#berishit

[progressivejudaism]

“Why the Creation Story Matters,” class

September 20th @ 1PM EST

Register as a part of Wrestling with Torah’s High Holy Days 5781!

See full schedule here.

Class Description: Scientists say that the earth is 4.54 billion years old and that every beautiful creature and plant on our earth formed due to evolution. I believe them.  So, why does the Jewish creation story in Genesis *still* matter today?  Why is it important?   What can we learn from it to enhance our lives? 

[progressivejudaism]

According to our Creation Myth, humanity is created from both stardust from the four corners of the earth and in the Image of God.  Remember that.  Humanity is created from matter that has always existed, naturally in a Divine pattern.   When you are down, you were made just like God.  When you are on your high horse, you’re just a big pile of dirt.

#parshatberishit #torahstudywithjosh

[progressivejudaism]

In this week’s Torah portion, God creates using God’s voice.  God says, “let there be light” and there is light.  You too can create light with your voice.  Our collective voices have the power to illuminate the souls of humanity.

#ParshatBerishit #CreationAccount

[progressivejudaism]

In this week’s Torah portion Avram and Sarai welcome in three desert wanderers into their tent.

They feed them.  They wash their feet.  They treat them with respect.

Who do WE as Jews need to welcome better into our tents?  Who do we as citizens of the world do we have to do better at welcoming?

[progressivejudaism]

Who’s excited to uncover new wisdom in all of the insanely funky stories throughout the book of Genesis this year?

Elohai Avraham, Yitzhak, v’Yaakov!

Elohei Sarah, Rivka, Rakhel, v’Leah!

[progressivejudaism]

This week we read Parshat Berisheet- the creation story.

As Jews, we are partners with God in creation-- the creation of goodness, wholeness, love, justice, and peace in our world.

What will you do to help create this year?

[progressivejudaism]

Gender in this week’s Haftorah Portion

In addition to reading Parshat Berisheet, the Creation Account, Jews around the world will be reading Isaiah 42:5-43:10 this beautiful Shabbat morning.

In the text, we find praises to God because of the Divine’s handiwork in creating the world.  Throughout the entire Hebrew of the Tanakh, God is usually given masculine pronouns but on this first Shabbat of our Torah cycle, we encounter maternal imagery for God.

“יְהוָה֙ כַּגִּבּ֣וֹר יֵצֵ֔א“ [”Adonai kagibor yetzeh”] “Adonai goes forth like a warrior...” (Is. 42:13), and God said that “כַּיּוֹלֵדָ֣ה אֶפְעֶ֔ה אֶשֹּׁ֥ם וְאֶשְׁאַ֖ף יָֽחַד׃" [”kayvoleydah efeh eshom v’eshaf yachad”] “Now I will shriek like a woman in labor, I will pant and I will gasp” (42:14)

God’s essence is attributed to a warrior that becomes as powerful as a woman in labor.  Imagine how revolutionary that statement was when our ancestors developed this and other texts, and how revolutionary it was when it was canonized in the Tanakh within the book of Isaiah, and how revolutionary that we as Jews have been reading it right alongside our Creation narrative for ... God knows how long!

May the start of the Torah bring you all strength, love, and joy!

Shabbat Shalom

[progressivejudaism]

Creation's Brightest Light.  A midrash teaches that the primordial light, too pure and brilliant for this world, was hidden away for the righteous in the world-to-come (Genesis Rabbah 3:6).  Yet sparks of that light shine forth in the Torah and in deeds of goodness. As the Book of Proverbs says: 'A Mitzvah is a candle / And Torah is Light' (6:23)

Mishkahn Hanefesh, Rosh Hashanah