Weekly Parsha

A Genesis Year of New Beginnings! In the beginning means a new start, again and again. The opening letter of the word “bereshit,” the bet, is closed to three sides and open toward the left side, the side of the text. It asks us to look ahead with a fresh gaze as we renew our learning and connection with the creator. It's a new time, a new opportunity to do Mitzvos with Ahavat Israel so His plan can be revealed. May the light of this new beggining be with you for the entire year. Shabbat Shalom! 

R. Ovadiah Tank 

Genesis 1:1 - 6:8

The Five Books of Moses begin with the Six Days of Creation, the Shabbat, the story of the Garden of Eden -- the first transgression, consequences and expulsion; Cain & Abel, the ten generations to Noah, the Almighty sees the wickedness of man in that generation and decrees to "blot out man" (i.e. the flood).

One of the most profound verses in the whole Torah is "And God created man in His own Image." Since God does not have a physical being, this means that we are endowed with free will, morality, reason and the ability to emulate God Who bestows kindness. Also, if we really appreciate that we are created in the image of God, we realize that we have intrinsic worth. Therefore, there is no need to be depressed wondering if you have intrinsic worth!

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Dvar Torah 

Pirke Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, 5:4 tells us that Abraham was tested with "ten trials, and he withstood them all -- to show the degree of our forefather Abraham's love for God." Each trial was given to him in order to show how much God loved him. At first glance this seems strange. This is how you show you love someone?

First, you have him thrown into a furnace. Then, you tell him to pack his bags and move to a foreign country. When he obeys, you bring a famine to this country. And then, when he travels to find food, you have the ruler of the next place abduct his wife. Abraham gets her back and returns to his ordained place of residence, only to find that his nephew has been kidnapped by four powerful kings.

He manages to release him and is then commanded to kill his only son. Upon his return, having overcome the greatest challenge of his life, he finds that his wife died from shock and he is forced to pay an exorbitant sum for an inferior burial plot in a land that God has already promised him as an inheritance. And all of this shows God's love for Abraham?!

This is precisely God's love. Because through these challenges, Abraham was able to come closer to God. He fulfilled his potential and became the great human being we know of, founder of the nation that has taught monotheism to the world. The pain was relatively short-lived. The results were eternal. Abraham sits in his place in eternity, not in spite of his hardships, but because of them. His pain is gone. His greatness remains forever.

Our lesson: Know that pain is transient and difficulties in life are our opportunities for spiritual growth, to develop our character, perfect our behavior.

'The tests of life are not to break you,
but to make you"

Shabbat Shalom!