10 Oct PARSHAS BEREISHIS

Rebbe Yisrael of
Ruzhin taught:
Everything in the Torah is contained in
chumash Bereishis. [The average person
will not recognize it, but concealed in the
words of chumash Bereishis are all the
halachos and lessons stated in the other
four chumashim that follow it. Rebbe
Yisrael of Ruzhin continued and said]:
Everything in chumash Bereishis can be
found in parashas Bereishis. And
everything in parashas Bereishis is
contained in the very first passuk of the
parashah (Bereishit Bara Elokim, etc.).
Everything that’s in this first passuk is
concealed in the first letter of Bereishis
(the letter beis). And everything that is in
the beis is found in a drop of ink at the
edge of the beis. And that drop of ink
represents a Torah that is so high and so
concealed…
Tzaddikim therefore studied the word
“Bereishit”, because this word alone
contains the entire Torah. We will give a
few examples:
1] The grandson of Rebbe Henoch of

Alexander zt’l had his bar mitzvah on
Shabbos Bereishis. The Rebbe of
Alexander told his grandson that
Bereishit is gematriya Taryag. This
grandson was bright, and immediately
realized that Taryag and Bereishit do
share very similar letters, and the “Beis”
and “Aleph” of Bereishit are gematriya
“Gimmel”. “But Bereishit also has a
“shin?” the bar mitzvah bachur asked.
The Rebbe replied, shin is gematriya
yetzer, the yetzer hara. Bereishit implies
that when one rids himself from the
Yetzer Hara, he will be able to keep the
Taryag mitzvos.
The Rebbe added that this is the
meaning of the phrase we say on Yom
Kippur, Keep the Taryag mitzvos by not
paying attention to the yetzer hara.
2] The Chida teaches: Bereishit is
roshei teivos for “Amen Yehei Shmei
Rabba T’ana B’kol”, “Answer amen
yehei shmei rabba out loud.”
3] Bereishit means that for Reshit, for
yiras shamayim, Hashem created the
world. This one word teaches us the
purpose of creation; it was for Reishit,
yiras shamayim.

The first letter of the Torah, the beis (a
bayit, a house) also represents yiras
shamayim, because the Gemara says,
“Woe to those who don’t have a house,
and they build a doorway for the
house….” (Shabbos 31). Torah and
mitzvos are like the doorway, which lead
to the home, to yiras shamayim. The

purpose of Torah and mitzvos is to lead a
person to yiras shamayim. Woe to those
who build the doorway (they keep
Torah and mitzvos) but they don’t
reach the home (yiras
shamayim).
So, the first word of the Torah,
Bereishit, and the first letter of the
Torah, Beis, both teach us that the
purpose of the Torah is for yiras
shamayim. As the Gemara concludes
“Hashem created the world, solely so
people should fear Him” (Shabbos
31).
4] Logically, we would assume that
the first letter of the Torah would be
an aleph. But
it isn’t. It is a beis. We can learn an
important lesson from this as well.
The Imrei Emes zy’a explains that
the Torah begins with a beis, because
the alef is yegiyah, to toil. The Torah
teaches us lessons, but there is
something that precedes it, and that is
the alef, to be prepared to toil in
Torah.
Rebbe Yochanan of Stolin zy’a told
the following parable: An artist drew
a beautiful painting that was sold for
a lot of money. He also made prints
of the painting, and sold those for a
fraction of the price of the original.
Why? The copies are just as beautiful
as the original. Why were they worth
so much less? The answer is, art isn’t

only about the
beautiful work. It’s
about appreciating
the effort that went
into the painting,
together with the
artist’s talent,
training, and
energies. Rebbe Yochonon of Stolin zt’l
said that the same is with avodas
Hashem. It isn’t just the deeds that
Hashem desires from us. The heart and
effort that one puts into the mitzvos are
what make them truly valuable.
5] Bereishis stands for new beginnings.
Because it is very precious to Hashem
when someone turns a new leaf and
starts a new beginning in his avodas
Hashem.
Bereishis means that even if he didn’t
succeed the first time, he tries a second
time, and a third time, until he succeeds.
Rashi, in the beginning of the parashah
writes “Hashem created the world for
Yisrael who are called reishis.” Why is
Klal Yisrael called reishis? It alludes to
when a Yid starts anew. He is named for
such moments, and this shows us just
how precious it is to Hashem.
Rebbe Mordechai of Lechovitz zt’l
taught, Bereishis, for new beginnings,
Bara Elokim Es Hashamayim V’es
Haaretz, Hashem created the entire
world.
What does it mean to begin anew?
When someone decides that from now
on he will study more Torah, or do any
other good deed that he wasn’t doing
until now, this means that he is starting
anew. It is a very special moment.
Hashem created the world specifically
for such moments.
Starting anew is difficult. Kol Hatchalos
Kashos. The Imrei Emes of Gur zy’a
explained that this is the reason the
cohen gadol would say on Yom Kippur,
Achas, Achas v’achas, Schas V’shtayim,
Achas V’shalosh. He continuously
referred back to the first time, because
the first good deed, the one that breaks
the pattern, is always very difficult. The
cohen gadol considered this first moment
precious, worth remembering, and
therefore he continually referred back to
it.
The Rokeiach writes, “There is nothing
stronger than chassidus (righteousness)
at its beginning.” Because at the very
beginning of a resolve, a person is full of
vigor and excitement, and that empowers
him to follow through with his resolution.