Questions tagged [parashat-bereishit]
The weekly Torah portion of Bereshit (Genesis 1:1-6:8)
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Is there any significance in the wording of Genesis 3:23?
The text reads: "וישלחהו ה' אלהים מגן עדן לעבד את האדמה אשר לקח משם"
"And Hashem God banished him from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken"
Why does it only say "ישלחהו" "...
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Why was the purpose of the creation of Man so dull?
On the 6th day of the Creation, G-d consults angels (see my other question) and presents them with what looks like His vision of Man's goal on Earth:
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ ...
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Was Avrohom really born in 1948?
I have always been told that Avrohom Ovinu was born 1948 years after Odom was created. I recently thought I would add up the relevant figures in Sidra Bereisis and Sidra Noach to see what number I ...
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Why was Adam Embarrassed
Genesis (3:7) states that Adam and Eve realised that they were naked so they made loincloths from fig leaves:
וידְע֔וּ כִּ֥י עֵֽירֻמִּ֖ם הֵ֑ם וַֽיִּתְפְּרוּ֙ עֲלֵ֣ה תְאֵנָ֔ה וַיַּעֲשׂ֥וּ לָהֶ֖ם ...
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"And it was evening, and it was morning, *one* day"?
Gen. 1:5:
וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד
And it was evening, and it was morning, one day
Gen. 1:8:
וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם שֵׁנִי
and it was evening, and it was ...
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Was man created before or after the animals?
According to Genesis chapter 1, it seems that the animals were created first. According to Genesis chapter 2, it seems that man was created first.
What are the different understandings that have been ...
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How did Hashem hide the light from the wicked? What do Chazal mean by this?
Rashi says in Breaishis Chapter 1, Verse 4:
אף בזה אנו צריכים לדברי אגדה ראהו שאינו כדאי להשתמש בו רשעים והבדילו לצדיקים לעתיד לבא.
"Even this requires words of Aggadah, He saw that it was not fit ...
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Genesis 2:7 vs 2:19
Genesis 2:7 And the Lord G-d formed man of the dust of the ground vs. :19 And out of the ground the Lord G-d formed every beast of the field
I just want to know the difference between "the dust of ...
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Clothing and shame, etymologically speaking
I have been unable to find an etymological connection between the root for shame בשש (especially as it turns into the forms of בושה בושת) and the word for "clothe" לבש. Shame was introduced in ...
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Why does אבות cite Gen. 9, not Gen. 1, for נברא בצלם?
Avos, chapter 3, reads in part:
הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר חָבִיב אָדָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַעַת לוֹ שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר כִּי בְּצֶלֶם א׳ עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם
Sefaria's ...
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What sources say that Kayin inspired Hevel to bring an offering?
I've heard the idea that Kayin was the one who inspired his brother Hevel to bring an offering to Hashem (Genesis Chapter 4). One possible place I saw this was from Rabbi David Fohrman, although I don'...
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Does Genesis 1:29 forbid ferns (fiddleheads) as food?
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים הִנֵּה֩ נָתַ֨תִּי לָכֶ֜ם אֶת־כׇּל־עֵ֣שֶׂב ׀ זֹרֵ֣עַ זֶ֗רַע אֲשֶׁר֙ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י כׇל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאֶת־כׇּל־הָעֵ֛ץ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֥וֹ פְרִי־עֵ֖ץ זֹרֵ֣עַ זָ֑רַע לָכֶ֥ם יִֽהְיֶ֖ה לְאׇכְלָֽה׃
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Why do English translations use the name "Eve" rather than "Chava"?
When the Bible is translated into English, most Hebrew names are simply transliterated into Roman characters.
In a few cases though, a completely different name is used.
In the case of Hadassah/...
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Order of events in parashas Bereishis
BH
I am having a lot of trouble understanding the order of the following events:
The creation of Man
The births of Cain and Hevel
The death of Hevel
The snake
Eating from the ...
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Is there any significance to the age at which Methuselah died?
Bresheit 5:27 records the death of Methuselah as 969 years. His is the longest lifespan recorded in the Torah. Is there any meaning for his death at such an age, or is there significance to the ...
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Did The Snake In The Garden Of Eden Have Free Will?
I heard that all of creation recognizes Hashem and is obedient to Hashem, and that humans are the only creation from Hashem that have free will.
So why is it that the snake in the garden of Eden was ...
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Why don't the birds get the bracha of פְּרוּ?
In the creation of the world when Hashem is creating fish and birds, the verse in Beresheit 1:22 says,"וַיְבָ֧רֶךְ אֹתָ֛ם אֱלֹהִ֖ים לֵאמֹ֑ר פְּר֣וּ וּרְב֗וּ וּמִלְא֤וּ אֶת־הַמַּ֙יִם֙ בַּיַּמִּ֔ים ...
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Was Adam allowed to eat the meat of an animal which he did not kill?
The Gemara in SANHEDRIN 59b says:
אמר רב יהודה אמר רב אדם הראשון לא הותר לו בשר לאכילה דכתיב (בראשית א, כט) לכם יהיה לאכלה ולכל חית הארץ ולא חית הארץ לכם
§ Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Meat was not ...
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What does HaShem benefit from making the human being?
HaShem made the human being with free will (to choose), but what does it mean to HaShem, or what does He gain/benefits from making the human being and why make this human being with the ability to ...
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Can someone help me understand Genesis Rabbah 4?
The beginning of Genesis Rabbah 4 talks mainly about the firmament in creation account. It goes as follows (from the Artscroll Mesorah publication):
(4:2): "At the moment the Holy One, Blessed is He,...
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Adam and the tree of life?
I have been considering Adam and what G-d said about Adam pertaining to the tree of life directly after the fall. After Adam had transgressed, G-d commanded that the tree of life be withheld from him ...
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Why did God say יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם, it should happen by itself naturally
In Bereishis 1:9 it says וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל מָקוֹם אֶחָד וְתֵרָאֶה הַיַּבָּשָׁה , And God said, "Let the water that is beneath the heavens gather into one ...
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What is the purpose of the genealogy of Genesis 4:17-22?
What is the purpose of the genealogy of Genesis 4:17–22?
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In Parshas Barashis (4:21) Noah's wife Namah was born before 130 AM. How could she have children at 1,160 yrs? How can she live longer than 1,000 yrs?
We find from The Simple reading of Chumash/Rashi Parshas Barashis:
Perek 4 Pusuk 21 "..Tubal-cain's sister was Naamah" Rashi "Naamah: She was Noah's wife"
On Pasuk 25 "And ...
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Rashi on Adam and on the Snake cunningness
The snake was able to speak from its creation (Likutei Sichos (10) p. 13) so why is man singled out as being capable of speech (דעה ודבור acc. to Rashi) if the snake already had it?
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Did Ralbag's predecessors help him, or make things more difficult for him?
At the end of his commentary to Parshat Bereishit, Ralbag writes that he had difficulty composing his commentary to this parshah because the earlier commentaries practically pushed him away from ...
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Adam 's sin out of deveikut?
I found this online:
In his sefer "Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh," R' Itamar Shwartz emphasizes the important point that our existence in this world is for the purpose of being davuk to our Creator; to be ...
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What exactly was Adam and Chava's sin?
Bereshit 2:9-10 tells about HaShem Elohim made to spring up every tree (in Gan Eden) pleasing to the sight, and tov for food and the Etz HaChayim (Tree of Life) also in the midst of Gan Eden, and the ...
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How can G-d regret anything?
Does G-d regret making or creating something? Of course not! I've always believed this question to be silly and somewhat inappropriate, knowing that G-d is perfect, knows everything, has infinite ...
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Rambam and Interpreting Bereishit as Allegorical
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin makes the following statement in his Sept. 27th, 2013 commentary on Bereishit in the Jerusalem Post:
Furthermore, Maimonides, in his Guide for the Perplexed, interprets
all of ...
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How was Eve "flesh of my flesh"?
According to Bereishit Rabbah 18:1, Eve was built out of the rib of Adam:
https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.18.1?lang=en&with=all&lang2=en
If Eve was made from Adam's rib, that ...
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Differences between Genesis 1 and 2
I understand that Judaism teaches "Torah Inerrancy", so I assume that Judaism does take the creation account as narrated in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 pretty seriously.
But as we all know, Genesis 1 ...
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"Amar Rabbi Yitzchak" - Who is Rabbi Yitzchak?
Rashi opens his commentary to the Chumash with the words Amar Rabbi Yitzchak, "Rabbi Yitzchak said." However I am unsure the identity of this Rabbi Yitzchak. I have been unable to find a source for ...
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When was water created?
Bereishit 1 goes into detail on when and how Hashem created various things in creation. One thing I notice though is that there is no specific detail on how or when water was created. It just sort of &...
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Was Adam placed in Gan Eden to keep the service of HaShem?
Bereshit 2:15 reads: לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ, but it seems that this can't be referring to: 'to work the earth and keep it', because after the chet (the sin) it reads in Bereshit 3:23 that Adam was ...
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What's the significance of the dot in "bqr" in Danial vs the omission of the same in Genesis
In researching the phrase "evening and morning" I noticed a very small difference in the Hebrew text between Genesis 1 (e.g. 1:4) and Daniel 8:14, where the latter has a tiny dot in the first letter ...
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Men's Earth vs. Women's Bone
Someone recently mentioned to me that there is a Chazal saying אדם was created from עפר which gets hot quickly but doesn’t retain the heat too long, while women were created from bone which takes ...
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What does it mean to bless anything?
In the first chapter of the Torah G-d Himself blesses various things: people, animals, days.
What does it mean for G-d to bless anything after creating it?
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Source Midrash - why the first letter of the Tenach is a Bet
What's the source of the Midrash that talks about the reason why the letter Bet was chosen as the first letter of the Tenach and not the Alef? The reason being given in this Midrash is that it is ...
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Why does the Torah not write about or mention the creation of the Angels/Melachim? When were they made?
It's something I've interested in for a while ;)
Thank you!
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What was the size of the כָּתְנוֹת עוֹר?
What was the size of the כָּתְנוֹת עוֹר (garments of skins for Adam and his wife) (Genesis 3:21)?
By "size", I mean, was the garment just covering the area that an underwear would cover, or was it a ...
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תְּחִלָה vs. בְּרֵאשִׁית
Why is בְּרֵאשִׁית used in Bereshit 1:1 but תְּחִלָה used in Shoftim 1:1? Both words mean beginning/first as far as I can tell. I am just wondering why one is used in one location and the other ...
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How does "וירא א׳ את האור כי טוב" imply goodness per se?
Haamek Davar to B'reshis 1:4 explains that "טוב" can mean either "good for its intended purpose" (even if that purpose is not good) or "good in truth". The אור (light, let's say) created on the first ...
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Were Adam and Eve Jewish?
Were Adam and Eve Jewish?
Why this question, you ask? Well, they kept Shabbat (after all, Adam already had a relationship with Hashem by virtue that he named all the animals, which would have taken ...
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Is שמים (Shamayim) the spiritual world or just the sky?
When the Torah talks about the שמים, does it means the spiritual world or the sky?
The most relatable example for my question would be the first Pasuk of the Torah, right at the beginning of Bereshit:
...
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hints from verses that 6 days of creation is not literal
Are there hints in the verses of Genesis that the 6 "days" of creation are not literal, i.e. not 24 hour periods but rather some kind of "era".
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Cain feared death, married and had children with a woman because there were already other people in the world?
I'm new to the site.
When Cain speaks to God, after killing his brother Hebel, Cain says, "I will be wandering and nomadic in the land; whoever finds me will kill me!" (Bereshit 4:14), this ...
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How did Hevel acquire his flock?
In Bereishit 4:2-4 we read that Hevel was a keeper of sheep and that he offered from the firstlings of his flock. How did he come to acquire the flock? Did he have to trap them and domesticate them or ...
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Inner being: Soul or Spirit?
Bereshit (Genesis) 2:7 reads: 'vayipach beapav nishmat chayim vayehi ha'adam lenefesh chayah'
Is my inner being a 'soul' or a 'spirit', or am I a 'soul' or am I a 'spirit'? Let me make myself clear:
...
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Bent/Inverted Kaf in Torah Scroll, Parshas Bereishis
If a Torah reader finds certain writing errors in a Torah scroll, the scroll may be invalid, and the congregation would be required to take out a different one to continue the service. Some errors, ...
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