Parashat Bereshit — In the beginning
בְּרֵאשִׁית
Bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית) means "in the beginning" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.
The Readings
What Happens in Bereshit
The Torah opens not with an argument for God but with God already speaking: Bereshit bara Elohim — in the beginning, Elohim created. Over six days the world is called into order by the spoken word alone. Light is divided from darkness, the waters above from the waters below, sea from dry land. The earth brings forth vegetation, the heavens receive their lights to govern day, night, and the appointed times, and the waters and skies and fields fill with living creatures. Ten times the text says 'and God said' — tradition counts these as the ten utterances by which the world was made. Then the pattern changes: mankind is not merely spoken about, but deliberated over. Let Us make man in Our image. Male and female, humanity is created to bear the image of Elohim and given dominion over the works of His hands.
On the seventh day God rests — not from weariness but as crown and completion — and blesses and sanctifies the Shabbat, weaving rest into the fabric of creation itself before Israel or Sinai ever existed. The narrative then draws close: Adam formed from the dust and filled with the breath of life, placed in the garden of Eden to work and keep it, and Chavah (Eve) built from his side, bone of his bone. One tree is fenced off — the knowledge of good and evil — with a warning of death.
The serpent, more cunning than any beast, unravels the command with a question: did God really say? The woman eats, her husband with her eats, and their eyes open to shame. Yet even as judgment falls — pain, thorns, sweat, and exile from the garden — a promise is planted in the curse itself: the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. Outside Eden the wound spreads fast. Cain murders Abel and is marked; Lamech boasts of vengeance; yet through Seth men begin to call on the name of YHVH. Ten generations run from Adam to Noach, and as violence fills the earth, YHVH grieves in His heart that He made man. The portion closes on its single ray of light: but Noach found favor in the eyes of YHVH.
Main Themes
Creation by the spoken word Mankind made in the image of Elohim The Shabbat woven into creation itself Sin, exile, and the first promise of redemption The spread of violence and the grief of God
Key Events
· The six days of creation and the seventh-day rest
· Adam placed in Eden; Chavah formed from his side
· The serpent's deception and the fall
· The first promise of the seed who will crush the serpent
· Cain murders Abel
· The generations from Adam to Noach
Key People
Adam Chavah (Eve) The serpent Cain Abel Seth Enoch Noach
Key Verses
Genesis 1:1 Read →
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:27 Read →
“God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 3:15 Read →
“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.””
All 54 Torah portions → · Open the Torah Portion tool in Hebrew Explorer