Parashat Bereshit (Genesis 1–6): Summary and Commentary

Parashat Bereshit (“in the beginning”) is the first portion of the book of Bereshit and of the whole Torah (Genesis 1:1–6:8). It is read on the Shabbat after Simchat Torah: October 10, 2026 and October 30, 2027. It is also spelled Bereshis, Bereishit, Breshit or Genesis. It takes its name from the first word of the Torah: “In the beginning” (1:1).

The tradition proposes reading each portion in four steps: what the text says, what it hints at, what the sages explain and what it conceals. Let us take them in turn.

Peshat: the simple meaning

Let us begin with what the text says, adding nothing to it.

First is the rhythm. Each day of creation begins with “And God said” and ends with the same formula: “And there was evening and there was morning, day…” (1:5, 1:8, 1:13). And each work is evaluated: “And God saw that it was good.” At the end, when the human being is already there, the text changes the word: “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (1:31).

Of the human being something is said that is said of nothing else: “And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (1:27). And the seventh day is unlike the others: “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (2:3).

Chapter 2 tells it again, from another angle. The human being is formed “from the dust of the ground” and receives “a breath of life” in his nostrils (2:7). The first “not good” of the Torah appears here: “It is not good for man to be alone” (2:18).

The scene of the serpent is brief, and the text tells it with verbs of seeing: the woman “saw” that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes and desirable for making one wise, took, ate and gave to her husband (3:6). And the reaction is twofold: “their eyes were opened” and “they realized that they were naked” (3:7). When Hashem seeks them, the first question is: “Where are you?” (3:9).

The story of Kayin and Hevel has two famous questions. Hashem asks: “Where is Hevel, your brother?”, and Kayin answers: “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (4:9). And Hashem says to him: “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground” (4:10).

Chapter 5 is a list with a refrain: “and he died.” It breaks in only one case: “Chanoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (5:24). And the portion ends with two opposite sentences: “And Hashem saw that the wickedness of man was great” (6:5), and “Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem” (6:8).

Remez: what the letters hint at

Remez means “hint.” Here the reading pauses on letters and numbers: on how a word, when the value of its letters is added up (gematria), coincides with another that illuminates its meaning. The great collector of these hints is the Baal HaTurim, Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher (13th–14th centuries), author of the Arba Turim. In Bereshit he points out, among others, these eight.

The first, in the first sentence. “Bereshit bara” (בראשית ברא), “in the beginning He created” (1:1), adds up to 1116, the same as “beRosh HaShanah nivra” (בראש השנה נברא), “on Rosh Hashanah it was created”: the Baal HaTurim reads it as the world having been created on Rosh Hashanah.

The second, in truth. The final letters of “Bereshit bara Elokim” (בראשית ברא אלהים) are those of emet (אמת), “truth”: Hashem created the world with truth, as the verse says, “the beginning of Your word is truth” (Psalms 119:160).

The third, in the light. “Et ha’or” (את האור), “the light” (1:4), adds up to 613, the same as “baTorah” (בתורה), “in the Torah”: the number of the commandments.

The fourth, also in the light. The final letters of “et ha’or ki tov” (את האור כי טוב) are those of brit (ברית), “covenant.”

The fifth, in the seed. The initial letters of “mazria zera lemineihu” (מזריע זרע למינהו, 1:12), “yielding seed according to its kind,” form mazal (מזל): the Baal HaTurim recalls what the sages say, that there is no blade of grass that does not have a mazal above it saying to it: “Grow.”

The sixth, in heaven and earth. “Behibare’am” (בהבראם), “when they were created” (2:4), has the same letters as “beAvraham” (באברהם), “through Abraham”: heaven and earth were created in the merit of Abraham.

The seventh, in the breath. The final letters of “vayipach be’apav nishmat chayim” (ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים, 2:7), “and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” form chotam (חותם), “seal.” And the initial letters of “ha’adam lenefesh chayah” (האדם לנפש חיה), “the man a living soul,” form, rearranged, challah (חלה), “the challah”: the Baal HaTurim recalls what the sages say, that the human being was the challah, the first portion, of the world.

The eighth, in the conversation with Adam. The final letters of “asher tzivitich levilti achol” (אשר צויתיך לבלתי אכל, 3:11), “that I commanded you not to eat,” form rachil (רכיל), “talebearer”: according to the Baal HaTurim, “you walked in the counsel of the talebearer.”

Drash: the teaching of the sages

Rashi, with the Midrash and the Talmud, gathers here the lessons of the sages.

Why begin here? Rashi’s first sentence is a question: Rabbi Yitzchak said that the Torah should have begun with “This month shall be for you the first of the months” (Exodus 12:2), the first commandment Israel received. Why does it begin with creation? So that, if the nations say to Israel “you are robbers, because you conquered the lands of seven nations,” Israel may answer: “The whole earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whomever He saw fit.”

A word said of the Torah and of Israel. Rashi explains that bereshit, “in the beginning,” refers to what the sages call “the beginning”: the Torah, which is “the beginning of His way” (Proverbs 8:22), and Israel, “the first of His harvest” (Jeremiah 2:3).

“God,” with justice and with mercy. The text says “God created” (Elokim), and not “Hashem created.” Rashi explains that at first it was intended to create the world with the attribute of judgment; He saw that it would not endure that way, and placed the attribute of mercy before it and joined them. That is why afterward it says “on the day that Hashem God made earth and heaven” (2:4).

Two formations. “And He formed” (vayitzer, 2:7) has two yods. Rashi explains it: two formations, one for this world and another for the resurrection of the dead. In the animals, which do not come to judgment, it is not written with two yods.

“A helper opposite him.” “I will make for him a helper opposite him” (2:18). Rashi reads: if he is worthy, she will be a helper; if not, she will be “opposite him,” to fight against him.

Sin at the door. When Hashem tells Kayin that “sin crouches at the door” (4:7), Rashi explains: at the door of your grave your sin is crouching; it is the inclination to evil, which always wishes to make you stumble. And he adds: “And you will be able to master it: if you wish, you can overcome it.”

Chanoch. “Chanoch walked with God, and he was not” (5:24). Rashi explains that Chanoch was righteous but easy to lead astray, and that Hashem took him before his time so that he would not be corrupted. That is why the text does not say “and he died” but “and he was not”: to complete his years.

Sod: what is hidden

The Zohar

The Zohar begins with an image: “Like a lily among the thorns” (Song of Songs 2:2). Rabbi Chizkiyah asks: who is the lily? The Congregation of Israel (Knesset Yisrael). And he explains: as the lily among the thorns has red and white, so the Congregation of Israel has judgment and mercy. As the lily has thirteen petals, the Congregation of Israel is surrounded by the thirteen attributes of mercy.

And he sees it written in the text: from the first time “God” (Elokim) appears in the Torah to the second, there are thirteen words: “et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz vehaaretz hayetah tohu vavohu vechoshech al penei tehom veruach” (1:1-2). They are the thirteen petals. And from the second time to the third there are five words (“merachefet al penei hamayim vayomer”), which are the five strong petals that surround the lily and are the “cup of salvations” (Psalms 116:13). That is why the cup of blessing is raised on five fingers.

The sefirah: Malchut

The Congregation of Israel corresponds to Malchut, the last of the sefirot, the one that receives the light of the higher ones. You can see where it sits in the guide to the sefirot. The Zohar opens the Torah with a flower that gathers the two colors: judgment and mercy.

More weekly commentary in the list of parashiot.