Weekly Torah Portion: Bereishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8)
God creates the world with words. After Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, they are banished from the Garden of Eden. Later Cain kills Abel. God then considers destroying all of Creation. Read an extensive summary on My Jewish Learning
Related D’var Torah
“There is another teaching I love based on the statement in Bereshit that all human beings are created bezelem Elohim, in the image of the Holy One.” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards in 2005. Read the full d’var torah
“How much more so as gay men, lesbians and bisexuals are we inundated with stories of the closet, and as we know about the closet, so we should know about our ‘coming out of the closet.'” – Michael Main in 1999 read the full drash
“Perfection may be a coveted goal, but perfection is boring. It is the trying, the repeated attempts, the imagining of what could be better, that makes us grow, and helps us to appreciate what unfolds. ” – Sabina Fried in 2004. Read the full drash
“I would like to share with you part of my spiritual journey… I am a Jew by choice.” – David Fyffe Z”L in 2000. Read the full drash
Torah Verse of the Week*
“God created them male and female, and blessed them and called their name “Human” in the day of their being created.” (Parashat Bereshit; Genesis 5:2)
Other Suggested Readings
‘Together But Separate: Adam and Eve’s original relationship in which they were together as one flesh yet still distinct provides us with an ideal model’ by Dvora Weisberg, Associate Professor of Rabbinics at Hebrew Union College. Read from our Telephone Torah Study archives
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*Torah Verse of the Week is chosen by the Torah class during Tuesdays’ studies with Rabbi Lisa Edwards. Check out when our next Torah Study takes place
