[Avodah] Bereshis "Begin With A Blessing"

[R Wolberg]

The Midrash relates that the Torah begins with the letter bet, rather than
with the letter alef, because bet connotes beracha, blessing, while alef
connotes arirah, curse.  The HaKodosh, Baruch Hu, said, "I will begin with a
bet, with an expression of blessing.  May it be that the creation will be
able to endure."  Another Kabbalistic Midrash says that the Torah begins
with the letter Bet because it looks like a box open only towards the front,
teaching us to not ask about what comes before, or beyond, or beneath this
creation.

 

Alternatively: The bet refers to the two [divisions of the] Torah, the
Written Torah and the Oral Torah, to teach you that the world was created in
the merit of the Torah and those who study it.

 

The gematria of bereishit (913) is equal to that of batorah yatzar, "He
formed [it] with the Torah."  It was for the sake of the Torah, which is
called the beginning (Mishlei 8:22), that the world was created.

 

Alternatively: The gematria of bereishit (913) is equal to that of yisrael
bachar baamim, "He chose Yisrael among the nations" and to that of taryag
yatzar, "He formed 613," indicating that He created the world for the sake
of Yisrael, that they be enabled to observe the 613 Mitzvot.  It is because
of those who observe the Torah that the world stands.  

 

In the first verse of Bereishit there are seven words, corresponding to the
seven days of the week, the seven years of the a shemittah cycle, the seven
shemittah cycles of a yovel cycle, the seven heavens, the seven lands, the
seven seas , the seven servants.  Corresponding to these, King David said,
"Seven times a day I have praised you" (Tehillim 119:164)

 

And because of this correspondence, the Sages ordained that the refrain in
the Kaddish - Y'hei shmei rabba m'vorach l'olam ul'almei almaya.  May His
great Name be blessed forever and ever - contains seven words, and be
recited seven times each day.  Moreover, in this first verse of the Torah
there are twenty-eight letters, as there are in the refrain "May His great
Name..." 

 

As a parallel, King Shlomo composed seven verses - beginning with "a time to
be born" and ending with "a time for peace" (Kohelet 3:2-8) - that speak of
twenty-eight "times" [which correspond to the twenty-eight different time
periods each week].  For there are four "times" in each full day-night
period: From dawn to noon is one time; from noon to dusk is a second time;
from dusk to midnight is a third time; and from midnight to dawn is a fourth
time. And so in seven days there are twenty-eight time periods.  (I'm also
reminded of many medicines that one is supposed to take four times a day).

 

Remarkably also, seven words and twenty-eight letters are also contained in
the verse "G-d spoke all these statements, saying" (Shemot 20:1), which
introduces the Ten Commandments.  This [correspondence of letters and words
between the refrain of the Kaddish and the verse that introduce Creation and
the Ten Commandments] alludes to our Sages' statement, "Whoever answers with
all of his strength (koach)...Amen. Y'hei shmei rabba m'vorach l'olam
ul'almei almaya.  May His great Name be blessed forever and ever... becomes
a partner with the Holy One, Blessed be He, in the work of Creation."  -Baal
HaTurim

 

 Richard Wolberg

 

 

 

 

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