In the Beginning

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Seven words in Hebrew. Everything the Torah will teach rests on this one claim: the world has a Creator.

Rabbi Yitzchak asked: the Torah is a book of commandments — why not begin with the first commandment given to Israel (Shemot 12:2)? Because “He told His people the power of His works, to give them the inheritance of the nations” (Tehillim 111:6).

The world belongs to its Creator, and He gives it to whom He wills. Rashi’s very first comment is about the Land of Israel.

Rashi reads the verse grammatically as “In the beginning of God’s creating…” — the verse does not come to teach the order of creation.

Rashi models honesty with the text: first, what the words actually say.

Hashem looked into the Torah and created the world — like an architect who builds a palace from his plans.

The Torah is not only a book about the world. It is the blueprint the world was built from.

Why does the Torah begin with the letter bet? Just as the bet is closed on three sides and open in front, you may not ask what is above, below, or before — only from the day of creation onward.

The first letter teaches humility: some questions are closed; the open side faces forward, toward life.

The Ramban explains that Hashem brought everything into being from absolute nothingness — not from any material that existed before.

Creation from nothing means nothing exists on its own. Everything depends on Hashem — then and now.

The ancient Aramaic translation renders “In the beginning” as “With wisdom.”

Beginning and wisdom are one: the world starts with Divine wisdom — the sefirah Kabbalah calls Chochmah.

In the name of the Baal Shem Tov (on Tehillim 119:89): the Divine word that created each thing is still inside it, bringing it into being every moment.

Creation is not a past event. “In the beginning” is happening now.