For an explanation of the methodology of this series, see the introduction.
"In the beginning of God's creation of the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1)
Peshat (basic meaning):
"The entire earth belongs to G‑d..."
Rashi: "In the beginning"
Said Rabbi
Yitzhak: It was seemingly necessary to begin the Torah from "This month is to
you," (Ex. 12:2) which is the first commandment that the Israelites [as a
people] were commanded. So for what reason did He commence with "In the
beginning"? Because of [the teaching] "The strength of His works He
related to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations." (Ps.
111:6) if the nations of the world should say to Israel, "You are robbers, for
you conquered the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan] by force," they
[Israel] will reply, "The entire earth belongs to G‑d; He created it [as we
learn from the story of the Creation] and gave it to whomever He deemed proper.
When He wished, He gave it to them [the Canaanites], and when He wished, He took
it away from them and gave it to us."
Remez (hinted meaning):
Baal HaTurim:"In the beginning"
The Midrash relates that the Torah begins with
the letter beit rather than the letter alef because beit
[is the first letter of and thus] connotes Beracha/blessing, while
alef [is the first letter of and thus] connotes Arira/curse. (Tanhuma 5)
G‑d said: 'I will begin with a beit with an expression of blessing. May
it be that the creation will be able to endure.' Alternatively:
beit = 2 and alludes to 2 worlds: this
world and the World to Come. Also, the beit refers to the 2
divisions of the Torah — Written and Oral, to teach you that the world was
created in the merit of the Torah and those who study it.
Derash (interpretive meaning):
...beit hints to two types of Yirah — reverence or fear of punishment.
Ohr HaChayim: There are 22 explanations of the word Bereishit. [#7] The letter
beit hints to two types of Yirah — reverence or fear of
punishment. Fear of G‑d may be due to fear of being punished for misdeeds
or it may be due to a feeling of awe or reverence for G‑d's grandeur, called
Yirat Rommemut. This latter Yirah is morally a much higher
category than mere fear of punishment. Both of these fears are alluded to
in the letter beit. G‑d had to create both fears so that the
universe would exist.
The first fear is alluded to by the use of the
Name Elokim, the attribute of Justice, the second corresponds to
Yud+Kei+Vav+Kei (the letters of Havayah) in the verse where
Shamayim/heaven is mentioned last.
Sod (esoteric, mystical meaning):
Introduction to Zohar:
Come and see, the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world using the Torah.
And this has been explained in the verse, "Then I was by him as an
apprentice, and I was daily all his delight." (Prov. 8:30) He looked
at the Torah once, twice, and thrice. The fourth time He addressed them.
Eventually, He used the Torah to teach the sons of Man how not to be misled and
how to study the Torah properly. As it is written, "Then he saw and declared
it; he established it and searched it out. And he said to man..." (Job
28:27-28)
So according to these four times (or steps), expressed as, "Then he saw it and declared it; he established it and searched it out," (Job 28:27-28) The Holy One created what He had created. And He did not accomplish His mission until He brought forth four words. Therefore it is written, "Bereishit (In the beginning) Bara (created) Elokim Et (the)..." (Gen. 1:1) which contains four words. After that is [the word] "heavens." So these are the four times that the Holy One, blessed be He, looked into the Torah before He brought his works into actuality.
BeRahamim LeHayyim:
We may think we are using one mode of expression or
reflection, but really we are always multi-tasking. Well, sort of.
See, all is inter-included. No one ever acts completely in one pure
fashion. We've all got other stuff going on.
"You are wherever your thoughts are. Make sure your
thoughts are where you want to be."
So, just like during the Omer period, we concern
ourselves with the inter-inclusion of the middot/Attributes, like
gevura within chesed or chesed within gevura, so too
are there levels of Worlds within Worlds [Asiya D'Atzilut, Atzilut D'Asiya],
and levels of interpretation within interpretation [Peshat of Sod,
and Sod of Peshat] We have action, feeling, thought, and
intuition aspects of our actions, feelings, thoughts, and intuitions.
Hashem looks into the Torah on the 4 levels, on the 4 within 4, and the 4 within
each of those, etc.
"You are wherever your thoughts are. Make sure your
thoughts are where you want to be." This appears as our main intention for
much of daily work. See where you are [with your inner
vision/intuition]. Declare it verbally [with your power of speech].
Establish it [in the world of action and deed]. Search it
out [with your feelings].
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