Bereishit 5786
Reflection by Zac Newman, Or HaLev Program Director & Teacher:
"We are back at the beginning. The first portion of the first book of the Torah, Bereishit, whose first word is indeed Bereishit!
The grammar of this word is much discussed. Often translated as `in the beginning`, it seems more literally to be `in a beginning`. What could this shift, from `in the beginning` to `in a beginning`, come to teach us?
It suggests, as both the Ramban and the Ari explain, that there is more than one beginning. When we look in this expanded way we find that beginnings are everywhere, including here. And because you can begin from where you are, you don’t need to force your way backwards to an original point. `This is the day which the Divine created…` (Psalm 118:24).
This moment - your next breath - can be the new beginning. What would change if we took that seriously? Can you recognize the mystery of what you are about to breathe in? The glistening freshness of now? How does this shape the senses of space, possibility and vitality?
So much has happened, individually and collectively. We cannot make it otherwise, though we may long to. But with the return of the hostages and the ceasefire in the last week we have seen new beginnings before our eyes. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. May healing begin, and may it continue.
Another rich discussion which the word Bereishit has generated through the ages is that the Torah does not begin with aleph, the first letter of the alphabet, but with bet, the second. We are taught in the Kabbalah that this is because we don’t see the real beginning. Thus, every tractate of the Talmud begins on page bet, page 2. We are always coming after something, always in a particular set of conditions and flow.
So, when we begin anew, we don’t expect it to be a blank slate devoid of echoes, residues or memory. We don’t need to claw our way back, but we can meet the past as it shows up in the present. We meet it as wisely as we can, with compassion and courage, and we discern what is needed from here for healing, reconciliation and growth. And we know that what is here is always changing, ever transformed by the addition of the brand newness of the next emerging moment. There is continually a new beginning. We are continually Bereishit. It doesn’t wipe the past away, but it is always more than what precedes it, and in this we can find an indestructible seam of hope."