3 pages · ~4 min Read · 19% of source · Read on Sefaria
Bereshit ("In the Beginning”) is the first parashah in the annual Torah reading cycle, which restarts at the beginning of the book of Genesis. The reading begins with God’s creation of the world. The first people, Adam and Eve, eat from the Tree of Knowledge and are then banished from the Garden of Eden. Their elder son, Cain, kills their younger son, Abel, and Cain is destined to a life of wandering.
This Torah portion begins with a word in Hebrew: Bereshit, which means “In the beginning.” In the beginning, the earth was unformed and empty, with darkness over the deep, and a wind from God sweeping over the waters. God spoke, “Let there be light,” and light appeared. God called the light Day and the darkness Night, there was evening and morning, the first day.
God made an expanse called Sky to separate waters. God gathered the waters so dry land appeared, calling the dry land Earth and the gathering of waters Seas, and the earth sprouted seed-bearing plants and fruit trees. God set lights in the sky for days, years, and set times: the greater light for day, the lesser for night, and the stars. God filled seas with living creatures and the sky with birds, blessing them to increase. God made animals on land, then created humankind, male and female, in the divine image, blessing them to fill the earth and rule over other creatures. God saw it was very good. On the seventh day, God ceased from work, blessed the day, and made it holy.
When there were still no field plants and no rain, God formed a human from the soil and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. God planted a garden in Eden and placed the human there to till it and tend it. Beautiful trees grew there, including the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and bad. God commanded, “You may eat of every tree, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad; when you eat of it, you shall die.”
God said it was not good for the human to be alone, so animals and birds were brought to be named, yet none was a fitting counterpart. God cast a deep sleep on the human, took one of his sides, and made a woman.
A clever serpent questioned the woman, and she and her husband ate the forbidden fruit. Their eyes were opened; they realized they were naked and made fig-leaf coverings. Hearing God in the garden, they hid. God questioned them, and each blamed another. God declared painful toil, a cursed ground with thorns, and death, returning to dust. God clothed them with garments of skins and drove them from Eden, placing cherubim and a fiery turning sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
The woman bore Cain, saying she had gained someone new with God’s help, and later she bore Abel. Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the soil. In time, Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought the choicest firstlings of his flock. God paid heed to Abel’s offering, but not to Cain’s, and Cain’s face fell. God warned him that if he did not do right, sin was crouching at the door, urging him, yet he could master it.
Cain attacked Abel in the field and killed him. God asked, “Where is your brother Abel?” Cain answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” God said Abel’s blood cried out from the ground. Cain was cursed to become a ceaseless wanderer, and God set a mark on him so no one would kill him.
Cain settled in Nod, east of Eden, and later Adam and Eve had another son, Seth, and then Enosh; it was then that God began to be invoked by name. As people increased, wickedness grew great, and God regretted making humankind. But Noah found favor with God.
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