06 Oct THE INCREDIBLE WORD, BEREISHIS

We know that every word
of the Torah contains
infinite wisdom. Indeed,
one could dedicate many
lifetimes to even just one
word of the Torah. While
this is true of every word,
probably the Torah’s most
studied word is the first word in the Torah,
“Bereishis – In the Beginning.” It has never
failed to amaze me how many secrets are
lurking in this one word. Likewise, every
year I am astounded to find new insights and
lessons here in very first word of the Torah.
My wonderful friend and talmid, Mr. Mendy
Schwartz, shlit”a, once shared with me some
new ideas that I am delighted to pass along
to you.
It is now the universal custom that we start
reading the Torah in Shul once again on the
first Shabbos after Simchas Torah. How
fascinating that the word Bereishis, with its
individual letters beis, reish, alef, shin, yud,
and saf, is an acronym for “Yikra’u b’Shabbos
rishon achar Simchas Torah.”
Rav Yonason Shteif, zt”l, zy”a, (who was
Mesader Kidushin at my parents’ wedding),
cites a Medrash stating that the letter shin
denotes learning Torah. This is because shin
stands for shinun, which means ‘to learn.’
He points out that if you remove the shin,
signifying learning, from the word Bereishis,

the sum of the remaining letters equals taryag.
Taryag is the word that denotes the 613
mitzvos of the Torah because it’s the exact
gematria of 613. Thus, the very first word in
the Torah indicates the Torah’s mission, for us
to learn the 613 mitzvos.
Likewise, the Vilna Gaon taught us that
within the word Bereishis is an allusion to
all the 613 mitzvos. For example, the Gaon
would say Bereishis refers to pidyon haben.
How? Once again, the individual letters of
Bereishis (in order) stand for “Ben Rishon
Achar SHloshim Yomim Tifdeh – One’s first
son, after thirty days he should redeem.”
One of the highlights of a Jewish man’s day is
the frequent public sanctification of Hashem’s
Name in Kaddish. He does this by answering,
“Amein, yehei SHmei rabbah…” That’s why
the letters in Bereishis stand for, “Ameim,
yehei SHmei rabbah b’kol tefilah.”
We all know that the three cardinal sins
of Judaism are idolatry, immorality and
bloodshed. Less known is the fourth cardinal
sin: to embarrass someone publically. For
this heinous crime, the Gemara in Masechtas
Sanhedrin tells us that that the habitual
perpetrator is stripped of his Afterlife. Thus,
in the first word of the Torah, Hashem warns us
about this terrible crime because we find that
the words yorei boshes, which is a directive
meaning ‘be ever fearful from embarrassing
someone.’ Yorei boshes is an anagram of the

letters in Bereishis.
We also know that the very survival of
the Jewish people hinges upon Shabbos
observance. When a family is so assimilated
that they don’t even observe Shabbos, sadly
intermarriage is only a few steps away. Thus,
Bereishis is also an acronym of yorei Shabbos,
meaning ‘be ever mindful of the Shabbos.’
The last Mishna in Shas teaches us that in the
Afterlife every righteous person is destined
to inherit shai olomos. Shai is spelled with
two letters, shin and yud, which equals 310
in gematria. Shai olomos means ‘worlds of
pleasure.’ Thus, the word Bereishis is also
an anagram of “Borosa shai – He created 310
worlds,” (and not just one world). For this
reason, the tribe representing Torah is called
Yisasschar, which is an anagram of “Shai
schar – The reward is 310.”
It is well known the Vilna Gaon states that
the letters of Bereishis stands for the six most
important pursuits of life: bitachon, ratzon,
ahavah, shtika, yirah and Torah. These are 1)
Trust in Hashem, 2) Proper will to do the right
things in life, 3) Correct kinds of love such
as love for Hashem, a spouse and a fellow
man, and the proper ways to love oneself,
4) Knowing when to remain silent, 5) Fear
of Hashem, and 6) Study of Torah. I have
also seen other versions of this, also from
the Gaon. In another, saf stands for Tefilah,
prayer, and shin stands for either simcha,
happiness, or shkeidah, diligence.
One of my favorite anagrams for the word
Bereishis is Rashi savo! The first word of
the Torah informs us that the great teacher
of Torah, Rashi will come and unlock many
meanings of the Torah for us.
The letters of Bereishis also spell “B’Alef
Tishrei – The first of (the month) Tishrei.”
This informs us that, as the world was
created on the 25th of Elul, Man, the
purpose of creation, was created six days
later on the first day of Tishrei, which is
Rosh Hashannah, the beginning of the year.
There is a complex and exciting branch of
gematria known as A”T Ba”Sh, pronounced
at-bash. This is where the letter alef equals
tuf, the beis equals shin, the gimel equals
reish, and so on throughout the alef-beis.
It is hard to spot this kind of gematria but
there are many secrets to unearth using
this methodology. For example, in A”T
B”Sh, the word tzedakah is still tzedakah,
since it is meant to convey that charity is
a two-way street: We give to the poor and
then Hashem gives us back. Similarly, the
words Lech L’cha, (the Divine directive to
Avraham Avinu to leave his homeland and
go to the “promised” land) is also Lech
L’cha in A”T Ba”Sh. Perhaps this is meant
to convey that although Avraham was told
to leave his birthplace, he was also told that
Eliezer would go back there to find a wife
for Yitzchak.
Mendy Schwartz pointed out to me that
within the word Bereishis itself are the
letters of a”t ba”sh, or alef, suf, beis, and

shin. The two letters that remain are reish
and yud. These letters in A”T Ba”Sh are the
letters gimel and mem. Thus, it means when
A”T Ba”Sh is applied to the word Bereishis,
it can be read, “Gam A”T Ba”Sh – Also A”T
Ba”Sh,” teaching us that Torah should also be
interpreted with A”T Ba”Sh. If this sounds
too complicated, the letters of the next word
of the Torah, the word after Bereishis, is bora.
In A”T B”Sh, the letters of bora, (beis, reish,
and alef,) become shin, gimel, and suf, which
has the numerical value of 703. Amazingly,
703 is the exact numerical value of the letters
“A”T Ba”Sh.” Thus, this method of gematria
is clearly alluded to in the very first two words
of the Torah.
While Mendy was showing this to me, I
realized to my surprise that when rearranged,
the letters A”T Ba”Sh spell Av Sheis, the
father of Sheis. Thus, if we take out the alef,
beis, shin, and suf from the word Bereishis,
we’re left with reish and yud which can stand
for yichus rishon, first pedigree, or Reishis
Yisroel, the beginning of the nation of Israel,
for Adam and Chava’s first two children were
not the progenitors of Klal Yisroel. This is
because Hevel was murdered and Kaiyin and
his descendents were wiped out by the flood.
Thus, all mankind descended from Sheis. All
of this is forecast in the first word of Bereishis,
which tells us that the yichus rishon of Sheis,
meaning the first genealogy in the world is
that Adam HaRishon is the father of Sheis.
This is just a sampler to whet your appetite
of the many, many, many, secrets that are
lurking in just one word. May it be the will
of Hashem that we have long life and good
health to enjoy the sweetness of the Torah
until the coming of the Moshiach, speedily
and in our day.