New Beginnings

Before going further in my teaching I want to divert for a moment to give you a not so little treasure. One of the basic concepts of Hebraic thinking is that time is not linear, but cyclical and in truth, we as western thinkers believe this also.  Look at how we think about most everything in life as being part of a cycle.  Spring, summer, fall and winter.  People are born, grow up, marry, have children, die then their children grow up marry, have children, die, etc., holidays, semesters, billing cycles, accounting years, I think you get the picture.  We even talk about fashion and hair styles coming around again (although most people would agree some fashions should stay dead!).  We even say that history repeats itself, do we not? 

A part of the cycle of Hebraic life is the reading of the Torah.  There is a weekly Torah portion and at the end of the year the Torah has been completed and can begin again.  October 13 will begin this cycle and in honor of that I will be devoting each Friday to the Torah portion in order to stay on track with the reading.  In October of 2013 if you hang with me, you will have read the Torah in it's entirety and your eyes will see things you have never read before, I guarantee.  Along with the reading I will be giving insights to help you better understand God's Word from a new perspective.  The insights I give will be coming from several sources; my Rabbi Dr. Chad Foster, along with several Orthodox Jewish resources I have searched and researched in my quest to know the Creator better and mostly from the best source - The Holy Spirit. 

The Torah, for the Jews, is broken down into portions or sections known as Parashats, rather than chapter and verses (although the chapter and verse designation is there).  I am going to give you a link to an online version of the Torah in an English / Hebrew translation, because I want you to get used to seeing the Hebrew writing.  This is an Orthodox Jewish translation and you can choose, just below the chapter designation, to show Rashi's commentary. Rashi is basically an acronym for a Rabbi who lived 900 years ago named Rabbi Solomon - Son of Yitzchak. A very Godly, gifted man in understanding the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings and the ability to write deep commentaries in a language that could be more easily understood, yet for the beginning western thinker they may be deeper than you want to go as of yet.     

http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8165

   The scripture reading for this weeks Torah portion is Bereishis (Genesis 1:1 - 6:8).  I am not going to make a lot of comments on this Torah portion since we have not cleared the way for them, but I want to give you some study hints.  Since I have already mentioned cycles - there is a reason to the cycle reading and a connection when all God's people are reading the same scripture during the same week in the year.  As we go along our journey I will explain this concept more, but for now, just go with the cycle and read the portion.  Shema!  (Hear and obey) and you will be blessed as will become obvious a little further down the road.  (I promise the view is very worth the trek, just keep climbling!)

Now, some things to look for and think about specifically while reading Bereishis:

1. Contrast day 1 with day 4
    Contrast day 2 with day 5
    Contrast day 3 with day 6

2. Why does the reading say Day One, but after that say the second day, the third day etc.?

3.  Why does the reading jump from the singular "him" to the plural "them" in 1:27?

4.  What is different about the way God responds after the creation of man as opposed to the rest of     creation?

5.  Was Adam created inside the garden or outside of it?  What about Eve?


I think this is quite enough for this time around.  Remember, you will read this passage again next year if Messiah does not return before then!  My next blog entry is coming soon, but it will be lengthy due to the nature of the topic, so just hang on.  Enjoy!