B'reisheet בְּרֵאשִׁית - In the Beginning
Torah Portion: Genesis 1:1-6:8
Genesis 2:20–3:21
2:20 The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 Hashem Elohim caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Hashem Elohim made a woman from the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore, a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Hashem Elohim had made. He said to the woman, “Has G-d really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. G-d has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, 5 for G-d knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like G-d, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 They heard Hashem Elohim’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Hashem Elohim among the trees of the garden.
9 Hashem Elohim called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 Elohim said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Hashem Elohim said to the woman, “What have you done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 Hashem Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman, He said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. You will bear children in pain. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life. 18 It will yield thorns and thistles to you, and you will eat the herb of the field. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”
20 The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. 21 Hashem Elohim made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
Today’s Meditation:
We are in the first chapters of Hashem’s Word, and He begins to give commands. His first is to “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it (the earth).” Genesis 1:28 And Genesis 2:17 “but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Two simple commands.
Over time, He continues to give us His set of rules. He presents His Laws, the Torah. We are to obey them, and they are forever. Just as the serpent we hear, “Did Hashem really say that? Surely you will not die.” (paraphrase of verses 2:1 and 2:4). Isn’t that what we tell ourselves today? Some religions teach that we no longer have to follow the Law or His rules. That somehow, this all changed. But this is not true. His Torah is life. His Torah is forever.
Deception works hard to keep us from the truth. And truth is, when Hashem tells us to do something, we do it. In love and worship of Him, we follow His Laws, His instructions. And we believe Him when He says that if we do not obey His rules, we will die.
Today’s Challenge:
What are the times you have been taught things in the Bible and you said to yourself, “Did G-d really say that?” If that has happened, did you look up the Scripture to see if He really said it? Maybe Hashem is honestly telling you something, and it’s vital. We need to know His voice so that we can pay attention and obey Him.
