Study this week's Parashah with Rabbi Jordan D. Cohen (your friendly Reb on the Web). Current Parashah Bereshit Archived Parashiyot Parashah: Bereshit (Genesis 1:1-6:8)
	OVERVIEW In this first parashah of the Torah, it all begins, and then almost ends. In the beginning, the Torah describes how the Eternal One created the Universe day by day, beginning with the Heavens and the Earth and culminating with humanity. After six days, God ceases from the acts of creation and sanctifies the seventh day as the crown jewel of creation - the Sabbath. The parashah continues with the stories of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the conflict between their sons Cain and Abel, and then a review of all the generation from Adam to Noah. The portion concludes with God's regret over the wickedness of human beings, and the decision to destroy everything on earth. IN FOCUS "On the seventh day God finished the work which God had been doing, and God ceased on the seventh day from all the work which God had done." (Genesis 2:2) PSHAT At the end of the first chapter of Bereshit, God surveys all that had been created over the first six days and finds it very good. As we enter chapter two, with heaven and earth completed, God "ceases" (shavat) creating and decides to take a day off. God then blesses this seventh day and makes it holy (va-y'kadesh). DRASH The passage introduces the notion of Shabbat, although the word itself is not used. The word shavat, a cognate of Shabbat, means literally, "to cease." Shabbat, thereby, becomes the "day of cessation" - the day we cease doing what we do on the other six days. But this then raises a concern with our sages. If creation actually ceased on the seventh day, was this not then, at least in part, another day of creating? Surely God would have finished the work on the sixth day and rested completely on the seventh. Rashi responds to this conundrum by quoting R. Simeon b. Yohai from Midrash Rabbah : "A human being (lit. flesh and blood) who is not able to know his [exact] times and moments needs to add from the profane to the sacred. But the Holy One, who knows His times and moments, can enter it [the seventh day] by a hairs breath and it only appeared as though He had completed it [creation] on that day." So it is understood that God, who has complete mastery over time, was able to cease the work of creation at the exact moment when the sixth day gave way into the seventh. But we humans are not so precise. We are not able to accurately determine the point of time that marks the division between one period of time and that which follows it. Therefore, rather then risk continuing to work during sacred time, in determining the boundary between ordinary time (a week day) and holy time (Shabbat or any other holy day) we need to err in favour of the holy time. It is better to "make Kiddush" (that is, say the blessing that sanctifies the Sabbath day) early on a Friday afternoon, then to continue to work after sundown on Friday evening. Holy time can always be expanded, but it should never be reduced. That is why Shabbat candles are to be kindled well before sundown, and Havdalah (the ceremony that marks the end of the Sabbath) is not said until well after dark on Saturday evening. Holiness can be expanded, but never decreased. The message here for us humans is that we need to be prepared. Unlike that first Shabbat, we know each week that the Sabbath is coming, and, if we want to make the seventh day into Shabbat, we really have no excuse for getting caught off guard. We don't need to work right up to the last minute, and the benefit is that we actually get to expand the day of rest! DAVAR AHER Another interpretation comes from Tz'enah Ur'enah, a classic Yiddish anthology of Midrash and Torah commentary. In commenting on the line, "And God finished on the seventh day" it states that the word Va-y'chal (and he finished) can be understood to mean "He desired." That is to say that on the seventh day, the Holy One desired that all of the things which He had created in the first six days should remain always as they had been created. Shabbat Shalom JDC

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