B"H

Friday, Tishrei 26, 5777 / October 28, 2016

Shalom. As our children and grandchildren are all away from Montreal, we travel in order to spend the holidays with them. I thank you for your patience. After being away for a month from the Torah Fax desk, I am happy to be back and resume, G-d willing, our Torah lessons.

This Shabbat, we read the first Parsha of the Torah, Parshat Breishit. With this Parsha, we start the Torah cycle for the year 5777 which will, G-d willing, be completed by next Simchat Torah. Because of this week’s Torah reading, this Shabbat is called, Shabbat Breishit.

Parshat Breishit begins with the story of creation; "In the beginning G-d created the heaven and earth. And the earth was unformed and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of G-d hovered upon the face of the waters.  And G-d said let there be light and there was light.  And G-d saw the light that it was good..." 

The Torah continues to describe what G-d created each day of the six days of creation and that "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He has made. And G-d blessed the seventh day and made it holy."

The Midrash states that the Torah was the "blueprint" of the universe. Just as a building is constructed according to previously written plans, so too "G-d looked into the Torah and created the world."  "Therefore," say our sages, "the people who observe the Torah are the ones who sustain the universe which was created according to the Torah."

Q.The letter Aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alpahabet; the letter Bet is the second letter. The story of creation begins with the letter Bet (Breishit); while the Ten Commandments, which are found later in the Torah, begin with the letter Aleph (Anochi). Why didn’t the story of creation, which comes first, begin with the letter Aleph?

A.The Midrash explains that the first letter, the Aleph, was reserved for the Ten Commandments, to teach us that the Ten Commandments, which include all the mitzvot, is greater than the creation of the physical worlds. As mentioned before, the Torah and mitzvot are the foundation of the universe. 

In numerical value, the letter Bet, equals two. This alludes to the fact that G-d created two worlds; the physical world and the spiritual one. According to our sages, the two worlds are very closely related, for whatever we do here in the physical world affects also the spiritual one.

Our sages also find special significance in the fact that creation begins with the letter Bet, which also stands for the word, “Bracha," - "blessing.”

SHABBAT  SHALOM

Montrealcandle lighting time: 5:30 / Shabbat ends: 6:32