Our Great Beginnings

Bereishit is a cheerful sedra, even though its ending is not all that pleasant. Noach has the Flood, but the week ends on a happy note with the birth of our father Avraham. The really joyous week is that of parshat Lech L’cha. We live every day of the week with Avraham, the first to dedicate his very life to spreading G‑dliness in the world. And Avraham bequeathed his self-sacrifice as an inheritance to all Jews.

Emory Professor, Dr. Marshall Duke in a 2001 research study, reports that children who know where they come from, their grandparents names, and history, are much more resilient in times of challenge.

Perhaps this is why we find the first two Torah portions covering a span of 20 generations – From Adam to Noach and from Noach to Abraham. And then the Torah slows down and for the rest of the book of Bereishis/Genesis the Torah covers a total of 4 generations in great detail.  

In fact one of the names of the book of Bereishis is the book of the upright as it is ultimately the story of the founding of our People.

The stories are not all easy, nor are they all pleasant. But they are all stories that carry with them profound lessons and meaning and establish for us a collective history and memory; the story we come from.

In the words of our Rabbis; the stories of our forefathers is a sign for their children.  A sign on the road lets you know that there is danger ahead or opportunity ahead.  It lets you know that someone has walked this path before and if you follow the instructions you can get safely to your destination and avoid hardship where possible and at least know how to navigate through the difficulties ahead.

So, whether we take the teachings of our Rabbi’s, or the studies of Professor Marshall Duke, we have the powerful stories of these coming weeks.

Read them, internalize them, speak about them to your loved ones, it will strengthen us in times of challenge and make us all more resilient.

Shabbat Shalom and Good Shabbos!