(10) Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses—whom יהוה singled out, face to face, (11) for the various signs and portents that יהוה sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country, (12) and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel...
A time for wailing and a time for dancing; (5) A time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,
A time for embracing and a time for shunning embraces; (6) A time for seeking and a time for losing,
A time for keeping and a time for discarding; (7) A time for ripping and a time for sewing,
A time for silence and a time for speaking; (8) A time for loving and a time for hating;
A time for war and a time for peace.
(א) בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (ב) וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃ (ג) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
(1) When God began to create heaven and earth— (2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— (3) God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
As the first of His works of old.
Bereshit Rabba 1:1
In the way of the world, a king of flesh and blood who builds a castle does not do so from his own knowledge, but rather from the knowledge of an architect, and the architect does not build it from his own knowledge, but rather he has scrolls and books in order to know how to make rooms and doorways. So too Hashem gazed into the Torah and created the world. Similarly the Torah says, "Through the reishis Hashem created [the heavens and the earth]," and reishis means Torah, as in "Hashem made me [the Torah] the beginning (reishis) of His way" (Proverbs 8:22).
Rabbinical Association and United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 3
God's world is an orderly world, in which land and water each has its own domain...but it is also an unpredictable world, a world capable of growth and change and surprise, of love and pain, of glory and tragedy, not simply replication of what is, because it includes human beings who have the freedom to choose how they will act. And it is an unfinished world, waiting for human beings to complete God's work of creating.
George Robinson, Essential Torah, p. 286
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, points out that the phrasing of the opening of Bereishit suggests a process not completed, 'In the beginning of God's creating...' because humanity is here to continue the process, 'helping God realize [the Eternal's] desire for a dwelling.' He writes, 'God created the material world but left to man the task of revealing the spiritual within it. The Zohar states that 'God looked into the Torah and created the world, Man looks into the Torah and maintains the world.'
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 5
I suggest that the lesson that we learn from the fact that the Torah does not begin with the first commandment is precisely that the commandments are not the sole purpose of the torah. The Torah's story is no less important than the commandments it contains.
Rabbi Mark Borowitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 3
We learn that darkness gives form and order to the chaos and emptiness of creation. This is an interesting phenomenon. Most of us are afraid of darkness; we think that it is bad. I am reassured by Torah’s teaching of how creation happens. Here we are being told that darkness is not only part of the creative process, it is actually necessary for creation to take place. So, when we are experiencing a dark mood or a dark place, we are really in the creative process, and something is going to happen. This darkness is not totally black; there is actually a pinpoint of light at its core. This pinpoint of light is God, the source of our own creative instincts. We reach down through the darkness and find this luminescence, and suddenly everything becomes brighter and the solution that we are creating comes to light.
(ה) וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד׃ {פ}
(5) God called the light Day and called the darkness Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.
Rabbinical Association and United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 4
Not to possess a name is tantamount to nonexistence in the worldview of the ancient Near East, including Egypt and Babylonia. Name giving was thus associated with creation and domination, for the one who gives a name has power over the object named.
Rabbinical Association and United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 5
Throughout the Torah, we find this emphasis on distinction...Avivah Zornberg suggests that separation, specialization, is almost always achieved with pain and sacrifice, even as there is a sense of sadness in the havdalah service that marks the separation of Shabbat and weekday, even as there is pain when an infant is born out of its mother's body, even as there is a sense of painful separation when a child outgrows its dependence on parents...there is something poignant in the creative process when things once united are separated.
(ח) וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי׃ {פ}
(8) God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Rabbinical Association and United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 6
The Midrash understands the word as a combination of esh [fire] and mayim [water], that is, the sun and the rain clouds. Were the rain clouds to extinguish the sun or were the sun to evaporate the rain clouds, the world would perish. Therefore, God works a daily miracle. Fire and water agree to co-exist peacefully so the world can endure.
Genesis Rabba 5:3
The waters now are not just jostling for high position. They are crying like a family being torn apart. The lower waters long to go up in order to be reunited with their other half.
(כו) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכׇל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכׇל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃
(26) And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” (27) And God created humankind in the divine image, creating it in the image of God- creating them male and female.
Kimhi (aka Radak), cited in Carasik, The Commentator's Bible: Genesis, p. 20
...the [earthling] was called Adam ('human') because he was made of adamah ('humus, earth'). [The earthling] is therefore distinguished from both the upper and the lower beings, though barely one in a thousand has access to [their] higher side. As Solomon said, 'I found only one human being in a thousand' (Eccles. 7:28).
Dr. Avivah Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire, p. 27
The insistence of the Creation narrative on man as vertical (high, therefore great) comes always in a context of horizontal spread: “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule” (1:28).
Bereshit Rabba 8:1
Said R. Yirmiyah ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him [as] an androgyne [androginos], as it is said, “male and female He created them”. Said Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him double-faced [du-par’tsufin], and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back [t]here, as it is said, “Before/achor and behind/kedem You formed me” [Ps. 139:5].
(ג) וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י ב֤וֹ שָׁבַת֙ מִכׇּל־מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃ {פ}
(א) וַיְבָרֶךְ וַיְקַדֵּשׁ ... והאמת כי הברכה ביום השבת היא מעין הברכות והוא יסוד עולם וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ כי ימשוך מן הקדש ואם תבין דברי זה תדע מה שאמרו בבראשית רבה (בראשית רבה י״א:ח׳) לפי שאין לו בן זוג ומה שאמרו עוד כנסת ישראל תהא בן זוגך ותשכיל כי בשבת נפש יתירה באמת:
(1) AND G-D BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND HE SANCTIFIED IT. ...The truth is that the blessing on the Sabbath day is the fountain of blessings and constitutes the foundation of the world. And He sanctified it that it draw its sanctity from the Sanctuary on high. If you will understand this comment of mine you will grasp what the Rabbis have said in Bereshith Rabbah concerning the Sabbath: [“Why did He bless the Sabbath? It is] because it has no partner,” and that which they have further related [that G-d said to the Sabbath]: “The congregation of Israel will be thy partner.” And then you will comprehend that on the Sabbath there is truly an extra soul.
Rabbinical Association and United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 12
This blessing is undefined and pertains to time itself...This first use of the biblical concept of holiness relates to time. This is a striking contrast to the view of the Babylonians, whose creation epic concludes with the erection of a temple, thereby asserting the sanctification of space.
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 14
The culmination [of the creation story], as the story is arranged, is the Sabbath, a cosmic event: the deity at a halt and consummation. A.J. Heschel wrote that the special significance of the concept of the Sabbath is that it means the sanctification of time. Most other religious symbols are spatial: sacred objects, sacred places, sacred music, prayers, art, symbolic foods, gestures and practices. But the first thing in the Torah to be rendered holy is a unit in the passage of time. This powerfully underscores the Torah's character as containing the first known works of history.
George Robinson, Essential Torah, p. 286
Adam is unique among the original inhabitants of the earth in that Adam is compounded of both earthly and heavenly elements, the dust of the ground (from which they take their name) and the breath of the Eternal.
(ט) וַיַּצְמַ֞ח יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כׇּל־עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְט֣וֹב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע׃
(9) And from the ground God יהוה caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad.
Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, p. 19
It is clear...that the fruit of this tree was understood to bestow immortality upon the eater. What is uncertain is whether a single bite was thought to suffice or whether steady ingestion was needed to sustain a process of continuous rejuvenation. Either way, the text presupposes a belief that humans, created from perishable matter, were mortal from the outset but that they had within their grasp the possibility of immortality. The 'tree of life' is not included in the prohibition in verse 17.
(טו) וַיִּקַּ֛ח יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּנִּחֵ֣הוּ בְגַן־עֵ֔דֶן לְעׇבְדָ֖הּ וּלְשׇׁמְרָֽהּ׃ (טז) וַיְצַו֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֔ים עַל־הָֽאָדָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֑ר מִכֹּ֥ל עֵֽץ־הַגָּ֖ן אָכֹ֥ל תֹּאכֵֽל׃ (יז) וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכׇלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת׃
(15) God יהוה settled the Human in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it. (16) And God יהוה commanded the Human, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; (17) but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”
Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, p. 21
Unrestricted freedom does not exist. Humans are called upon by God to exercise restraint and self-discipline in gratification of their appetites. This prohibition is the paradigm for the future Torah legislation related to the dietary laws.
Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, p. 19
It is more satisfactory, however, to understand 'good' and 'bad' as undifferentiated parts of a totality, a merism meaning 'everything.'...the text does seem to imply that their intellectual horizons are immeasurably expanded...the context leaves no doubt that not to know good and bad means to be innocent, not to have attained the age of responsibility...it is...the capacity to make independent judgments concerning human welfare.
(18) God יהוה said, “It is not good for the Human to be alone; I will make a fitting counterpart for him.”
Rabbinical Association and United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 16
Until now everything God made was seen as good. For the fist time, something is seen as 'not good' - human loneliness in the absence of a human association.
(19) And God יהוה formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to the Human to see what he would call them; and whatever the Human called each living creature, that would be its name.
(1) Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that God יהוה had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” (2) The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. (3) It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” (4) And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, (5) but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” (6) When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. (7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths. (8) They heard the sound of God יהוה moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the Human and his wife hid from God יהוה among the trees of the garden. (9) God יהוה called out to the Human and said to him, “Where are you?” (10) He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” (11) “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?” (12) The Human said, “The woman You put at my side—she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” (13) And God יהוה said to the woman, “What is this you have done!” The woman replied, “The serpent duped me, and I ate.”
Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, p. 25
The word of the serpent prevails over the word of God. The allure of the forbidden has become irresistible. There is an undertone of irony in the formulation that she 'saw that it was good,' for it echoes God's recurring judgment about His creation in Chapter 1. Now, however, good has become debased in the woman's mind. Its definition is no longer God's verdict but is rooted in the appeal to the senses and in utilitarian value. Egotism, greed, and self-interest now govern human action.
Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, p. 25, re: 'their eyes were opened':
Just as the serpent had foretold! But, ironically, the new insight they gain is only the consciousness of their nakedness, and shame is the consequence.
Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 24
The spiritual challenge of this beginning time is to know that we are utterly naked and vulnerable. Yet rather than hide, we are challenged to stand in our nakedness. We are spurred to uncover our essence, to let go of everything that we've acquired to keep us safe. We are required to stand in our vulnerability, to open to the power that moves through us.
Rabbi Mark Borowitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 6
Searching for God is the ultimate principle to which we must remain loyal. We do this by searching for our true essence, searching to grow our intellect and our spirit, searching for our place, and searching for wholeness. We do this by allowing God to find us as well. In his 1972 interview with Carl Stern, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, z”l, said that “God is in search of man”—yet we keep hiding just like our ancestors Adam and Eve did. We seek God when we continue to refine and define our purpose in this world. We do this by acknowledging and living with passion. We do this through loving all people (even though not all people are likable at all times). We love all people by seeing their divine image even when they are trying to hide. We do this by erasing margins, experiencing our kinship with all of our brothers and sisters, while still maintaining healthy boundaries.
(כב) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ׀ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֗ים הֵ֤ן הָֽאָדָם֙ הָיָה֙ כְּאַחַ֣ד מִמֶּ֔נּוּ לָדַ֖עַת ט֣וֹב וָרָ֑ע וְעַתָּ֣ה ׀ פֶּן־יִשְׁלַ֣ח יָד֗וֹ וְלָקַח֙ גַּ֚ם מֵעֵ֣ץ הַֽחַיִּ֔ים וְאָכַ֖ל וָחַ֥י לְעֹלָֽם׃ (כג) וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵ֛הוּ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים מִגַּן־עֵ֑דֶן לַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֻקַּ֖ח מִשָּֽׁם׃ (כד) וַיְגָ֖רֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩ מִקֶּ֨דֶם לְגַן־עֵ֜דֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִ֗ים וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת לִשְׁמֹ֕ר אֶת־דֶּ֖רֶךְ עֵ֥ץ הַֽחַיִּֽים׃ {ס}
(22) And God יהוה said, “Now that humankind has become like any of us, knowing good and bad, what if one should stretch out a hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!” (23) So God יהוה banished humankind from the garden of Eden, to till the humus from which it was taken: (24) it was driven out; and east of the garden of Eden were stationed the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Rabbinical Association and United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 18
There is no indication that this represents a permanent rupture of the divine-human relationship. God expels Adam and Eve from Eden, which can be seen as a punishment. But it can also be seen as a painful but necessary 'graduation' from the innocence of childhood to the problem-laden world of living as morally responsible adults.
Rabbi Aron Tendler, A Walk In the Garden: Bereshis, at https://torah.org/torah-portion/rabbis-notebook-5759-bereishis/
It was never intended for us to live in Gan Eden. It was intended that we make our world into a Gan Eden. In spite of the sweat of our brow and the pain of child rearing, we acknowledge and praise our dependency upon G-d’s benevolence and love. Man might be destined to sin and fail, but he is equally capable of Teshuva and success. The serpents of the real world are both within us and outside of us. As individuals, and as a society we are challenged to recognize the freedom of discipline and the imprisonment of unbridled desire. Selfishness, self-centeredness and ego are “the most cunning of all G-d’s creations”, and it is our mission to channel passion into devotion and desire into service. The ultimate test of our success or failure in our relationship with G-d will be whether we hide in shame or stand proud when we hear the “sound of G-d walking in the garden”.
Kimhi (aka Radak), cited in Carasik, The Commentator's Torah: Genesis, pp. 29, 47
Re: The tree of life in the middle of the garden: Not just 'in the midst', but precisely in the middle, where it could be most easily protected, as one wraps something precious inside other things to keep it safe. The nature of this tree was that it could strengthen the nature of the person who ate from it so that he could live a very long time. But, according to the allegorical meaning of the text, he could live forever...Re: To guard the way of the tree of life: Another reason for doing this was to get the man to beat himself up and repent. So the Holy One was teaching him the way of repentance. Once he repented, the cherubim and the sword vanished, and he did indeed return to the garden from time to time.