On Simchat Torah we finish our yearly reading of the Torah, and start again “in the beginning.” This week, we offer these reflections on the Book of Genesis (B’reishit).
Where does the journey begin
Where will we go?
Hours pass the answers can change
As we keep moving along.
The late Debbie Friedman (z”l) wrote these words to accompany the Ma’ayan Passover Haggadah. And yet, these are also the words to which I have been turning as we prepare to open the Book of Genesis yet again. Where does our journey, as a people, begin?
Our ancient sages wondered the same, asking why the Torah begins with the Book of Genesis. Why, they wonder, doesn’t it begin with the story of the Exodus from Egypt, arguably the foundational story of our people’s identity? Even more specifically, one rabbi asks: Why doesn’t the Torah begin with the words, “This month shall be unto you the first of the months,” (Exodus 12:2), which he cites as the first commandment given to us as a people, rather than as individual persons? Why—they wonder—does this story for our people begin with a story of all people?
Rashi, the great medieval commentator, suggests that we need a universal origin story before our particular one; for him, the universal informs—or even creates—the latter. He teaches that we begin with the Book of Genesis—with the creation story—because it is a reminder that all the earth belongs to the Holy Blessed One. Our journey begins with the human journey, and while it might take each of us down our different paths, starting with Genesis reminds us that our shared humanity—lived on a shared Earth—means that we also have a shared future and a shared fate. We would be wise to remember that.
—Rabbi Sari Laufer