CHUMSHASH BERESHIT (Genesis) tells the story of the development of humanity in general and the development of the people of Israel in particular. It starts with the description of the creation of the world and all the way through to Abraham the focus is on humanity in general. From the time of Abraham the focus shifts to the development of the Jewish people until they leave the land to go to Egypt.
The word BERESHIT means:
“בְּרֵאשִׁית”
BERESHIT
“in the beginning”
This word is also used in modern Hebrew too:
“רֵאשִׁית”
RESHIT
“first (of all)”
We also take the following words from the same very root:
| רֹאשׁ | ROSH | head |
| רִאשׁוֹן | RISHON | first (before the second) |
CHUMASH BERESHIT is full of “stories”, many things that happened in ancient times. Could these stories still be relevant to us today? Maybe the fact that the language in which these stories were originally written is still alive and being developed, gives us the answer to that question.
