Starting Over with the Book of Genesis

This week we Jews begin a brand new project of starting the Torah from the beginning. Each week we read a part (or parshah) of the Torah (Old Testament, or Five Books of Moses) and it takes a full year to read it in its entirety. Each year at the same time we complete the reading of the Torah and start it all over again. The Torah begins with the famous book of Genesis that tells the story of creation. It is written in an interesting literary style within the Hebrew script.
The Torah is handwritten in Hebrew calligraphy on a scroll. Each Torah is copied exactly the same as all others with certain letters or words written larger or smaller or emphasized in other ways. It is tradition that every letter written in the Torah has a purpose or meaning and when they are written differently, there is a purpose behind that as well.
Genesis begins with the Hebrew word “bereisheet” which means “In the beginning.” This first word is printed with a large Hebrew letter, bet, a signifier of an example of the large beginning we embrace when we start life with hope and challenge. One theory is that it marks the starting point in the text. Another theory is that the big letter emphasizes the pronunciation of the reading. But I like to think of it as a mystical symbol, that the “bet,” the first letter of the first word is telling us something about ourselves in our endeavor as we begin reading the book of Genesis.
It is significant that the first letter in Genesis is a “bet,” the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and not an “alef” which is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It is an example of the kabalistic telling of the creation of the world. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, believes that God used the letter “alef” to create the world. This shows the mystical hidden quality of the letter and thus the telling of that creation could only be used by the letter “bet.” I find this explanation fascinating because the “alef” is the only letter in the Hebrew alphabet that is silent. It can be taken to mean that sometimes we create things of quality but we must be vocal after that creation and thus we need the next letter, “bet,” to tell the story.
The essential idea that we Jews focus on as we begin the book of Genesis is that as we begin a new book we renew our faith and return to our origins of where it all began. We tell the story that is our Jewish history not with our own family but with the family of man, the story of Adam and Eve, the first humans. It is the story of the struggle to find meaning and understanding in the new world and their struggle with God and being connected to God in this great Garden of Eden.
God instructs Adam, “Of the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.” Dutifully, Adam informs Eve of God’s command. Apparently, however, he adds one small phrase. When Eve relates her husband’s words to the snake, she paraphrases God’s instruction as, “You shall not eat of it, nor touch it, lest you die” — a version she must have received from her husband.
We see in the story that the message is changed and so does the idea that eating the fruit might change. The Midrash Beresheet Rabbah (an ancient commentary of this parshah) states that the snake “took her and thrust her against [the tree].” The snake’s action forced Eve to see that, in fact, touching the tree did not cause her death, so she reasoned that there would be no harm in eating from it either. Once again, a mistake made in the retelling of God’s command, but one that leads to a tragic outcome.
Rabbinic tradition continues the story and according to Avot de-Rebbi Natan, an ancient Midrash to Pirkei Avot (The Teachings of the Sages), Eve reasoned, quite logically, that Adam had lied to her. After all, part of what he said was clearly untrue—one could survive touching the tree, so why not survive eating from it as well?
The lesson in the story is one of communication. When there is a breakdown in communication there are mistakes that can be made, even very dire ones. While she is responsible for choosing to eat the fruit, she is also a victim of exclusion by Adam because he did not tell the complete truth. Adam shared his wife’s responsibility in that he did not clearly communicate God’s will to Eve. God is partly responsible, having spoken only to Adam, while intending to obligate Eve as well. Thus we have the fall of man from paradise.
The story of the first sin in the Garden of Eden is teaching us that communication is what failed, not the eating of the fruit. As we retell this story we must take this moment to focus on being open with others and willing to talk to them so that words don’t get mistook and lead to unfortunate actions. That old game of “Telephone” rings true.
I often hear from people who are having trouble getting along with a relative, friend, or coworker. Usually, each person speaks about the other to friends or family members, while both sides refuse to communicate directly with each other, making matters worse. The story of Genesis speaks of communication. That is why the first “bet” is written so large in the Torah, to emphasis that we should always be clear when we speak and truthful to all we encounter, rather than rely on rumors and false information.
Rabbi Jeffrey Lipschultz is the spiritual leader of Beth Judah Temple in Wildwood, NJ. He welcomes your comments at dvjewish@rof.net