The Incredible Word, Bereishis

We know that every word of the Torah contains infinite wisdom. Indeed, one could dedicate many lifetimes to even just one word of the Torah. While this is true of every word, probably the Torah’s most studied word is the first word in the Torah, “Bereishis – In the Beginning.” It has never failed to amaze me how many secrets are lurking in this one word. Likewise, every year I am astounded to find new insights and lessons here in the very first word of the Torah. My wonderful friend and talmid, Mr. Mendy Schwartz, shlit”a, once shared with me some new ideas that I am delighted to pass along to you.

It is now the universal custom that we start reading the Torah in shul once again on the first Shabbos after Simchas Torah. How fascinating that the individual letters of the word Bereishis, beis, reish, alef, shin, yud, and saf (or taf), are the first letters of the phrase, “Yikra’u b’Shabbos rishon achar Simchas Torah.”

Rav Yonason Shteif, zt”l, zy”a, (who was Mesader Kidushin at my parents’ wedding), cites a Medrash stating that the letter shin denotes learning Torah. This is because shin stands for shinun, which means “to learn.” He points out that if you remove the letter shin, signifying learning, from the word Bereishis, the gematria of the remaining letters equals taryag. Taryag is the word that denotes the 613 mitzvos of the Torah because it’s the exact gematria of 613. Thus, the very first word in the Torah alerts us to one of the Torah’s missions, for us to learn the 613 mitzvos.

Likewise, the Vilna Gaon taught us that within the word Bereishis is an allusion to all 613 mitzvos. For example, the Gaon would say Bereishis refers to pidyon haben. How? Once again, the individual letters of Bereishis (in order) stand for “Ben Rishon Achar Shloshim Yomim Tifdeh – One’s first son, after thirty days, he should redeem.”

One of the highlights in a Jewish man’s day is the frequent public sanctification of Hashem’s Name in Kaddish. He does this by answering, “Amen, yehei Shmei rabbah…” That’s why the letters in Bereishis stand for, “Amen, yehei Shmei rabbah b’kol tefilah.”

We all know that the three cardinal sins of Judaism are idolatry, immorality and bloodshed. Less known is the fourth cardinal sin: to embarrass someone publicly. For this heinous crime, the Gemara in Masechtas Sanhedrin tells us that the habitual perpetrator is stripped of his Afterlife. Hashem warns us about this terrible crime so we find in an anagram of the letters of Bereishis the words yorei boshes, which is a directive meaning “be ever fearful of embarrassing someone.”

The very survival of the Jewish people hinges upon Shabbos observance. When a family is so assimilated that they don’t even observe Shabbos, intermarriage is sadly only a few steps away. Thus, Bereishis is also an acronym of yorei Shabbos, meaning “be ever mindful of the Shabbos.”

The last Mishna in Shas teaches us that in the Afterlife every righteous person is destined to inherit shai olomos, meaning “worlds of pleasure.” Shai is spelled with two letters, shin and yud, which equal 310 in gematria. Thus, the word Bereishis is also an anagram of “Borosa shai – He created 310 worlds,” (and not just one world). For this reason, the tribe representing Torah is called Yisasschar, which is an anagram of “Shai schar – The reward is 310.”

It is well known that the Vilna Gaon states the letters of Bereishis stand for the six most important pursuits of life: bitachon, ratzon, ahavah, shtika, yirah and Torah. These are 1) Trust in Hashem, 2) Proper will to do the right things in life, 3) Correct kinds of love such as love for Hashem, a spouse and a fellow man, and the proper ways to love oneself, 4) Knowing when to remain silent, 5) Fear of Hashem, and 6) Study of Torah. I have also seen other versions of this, also from the Gaon. In another, saf stands for Tefilah, prayer, and shin stands for either simcha, or shkeidah, diligence.

One of my favorite anagrams for the word Bereishis is “Rashi savo!” The first word of the Torah informs us, “Rashi will come,” the great teacher of Torah who will unlock many meanings of the Torah for us.

The letters of Bereishis also spell, “B’Alef Tishrei – The first of (the month) Tishrei.” This informs us that, as the world was created on the 25^th of Elul, Man, the purpose of creation, was created six days later, on the first day of Tishrei which is Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year.

A complex and exciting branch of gematria is known as A”T Ba”Sh, pronounced at-bash. This is where the letter alef equals taf, beis equals shin, gimmel equals reish, and so on throughout the alef-beis. It is hard to spot this kind of gematria but there are many secrets to unearth using this methodology. For example, in A”T Ba”Sh, the word tzedakah is still tzedakah, since it is meant to convey that charity is a two-way street: We give to the poor and then Hashem gives us back. Similarly, the words Lech Lecha (the Divine directive to Avraham Avinu to leave his homeland and go to the “Promised” Land) remain Lech Lecha in A”T Ba”Sh. Perhaps this is meant to convey that although Avraham was told to leave his birthplace, he was also told that Eliezer would go back there to find a wife for Yitzchak.

Mendy Schwartz pointed out to me that within the word Bereishis itself are the letters of a”t ba”sh, or alef, taf, beis, and shin. Remove those four letters and the remaining ones are reish and yud. These letters in A”T Ba”Sh are the letters gimmel and mem. Thus, it means, when A”T Ba”Sh is applied to the word Bereishis, it can be read, “Gam A”T Ba”Sh – Also A”T Ba”Sh,” teaching us that Torah should also be interpreted with A”T Ba”Sh. If this sounds too complicated, the next word of the Torah, the word after Bereishis, is bora. In A”T Ba”Sh, the letters of bora (beis, reish, and alef) become shin, gimmel, and taf, which have the numerical value of 703. Amazingly, 703 is the exact numerical value of the letters of “A”T Ba”Sh.” Thus, this method of gematria is clearly alluded to in the first two words of Torah.

While Mendy was showing this to me, I realized to my surprise that when rearranged, the letters A”T Ba”Sh spell Av Sheis, the father of Sheis. Thus, if we take out the alef, beis, shin, and taf from the word Bereishis, we’re left with reish and yud which can stand for yichus rishon, the first pedigree, or reishis Yisrael, the beginning of the nation of Israel, for Adam and Chava’s first two children were not the progenitors of Klal Yisrael. This is because Hevel was murdered and Kaiyin and his descendents were wiped out by the Flood. Thus, all mankind descended from Sheis. This is all forecast in the first word of Bereishis, which tells us that the yichus rishon of Sheis, meaning the first genealogy in the world, is Adam HaRishon, the father of Sheis.

This is just a sampler to whet your appetite for the many, many, many, secrets that are lurking in just one word. May it be the will of Hashem that we have long life and good health to enjoy the sweetness of the Torah until the coming of the Mashiach, speedily and in our day!