Fun Undzer Alten Oyster: Bereishis Translated from B. Yeushson by Rabbi Daniel Stein; Rights Reserved

"In the beginning," Rebbe Moshe Leyb Sasover used to say: the first thing a Jew should know is, "God created the Heavens and the Earth," that is to say that the Most High created the world, that there is a leader, and that the world does not run itself, God forbid.

The letters of the word בראשית--in the beginning--hint at six important traits which are essential in a person, namely:בטחון--faith; רצון--will; אהבה--love; שתיקה--quietude; יראה--awe of heaven; תורה--Torah. (The Gaon of Vilna)

The word ברא--God Created--suggests three concepts בנים --children; בריאות--health; תבואה--sustenance. The word בראשית--in the beginning--suggests primacy, the first requirement, the highest longing of a person, viz.: "children, life, and sustenance (Moed Katan 28a)." (Rebbe Ze'ev-Wolf of Strikov)

The Torah begins with a בּ, as does every tractate of the Talmud, to teach that, no matter how much we worry or investigate, we will never arrive at the א. We know nothing , and we still seek for beginnings. (Levi Yitshok of Berditchev)

(1) בראשית IN THE BEGINNING — Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months...” Rashi, Genesis 1:1.

In many books, including the Hida's (Chaim Yosef David Azulai) Nachal Kadumim, we find that the Rabbi Isaac mentioned in this comment is Rashi's father, and in his honor, Rashi began his commentary with his father's teaching. However, we find the same teaching in the Zohar (Bo, 39b): "Rabbi Isaac said, the Torah needed only to begin with the verse 'This month shall be unto you." The same teaching is found in Genesis Rabba (chapter 1) in the name of Rabbi Joshua of Sachnin in the name of Rabbi Levi, and in Midrash Rabba on the Song of Songs (on verse 1:4, "Let the king bring me into his chambers") in the name of Rabbi Yanai. (Pardes Yosef)

"ראשית ברא IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED — This verse calls aloud for explanation in the manner that our Rabbis explained it:" Rashi, Genesis 1:1'; Sefaria Edition.

Rabbi Israel Ruzhyner had a strong disdain for those preachers, who toss verses together and cast out odd interpretations which they find interesting. He used to say, "About the verse 'In the beginning,' Rashi taught, 'this text declares expound me!' The first verse of the Torah asks for mercy from preachers! What is more, it asks that they 'explain the verses in the manner of Our Sages of Blessed Memory--for the sake of the Torah!' Or they should explain the verses "for the sake of tzadikim " (Likutei Halachos, below)--that is to say that they should explain the Torah in such a way as to guide the world in the path of tzadikim , and awake in them an impulse towards repentance and good deeds.

Likutei Halachos , Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav, Choshen Mishpat, Nizikin 4

Therefore, Rabbi Hiyya Bar Rabbah made every effort to establish many students, and took great pleasure in this and said, "I am working to ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten from the Jewish people. For I bring flax and I plant it, and I then weave nets from the flax fibers. I then go out and trap deer, and I feed the meat to orphans, and I form scrolls from the skins of the deer. And I go to a town that has no teachers of children in it and I write the five books of the Torah for five children. And I teach the six orders of the Mishna to six children. To each and every one of these children I say: Teach your order to your friends." (Kettubot 103b, Sefaria Edition). For the essence of Torah is achieved through the cultivation of students. That is why he did those strange things--planting flax and making nets to hunt deer so that he could write Torahs on their skin--as it says in the Talmud. And on the surface, this seems bewildering: he could have taken prepared scrolls. But his intention was based in his desire to continue divine knowledge. This required great tzimtzum from level to level. And one needs to know that everything God sets into motion in the world is for a purpose, namely that an action will allow the tzadik to advance divine knowledge. For everything was created for the tzadik, as the rabbis taught: "the entire world as created only to serve him." (Brachot 6b). This is why Rav Hiya chose to specifically begin from from an apparently distant point from Torah--namely by starting with flax nets, etc.--for whoever would see would never think that such behaviors were meant to establish Torah. But afterwards, when he wrote Torah scrolls and over time cultivated many students, and spread Torah throughout Israel and made God's presence known in the world, everyone saw that despite the apparently remote origins, all his actions were directed towards establishing Torah. Through this, the people will know and make know that all that is done in the world--from beginning to end--is to support tzadikm in establishing Torah. For all was creadted and endures only for the sake of tzadikim and Torah.

"'The beginning of Your word is truth.' (Psalm 119), as it is written: "in the beginning, God created." Yalkut, Remez 3

The last letters of the first three words "In the beginning God Created," (בראשית ברא אלוקים) are the letters of the word אמת--truth. In mispar katan calculation, the word אמת--truth-- reduces to the number 9 (א=1, מ=4,ת=4). The word שקר--lie--has a numerical value of 6 (ש=3, ק=1, ר=2). When one counts every three letters of the alphabet, starting with "the beginning of God's word," from the letter that begins the Torah, namely ב, we will always arrive at an integer that reduces to 9, equivalent to the word אמת--truth. For instance, ב is 2, ג is 3, ד is 4, totaling 9. Similarly, ה is 5, ו is 6, ז is 7, totaling 18; when 8 and 1 are summed, the total is 9. And so it goes until the larger numbers; there the pattern continues with mispar katan counting. So נ is 5, ס is 6, ע is 7--totaling 18. And so the pattern continues throughout the alphabet.

Conversely, when one counts every three letters beginning with א, we willl consistently meet the number 6--equivalent to the word שקר--falsehood.

"God Created..."

The final letters from the words "God Created," (אמת) with which God Began creation, are the same as the last three letters of the words "God created and made" (Gen. 1:3), which end the creation of the wold. Both spell out אמת--truth. This is the foundation of creation; the world would not have a foundation were it not for truth.(Tzror-Hamor)

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