Leah’s Blog – THE BRIDE – Sefer Bereishit 2021
Throughout all the generations, the book of Bereishit has been the beating heart of the Torah. The stories told here are great and wondrous, they are love stories. Hither in the Land of Israel every stone and hill has secrets to share about how it all happened, right here.
On these high mountains that run through Israel, our forefathers and Matriarchs walked talked breathed loved and lived, the first was Adam then Eve- the first twosome that connected shamayim and aretz, man/woman to this earth, consummating their vows to each other and to Hashem. Yes Gan Eden is the very center of the world, the apple of Hashem’s eye, Israel.
Hashem created the world for Israel. Sefer Bereishit is like a couple’s counselor that comes to remind the couple how they first met, rekindling those embers from so crazy after all these years. Sefer Bereishit comes to examine what values they held at the start of their journey and possibly evaluate what went wrong and how to fix it.
As if Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur weren’t enough- Sefer Bereishit is syncranized exactly at the start of the new year, a new beginning, a fresh start to reflect and to reassess: what is my purpose, and in a relationship ask not what’s in it for me but how can WE as a pair work together as one unit sometimes paying a personal price in our mission on this earth at this time. Adam and Eve lived ten generations before Noach, Abraham and Sarah lived ten generations after him.
The significance of being cast out of the garden comes around when this couple, our first Avot and Immahote return to it when Hashem said to Abraham- “Go to a Land that I will show you”. There is a morphing of character, a refining of middot as morals come to be put before temptation, a code of conduct embedded into mankind even before the Torah was given.
Parshat Noach touches upon the formula of mitzvoth in the seven commandments for Noach and his sons- (Mitzvot Beney Noach) They were meant to benefit humanity, serving as a basis of morality and ethics and were necessary to create a society in which people can live together in harmony, this is sandwiched exactly in time between Eden and The Covenant with Abraham. In Sefer Bereishit Adam yearns for a soul mate, Sarah yearns for a baby, Rachel and Leah for their husband, Yaakov yearns for his son, Yosef, Yosef for his brothers.
In every tale there is strife and tikkun. The imprint they made in the world with their narratives of self-sacrifice, ideals, and conscience that sometimes left them personally not comfortable in acting, not reacting, are lessons we take with us to the end of time. They built the house of Israel.
Most tours that come here will take you to modern day great events like Latrun and air force bases. You will experience bars and beaches and stay in a lovely hotel. Rare is a tour that takes you to the heart, to where it all began- right here at the canopy on these wind swept mountains where they walked, where Bereishit lives and breathes again. Now too as Israel becomes a superpower in tech and cyber, medicine and tall modern skyscrapers, there is a vital need to review the Torah reading and learning while teaching these places- Chevron, Yerushalayim and Shechem are real and alive, not mythical or hypothetical, and assess why the world is so obsessed with what they call the West Bank when they are really our PARENTS AND OUR HOME, OUR FOUNDATION, ISRAEL! As Jacob was named.
We are a people and a Land- a union. The bride is coming home. Why miss out on this intimacy, this relationship. We’ve returned to Eretz Haavot, to Gan Eden, to our family, to the core yet things have not been rectified yet. We need you out here! With all the progress, the bride is yet to sit in her chair. Yet we know that “the smallest will become a thousand and the youngest a mighty nation. I am the Lord, in its time I will hasten it.
In distress I called out to the Lord and He answered me with expansiveness.” (Ps 118:5)
Come and behold Bereishit, the Land bought by our Avot, the Covenant carved into these places that will forever remain faithful come what may.
Heal Zion! Know it, FIX IT! “The truth will sprout from the Land” Psalms 85:12
Sefer Bereishit is far more than a book. It is a KETUBAH.
Shabbat Shalom, Leah
1 comment:
Shabbat Shalom!
Thank you, Leah, what a beautiful article.
You brought out what Israel is REALLY about.
The medical and technology, etc. will all disappear eventually, as Moshiach is at door.
To modern man, these are what they think is of importance, and so they have traded
G-D, Torah and our heritage and history for what will have little meaning eventually.
Post a Comment