Parshas Bereishis

Shlomo Wolbe walks through Bereishis from the first day of creation to the eve of the Flood. Hashem creates the world with the Torah as the blueprint: light and darkness, the split of the waters, land and vegetation, sun, moon, and stars, fish and birds, animals, and finally the human being, the reason the whole project exists. Day seven is rest. Adam is formed from earth, a soul is breathed into him, and he is placed in Gan Eden with one rule: eat from anything except the Tree of Knowledge. From there the episode follows the story inside the garden. Adam names the animals (including the old family reading of kelev as kol lev, all heart). Chava is built from his side. The nachash talks her into the fruit, she shares it with Adam, and shame, hiding, and punishment follow: the snake loses its legs, childbirth becomes painful, and the ground no longer gives food for free. Hashem still clothes them before sending them out. Kayin the gardener and Hevel the shepherd bring offerings. Hevel’s is accepted, Kayin’s is not, and the first murder follows, along with Kayin’s curse and the mark that protects him. Ten generations later the world has gone bad enough that Hashem regrets creating it, except that Noach finds favor. The ark, and what happens next, waits for next week.