
  • Gemara Taanis 2a — the key to rain stays in Hashem's hands
  • Gemara Rosh Hashanah 10b–11a and the Ran — whether the world was created in Tishrei or Nisan, and the 25th of Elul
  • Gemara Sanhedrin 38a–b — where Adam's earth came from and the hour-by-hour sequence of his creation
  • Gemara Chagigah 12a — Adam's size from one end of the earth to the other
  • Avos deRabbi Nasan and the Yafeh To'ar — whether Adam was created circumcised
  • Gemara Shabbos 104a, Yoma 38b and Menachos 29b — "one who comes to purify himself is helped"
  • Rabbi Berkowitz — the ruach as the pipe of free will connecting nefesh and neshama