Bereishit - In the Beginning

To begin all over again!

What possibilities lie before us! What unforeseen potential awaits us!

We don't simply begin back where we started from one year ago, we begin all the way back at the beginning. The very beginning, the beginning of beginnings: That is, the book of Bereishit, Genesis, which is not merely an account of the beginning, a narration of how it went, but it is the very blueprint for the beginning that G-d Himself, as it were, consulted when He chose to begin the creation. Its letters, their shapes and sounds, and the words and verses that they form, are the very DNA of the world of darkness and light, day and night, rivers and streams and oceans and mountains, livestock and wildlife, fish and fowl, stars and planets, moon and sun, that we live in.

These letters are the stuff of our very souls, and to study, to examine, to ponder, to immerse ourselves in the depths of the Bereishit reality, is not only an immensely satisfying and gratifying endeavor, but it is part and parcel of the fulfillment of our purpose on this earth: to behold G-d's wonders and to praise Him and draw near to Him. [Rabbi Chaim Richman - The Temple Institute - http://www.templeinstitute.org/]