Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat shalom!

We begin a new cycle of the Torah reading and study. A large number of books have been written about Parashat Bereshit, endless interpretations and for a rabbi who prepares a sermon, there is a strong dilemma regarding which topic to choose from the huge number of options presented by this very detailed and complex portion of the Torah. I have decided to start with the same spirit of the Parasha, with the beginning, Bereshit.

When I have talked about the origin of the Universe, with believers or religious people, everyone agrees, without a doubt, that the light was the first piece of creation. On the other hand, academics or non-religious people, would surely mention the well-known Big Bang, which is said to be the most illogical name that could have been applied to this phenomenon of the Universe, since it was neither BIG (large) nor was accompanied by a BANG (sound)! Quite the contrary, according to scientific theories, it all started from an infinitesimal, unimaginably small particle, of which, for a reason still unknown to science, decided to expand, create light and develop into what is currently known, as the universe.

Scholars also mistakenly declare the light as the first thing of creation. In fact, if we analyze it carefully, the Torah does not begin with light, but with darkness, great and infinite darkness. It is a threatening concept to imagine that darkness was everything: “¹ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ² And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”. Can you imagine it? Something eternal, an endless time, that is essentially not time. And suddenly the change came, with the light, came the breakthrough.

Parashat Bereshit will always coincide with the last Shabbat of the month of Tishrei. Sukkot is on the 15^th, adding 7 days of the festival, brings us to the 22^nd. So, always the reading of Parashat Bereshit occurs when the moon is almost in its last waning moments before reaching a new moon, decreasing its shape and thereby showing minimal light. If we add to that, the rainy season that begins in Israel, it is almost very likely that the nights of Kabbalat Shabbat Bereshit are dark... "darkness upon the face of the deep" Is it something symbolic? Or, perhaps the wise sages made a premeditated calculation?

The month of Tishrei has always been a special month of analysis and introspection, judgment, repentance, forgiveness, the renewal of the rains, temporary concepts. Perhaps the profound message of these last days of Tishrei, is the work that we had started from the beginning in Rosh Hashana, has not yet finished, and that it will be completed only when we act and repair the world, our world, enlightened with our own light and our own creation. The Midrash, Bereshit Raba 11, explains: "Everything that was created during the six days of Bereshit needs to be completed, like the mustard that needs to be prepared, the wheat seeds that need to be grinded, and even man needs Tikun, repair or complementation". The Creator of the Universe and light, teaches us that creation is the result of a change, from a static dark reality that we might think that can never be changed! President Trump declared a couple of days ago, October 13^th this week that nobody imagined that Hamas would release the 20 hostages while the IDF forces were still inside of Gaza… and so they are back home!

In fact, the Torah could have begun from the third verse: "³ And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light". Why would the Tora begin with darkness? This idea shows us that the power of creation is an existing reality! It is something possible for us! Within a great darkness, a man can stand up and do something. As God conceived the light, we too, those who were created in God’s image, can do it in the same way. In the Kiddush we sing from Genesis 2: "¹ Vayechulu Hashamaim Vaaretz - the heavens and the earth were finished". We understand from here that God had finished HIS work. But, nowhere is it written, that OUR work has finished. The world he created is not a perfect or complete world. Otherwise, God would not have given the commandment to animals or humans: "²² Pru Urvu - Be fruitful and multiply". Therefore, the continuation of the universe is in our hands.

Unlike animals, when God created Adam, did not specified at the end: "And God saw that it was good". At the end of all creation, however, God said that "³¹ behold, it was very good". In the same Midrash, Bereshit Raba 8 explains that this teaches us that if the person is good, the world is very good, if the person chooses bad ways, the world is not at all good. We can see that this is a reality, just by watching the news... We have the option to choose between good and bad, God has nothing to do with it. This in one of the most significant messages of Bereshit.

I know that for many of us it is not easy to change a reality, or to achieve a change in our personal lives. We need enormous faith in our own strength and with our loved ones, to help us, support us and not let us fall. Time passes, it does not stop, and we have many opportunities to change our lives. Every moment is a great opportunity! In the beautiful Haftara of this Shabbat´s Bereshit, we read, in the book of Isaiah 42: "⁶ I the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations ⁷ to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house". God brought the light to the world, but to see that light, we must open our own eyes, and the eyes of those around us, to see the light, even while being in “darkness upon the face of the deep”. In the beginning of the Torah, familiar texts for many, we may learn that our actions shape our destiny, we shape our lives, our own creation. We must take responsibility for it, believe in the power of our actions and celebrate them. We use the words of Psalm 90 in our prayers: "¹⁷ May the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us; let the work of our hands prosper, God! prosper the work of our hands!". Amen.

Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

October 17^th 2025