בראשית )א,א( איתא בכתבי האר״י ז״ל שהאות ש׳ מתיבת בראשית,
הנה הג׳ ראשין הם שלש יודי״ן ושלש ואוי״ן, ומושב האות הוא כ׳,
וביחד הם בגימטריא חיי״ם ושאר האותיות המה תרי״ג.
ולרמז בא למה שנאמר )משלי ג, יח( עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה
12 ותומכיה מאושר, דכשמקיימין התרי״ג מצוות זוכים לחיים טובים.
Gematria Calculations
י + י + י + ו + ו + ו + כ + 68
ח + י + י + מ = 68
ב + ר + א + י + ת = 613 = תרי״ג
“In the Beginning (bereishis)” (1:1) It comes to us from the
writings of the Lion of Blessed Memory
that the letter shin ש of
the word bereishis בראשית - look it has three heads which are three yud’s י and three vav’s ו and the seat of the letter is a kaf כ.
Together, in Gematria they are equivalent to hayyim (life). And the rest of the letters of the word bereishis they add up to 613.
A hint which helps us understand this comes from what is said in
Mishlei - (Proverbs 3, 18): She is a Tree of Life for those whohold tight to her and all of her supporters are strengthened.” Through this we establish that when we fulfill the 613 mitzvos we merit good lives!
בראשית ברא אלוקים וגומר (א:א)
ודרשו חז״ל ומובא ברש״י אמר רבי יצחק לא היה צריך להתחיל את התורה אלא מהחודש הזה לכם. ומה טעם פתח בבראשית? משום ״כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו״ (תהילים קיא, ו).
וקשה דהלא צורך גדול להתחיל התורה בבראשית אשר בה מתבררים לנו שרשי האמונה בבריאת השמיים והארץ. ועוד דאית בה מצות מילה.
ויש לומר דמצינו (ויקרא רבה ב, י) דהאבות קיימו את התורה קודם שניתנה והם עשו אותם מאליהם. והענין הוא דידוע שאברי האדם הם כנגד מצוות התורה, רמ״ח איברים כנגד רמ״ח עשין ושס״ה גידין כנגד שס״ה לאוין.
וכשהאדם מקדש את עצמו ומזכך ומטהר את איבריו וגופו, אזי כל אבר ואבר מתאוה ומשתוקק מעצמו לקיים את המצוה השייכת אליו. ולכן האבות אשר קדשו וזיככו אבריהם וגופם לעשות רצון קונם זכו להשיג על ידי זה מעצמם את כל מצות התורה ולקיימם.
ועל פי זה יבוארו דברי רש״י ז״ל לא "היה צריך להתחיל את התורה אלא מהחודש הזה לכם פירוש מפרשת החודש וגומר" אשר כתיב בה מצות ביעור חמץ, הבא לרמז שעל האדם לבער ולגרש את היצר הרע מקרבו, ולטהר ולזכך איבריו וגופו עד שכל איבר ואיבר יתאוה וישתוקק מעצמו לקיים את המצוה השייכת אליו.
ומה טעם פתח בבראשית? משום ״כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו״ רמז לפשוטי העם אשר אין עבודתם שלמה כל כך עד כדי שיזכו להשיג הכל מעצמם, ולכן הם צריכים חיזוק בשרשי האמונה וציווי מיוחד לכל מצוה, מה שאין כן הצדיקים מזככים איבריהם עד שהם מעצמם משיגים ועושים ומקיימים את כל מצוות ה׳ אינם צריכים לכל זה ועבורם היה די להתחיל ב״החודש הזה לכם.״
Our Sages of Blessed Memory interpreted this and Rashi relayed their interpretation.
Rabbi Yitzhak said:
The Torah only needed to begin from “This month will be for you for the first of the months” (Exodus 12:2). What is the reason the Torah opens with Bereishis? Because of “the power of His actions He recounted to His people'' (Psalms 111:6).
This is difficult. Was there not a great need to begin the Torah with Bereishis through which the roots of faith in the creation of the heavens and the earth are clarified for us? And further, in Bereishis there is the mitzvah of circumcision!
One can say that we find (Vayikra Rabbah 2:10) that the ancestors fulfilled the Torah before the Torah was given and they did so on their own initiative. The matter is in accordance with what is known that the limbs of a person are parallel to the mitzvos of the Torah, 248 limbs parallel to 248 positive commandments and 365 ligaments parallel to the negative commandments.
When a person sanctifies themselves and clarifies and purifies their limbs and body, then each and every limb independently hungers and thirsts to fulfill the corresponding mitzvah. Similarly, the ancestors who sanctified and clarified their limbs and bodies to do the will of their Creator merited to attain through their bones all of the mitzvos of the Torah and to fulfill them.
Through this, the words of Rashi, of blessed memory, can be illuminated. “The Torah only needed to begin from “This month will be for you for the first of the months etc… (Exodus 12:2)” since in this passage was written the mitzvah of destroying hametz.
"What is the reason the Torah opens with Bereishis? Because of “the power of his actions He recounted to His people'' (Psalms 111:6)” - this hints about the simple people whose worship is not complete to the point where they merit to be able to attain this experience on their own. Therefore, they need encouragement to strengthen the roots of faith and an invitation to each and every mitzvah, which is unlike the tzadikim who clarify their limbs until through their bones they experience and perform all of the mitzvos of YHVH and do not need all of these. For them it would have been enough to begin with “this month will be for you.”
(1) ה' said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: (2) This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. (3) Speak to the community leadership of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household. (4) But if the household is too small for a lamb, let it share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. (5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. (6) You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. (7) They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. (8) They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. (9) Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted—head, legs, and entrails—over the fire. (10) You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it. (11) This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to ה'. (12) For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt, both human and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I ה'. (13) And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over*pass over Or “protect”; cf. v. 11 and note there. you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (14) This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to ה' throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. (15) Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. (16) You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. (17) You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time. (18) In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. (19) No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person—whether a stranger or a citizen of the country—shall be cut off from the community of Israel. (20) You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.
(1) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, ה' appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless. (2) I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.” (3) Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further, (4) “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. (5) And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations. (6) I will make you exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you; and kings shall come forth from you. (7) I will maintain My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to you and to your offspring to come. (8) I assign the land you sojourn in to you and your offspring to come, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.” (9) God further said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring to come throughout the ages shall keep My covenant. (10) Such shall be the covenant between Me and you and your offspring to follow which you shall keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. (11) You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. (12) And throughout the generations, every male among you shall be circumcised at the age of eight days. As for the homeborn slave and the one bought from an outsider who is not of your offspring, (13) they must be circumcised, homeborn and purchased alike. Thus shall My covenant be marked in your flesh as an everlasting pact. (14) And if any male who is uncircumcised fails to circumcise the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from kin; he has broken My covenant.”
(א) הַ֥לְלוּ־יָ֨הּ ׀ אוֹדֶ֣ה ה' בְּכׇל־לֵבָ֑ב בְּס֖וֹד יְשָׁרִ֣ים וְעֵדָֽה׃
(ב) גְּ֭דֹלִים מַעֲשֵׂ֣י ה' דְּ֝רוּשִׁ֗ים לְכׇל־חֶפְצֵיהֶֽם׃
(ג) הוֹד־וְהָדָ֥ר פׇּעֳל֑וֹ וְ֝צִדְקָת֗וֹ עֹמֶ֥דֶת לָעַֽד׃ (ד) זֵ֣כֶר עָ֭שָׂה לְנִפְלְאוֹתָ֑יו חַנּ֖וּן וְרַח֣וּם ה'׃ (ה) טֶ֭רֶף נָתַ֣ן לִירֵאָ֑יו יִזְכֹּ֖ר לְעוֹלָ֣ם בְּרִיתֽוֹ׃ (ו) כֹּ֣חַ מַ֭עֲשָׂיו הִגִּ֣יד לְעַמּ֑וֹ לָתֵ֥ת לָ֝הֶ֗ם נַחֲלַ֥ת גּוֹיִֽם׃
(ז) מַעֲשֵׂ֣י יָ֭דָיו אֱמֶ֣ת וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט נֶ֝אֱמָנִ֗ים כׇּל־פִּקּוּדָֽיו׃
(ח) סְמוּכִ֣ים לָעַ֣ד לְעוֹלָ֑ם עֲ֝שׂוּיִ֗ם בֶּאֱמֶ֥ת וְיָשָֽׁר׃
(ט) פְּד֤וּת ׀ שָׁ֘לַ֤ח לְעַמּ֗וֹ צִוָּֽה־לְעוֹלָ֥ם בְּרִית֑וֹ קָד֖וֹשׁ וְנוֹרָ֣א שְׁמֽוֹ׃
(י) רֵ֘אשִׁ֤ית חׇכְמָ֨ה ׀ יִרְאַ֬ת ה' שֵׂ֣כֶל ט֭וֹב לְכׇל־עֹֽשֵׂיהֶ֑ם תְּ֝הִלָּת֗וֹ עֹמֶ֥דֶת לָעַֽד׃ {פ}
(1) Hallelujah.
I praise the LORD with all my heart
in the assembled congregation of the upright. (2) The works of the LORD are great, within reach of all who desire them.
(3) G-d's deeds are splendid and glorious;
G-d's beneficence is everlasting; (
4) G-d has won renown for G-d's wonders.
The LORD is gracious and compassionate; (5) G-d gives food to those who fear G-d;
G-d is ever mindful of G-d's covenant.
(6) G-d revealed to G-d's people G-d's powerful works, in giving them the heritage of nations.
(7) G-d's handiwork is truth and justice; all G-d's precepts are enduring,
(8) well-founded for all eternity,
wrought of truth and equity.
(9) G-d sent redemption to G-d's people;
G-d ordained G-d'ss covenant for all time;
G-d's name is holy and awesome.
(10) The beginning (reishit) of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; all who practice it gain sound understanding. Praise of G-d is everlasting.
(י) מִן הַבָּקָר וּמִן הַצֹּאן, בָּרוּךְ הַמָּקוֹם שֶׁסָּפַר עַצְמוֹ עִם הַצַּדִּיקִים הָרִאשׁוֹנִים, אָדָם הֶעֱלָה שׁוֹר עַל גַּבֵּי הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים סט, לב): וְתִיטַב לַה' מִשּׁוֹר פָּר, נֹחַ קִיֵּם מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ח, כ): וַיִּבֶן נֹחַ מִזְבֵּחַ לַה', אַבְרָהָם קִיֵּם אֶת הַתּוֹרָה כֻּלָּה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית כו, ה): עֵקֶב אֲשֶׁר שָׁמַע אַבְרָהָם וגו',
שֶׁהוּא עָשָׂה קָרְבָּן וְהִקְרִיב אַיִל, יִצְחָק קִיֵּם מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה וְהִשְׁלִיךְ עַצְמוֹ לִפְנֵי אָבִיו כְּשֶׂה זָבוּחַ. יַעֲקֹב קִיֵּם מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית לה, ד): וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶל יַעֲקֹב אֵת [כל] אֱלֹקֵי הַנֵּכָר וגו'. יְהוּדָה קִיֵּם מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית לח, ח): בֹּא אֶל אֵשֶׁת אָחִיךָ וגו'. יוֹסֵף קִיֵּם מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ, יב יג): כַּבֵּד אֶת אָבִיךָ וגו' לֹא תִרְצָח לֹא תִנְאָף לֹא תִגְנֹב לֹא תַעֲנֶה לֹא תַחְמֹד, עַד שֶׁלֹּא נִתְּנָה תּוֹרָה לָהֶם וְהֵם עָשׂוּ אוֹתָהּ מֵאֲלֵיהֶן, לְפִיכָךְ אֲהֵבָם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אַהֲבָה גְּמוּרָה וְהִשְׁוָה אֶת שְׁמָם לִשְׁמוֹ הַגָּדוֹל, עֲלֵיהֶם הוּא אוֹמֵר (תהלים קיט, א): אַשְׁרֵי תְמִימֵי דָּרֶךְ הַהוֹלְכִים בְּתוֹרַת ה', וְאָמַר (דברים לב, ד): הַצּוּר תָּמִים פָּעֳלוֹ, וְאָמַר (תהלים יח, לא): הָאֵל תָּמִים דַּרְכּוֹ.
"From the Cattle and the Sheep" Blessed is the Place who communicated His Essence (Atzmo) with the earliest righteous ones.
Adam sent up a lamb on the back of the altar, as it says in Psalms 69:32: you brought goodness to G-d from the sheep and bull.
Noah fulfilled what was written in the Torah
in Bereishit 8:20: Noah built an altar to ה׳.
Avraham fulfilled the entire Torah, as it says in Bereishit 26:5 "since Avraham listened to my voice and protected what I protect, my mitzvot, laws, and Torah.
...
May it be Your will, Lord our God,
that You station us in a lighted corner and not in a darkened corner,
and do not let our hearts become faint nor our eyes dim.
Some say that this was the prayer that Rav Hamnuna would recite, and that after Rabbi Alexandri prayed, he would say the following:
Master of the Universe, it is revealed and known before You
that our will is to perform Your will, and what prevents us?
On the one hand, the yeast in the dough, the evil inclination that is within every person;
and the subjugation to the kingdoms on the other.
May it be Your will
that You will deliver us from their hands, of both the evil inclination and the foreign kingdoms,
so that we may return to perform the edicts of Your will with a perfect heart.
“Tracing the Contours of Half a Century of Jewish Feminist Theology” by Dr. Mara Benjamin in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2020)
Feminist thinkers uncovered the role of Western theology and philosophy in producing a negative association between women and many forms of materiality, including embodiment. For Jewish feminist theologians, the attempt to locate an alternative to this tradition has emphasized the body not only as that which separates humans from the divine but also as a point of contact with it….
On the one hand, patriarchy is woven into the cultural patrimony of the rabbis of late-antiquity, as is evident in the asymmetry of post-Temple purity practices. At the same time, Jewish sources articulate a discourse of embodiment that, for feminists, can and should be retrieved and lifted out of its misogynist underpinnings.