ON THE PARSHA
          Parshas B'reishis

          by Dovid Lipman, Israel
          Year 3, No. 1


Introduction

     Sefer B'reishis

     Although the Torah is not a story book, it's organized around
     the story of the development of the Jewish people. From this
     story we can understand the world as Hashem intends us to do
     so. In Sefer B'reishis, Hashem prepares the building blocks for
     a nation, and arranges the 'raw materials' in the way from which
     they can develop best.

This parsha, which explains how our world came into being, has five
parts:
       1) Creation of the basic world   
       2) Sin of the Tree of Knowledge  
       3) The children                  
       4) De-Generations (groan)        
       5) Decision to 'reset'           

1. Creation -- 1:1 [Beg.] to 2:3 [Aliyah 2]

First, Hashem spends six days bringing components of the world into
existence, and then He stops creating on the seventh.

   Principles of Shabbos

   [Note: The laws of Shabbos are "mountains hanging by a thread"
   (Chagigah 10a). Mountains in importance, with sources as fine
   and scattered as thread. The principles of Shabbos, though hard
   to see, can be found everywhere in the Torah.]

   (2:1) "VaYeChulu [And they were completed] ...." One who recites
   these three p'sukim in the Maariv of Shabbos becomes like a
   partner in the creation (Shab. 119b). M.B. 268:1 rules that one
   doesn't repeat Shmoneh Esrei over it, especially since we say
   VaYeChulu again in Kiddush [which also counts].

2. Sin -- 2:4 [Aliyah 2] to 3:24 [end, Chap. 3]

The creation of the first man and woman is reviewed with more detail:
Adam notices he doesn't have a mate like the animals do. Hashem puts
him to sleep and creates Chava from a rib of his. They are commanded
not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and a snake tempts Chava into
disobeying. She gives some to Adam also, and they are all cursed, and
Adam and Chava are banished from the paradise in which they were made.

   Words according to Chazal

   "Tzela" (2:21,22) Usually translated "rib", but Rashi says here
   (creation of Chava) it means a "side", a meaning of the word we
   find in the Mishkan (see Even Ezra). The gemara (Ber. 61a) brings
   this view and another, that it was a tail. The Midrash, however,
   does contain at least one opinion that it was indeed a rib (e.g.
   B.R.17:6), but this is difficult: if so, why did he say of her,
   "and flesh from my flesh"? Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer (apparently
   addressing this) says the flesh was from his heart.

3. Children -- 4:1 to 4:26 [Aliyah 6]

Adam and Chava have two sons, Kayin and Hevel. Kayin kills Hevel in
competition for Hashem's favor, but he partially repents and his
destruction is postponed until the seventh generation. After Lemech,
the sixth generation, kills his son Tuval Kayin who had just killed
Kayin (i.e., the punishment begins), Adam rejoins his wife and has
a third son, Shais, in his own image, but in the days of Shais's
son Enosh, mankind begins to ignore Hashem.

   A Time to Laugh

   (4:26) "Then they began to call in the name of Hashem." From
   Chazal we see (e.g. Shab. 118b) that this was a generation of
   idol worship. How does this fit with our pasuk? Maybe, when
   people talk about "Hashem" but don't think about Who that is,
   they're not speaking of Him at all! (but see Rashi)

4. De-Generations -- 5:1 [Aliyah 6] to 6:4 ['Maftir']

Ten generation are enumerated, and mankind deteriorates to the
point that Hashem gives them a 120-year deadline to repent.

   Worthy of Note

   (5:15) "...and he begat Yered." Who would name a son "descent"?
   From this parsha we can learn how to deal with a degenerating
   environment. The chain from Adam to Noach, specifically starting
   after Enosh, was surrounded by the declining morals of the
   family of Kayin (which did not survive the flood), and struggled
   to preserve the seed of righteousness in the world. Enosh tried
   the strategy of assimilating. His son "Keynan", means, "our own
   Kayin". The Midrash (B.R.26) says he lost the level of his
   fathers; it didn't work. Keynan named his son "Mahalalel", which
   means "praiser of Hashem", but that also failed, because with
   the spiritual descent came ruined character, and his name only
   made him more haughty. Realizing this, he named his son "Yered",
   and although he was no tzadik either, he regained the trait of
   humility (basis of good character) by knowing his world was
   descending and that he was part of it. A well-known mussar
   principle is that righteousness must be preceded by good traits
   (in Chazal, Derech Eretz before Torah). It is from this Yered
   that the tzadik Chanoch came, and, with the lesson learned, his
   seed remained righteous. (See also Malbim, Divrei HaYamim 1:1:1).

5. Decision to 'reset' -- 6:5 ['Maftir'] to 6:8 [End]

Hashem sees the current world to be irreversibly ruined by man's
deeds, and He decides to destroy the world and save the one man
He chooses, Noach, to start off the renewed world.

   Do You Remember? (from the files of On the Parsha)
   
   How do we see Hashem doesn't like rock music? (see 6:5)
   Did Hashem ever entirely eliminate strictness? (Mesilas Yesharim 7)
   What's the cure for the evil inclination? (Kiddushin 30b)
   How is the 4th word of "Modim" pronounced (see 6:3 and M.B.187:2)