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Drash
for Shabbat Breisheet This has been a busy few weeks for us Jews! We’ve wished each other "L’Shana Tova", dined under the Sukkah, and celebrated Simchat Torah; said "goodbye" to 5768, and here we are back at the beginning: Breisheet. "Here we go again", you might think. Who doesn’t know the story of Creation, who hasn’t heard about Adam and Eve getting kicked out of Eden, or the discord between Cain and Abel – not to mention all those "begots" with decreasing lifespans! Trying to come up with something new to say, we read and reread the sidrah, highlighting phrases and scribbling notes. We researched creation stories from other religions and cultures, finding it interesting that many also had an omnipotent presence creating humans from dust, dirt or mud. Like Genesis, Chapter 1, some of those stories already had animals on earth to greet the emerging humans. Others started with man, as in the retelling of the story of Creation in Genesis, Chapter 2. Our research led to more questions. Why does Breisheet contain two versions of Creation? Why follow this with two stories of those fallible humans (Adam and Eve, and sons Cain and Abel), exercising their free will to make rather dubious decisions, then trying to avoid responsibility for their actions? We see repetition of themes within the repeating yearly cycle of rereading the Torah. Looking through the eyes of a parent, perhaps that repetition is telling us "Pay attention, this is important!", much like we endlessly repeat "brush your teeth" or "say thank you" to our children. Maybe the order of events and characters’ names aren’t as important as the repetition itself, to catch us at a teachable moment. Perhaps that long list of the generations following Adam and Eve is to remind us of the importance of passing our heritage, values and traditions on to our own children. What better way to do this than to study Torah together – passing insights generation to generation – L’dor V’dor. Maybe looking through the eyes of our children, we will find fresh insights, new meanings, and shared joy. Shabbat Shalom.
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