[Avodah] First Pasuk of Bereshis

[Cantor Wolberg]

  In the first verse of Bereishis there are seven words, corresponding  
to the seven days of the week, the seven years of the 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, Dovid hamelech said: "Sheva bayom hilalticha al mish'p'tay  
tzidkecha." (Tehillim 119:164)
And because of this correspondence, the chachomim ordained that the  
refrain in the Kaddish, "Y'hei sh'mei rabba..." - contains seven  
words, and is recited seven times each day.  Moreover, in the first  
verse of the Torah there are twenty-eight letters, as there are in the  
refrain “Y’hei shm’mei rabba…."
As a parallel, Shlomo hamelech composed seven verses - beginning with  
"Ays laledes" and ending with "v'ays shalom" (Koheles 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  
24 hour 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  
"times or watches”].
Similarly, seven words and twenty-eight are also contained in the  
verse "Vay'dabeir Elokim ays kol had'vorim ha-eyleh leimor." (Shemos  
20:1), [which introduces the Aseres hadibros].  This correspondence of  
letters and words between the refrain of the Kaddish and the  
"Bereishis bara..."  and the Aseres hadibros, alludes to the statement  
of the chachomim: "Whoever answers...Amein, Y'hei sh'mei..." with all  
of his strength (koach - gematria also 28) becomes a partner with the  
Holy One, Blessed be He, in the work of Creation." Baal HaTurim
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