CHABBAT BÉRÉCHIT- 26 OCTOBRE 2019/ 27 TICHRÉ 5780
CHABBAT MÉBARKHIM ROCH HODECH HECHVAN –
MARDI ET MERCREDI 29 ET 30 OCTOBRE
Bon anniversaire : Charles David Zeitouné
Bar Mitzvah : Emery Hananya Bensimon
Dans ce bulletin / In this issue
La paracha en bref
Is life pre-determined
Le Jardin d’Eden
Understanding Bereshit
Le mois de Hechvan
The Heh that caused trouble
Bereshit Quiz
Proverbs
The Shabbat smille
Béréchit - en bref
Genèse 1, 1 - 6, 8
D.ieu crée le monde en six jours. Le premier jour, Il fait les ténèbres et la lumière. Le second, Il forme les cieux, séparant les eaux d’en bas de celles d’en haut. Le troisième jour, Il rassemble les eaux et fait apparaître la terre, ordonne la croissance des végétaux et des arbres fruitiers. Le quatrième, Il fixe la position du soleil, de la lune et des étoiles qui « serviront de signes pour les fêtes, pour les jours et pour les années » ainsi que pour illuminer la terre. Les poissons, les oiseaux et les animaux rampants sont créés le cinquième jour. Les animaux terrestres, le bétail le sont le sixième jour ainsi que l’être humain. Et D.ieu « se reposa le septième jour de toute son œuvre qu’Il avait faite ».
L’homme est fait de la poussière de la terre que D.ieu forme et dans laquelle il insuffle, par les narines, un souffle de vie, et l’homme devint « une âme vivante ».
D.ieu considère qu’« il n’est pas bon que l’homme soit seul ». D.ieu prend « l'une de ses côtes » à partir de laquelle Il forme la femme.
Adam et Eve sont placés au Jardin d’Eden. Il leur est commandé de ne pas consommer du fruit de « l’Arbre de la Connaissance du Bien et du Mal ». Le serpent persuade Eve de violer ce commandement et elle partage le fruit prohibé avec son mari. Il est alors décrété que l’homme connaîtra la mort, retournant à la poussière dont il a été formé. Il lui est annoncé que dorénavant « c'est à la sueur de ton visage que tu mangeras du pain ». L’homme est banni du Jardin d’Eden.
Eve donne naissance à deux fils : Caïn et Abel. Caïn se querelle avec son frère et le tue. Il devient un fugitif, errant sur la terre.
Un troisième fils naît à Adam et Eve, Seth dont le descendant à la dixième génération, Noé, est le seul Juste dans un monde corrompu.
Life is it predetermined?
What does Judaism believe regarding a predestined time of death. Classical Jewish Philosophy seems to indicate that life span is due to merit not due to diestiny. For example there are several laws that promise a longer life to those that fulfill them. That still does not make it clear however if someone is destined to live a certain amount of time and the mitzvah extends it, or is there no set predetermined lifespan for a given individual and the life span is simply determined by their genetic make-up, lifestyle (diet, exercise, etc.) and their good deeds.
However, in the midrash of this week’s parasha there is an idea that everyone is born with a predetermined lifespan that can be changed. We read that Adam died at 930 years old. We also know that about 2700 years later (or about 3000 years ago) David lives 70 years. The midrash sees a connection between these two and states that Adam was supposed to live to 1,000, but he saw with prophesy that King David was destined to die at birth. He decided to give 70 years of his life to David, so that he would be able to live and become king of Israel.
In Bereshit chapter 6 we read that a man’s days are numbered to about 120 years. Some interpret this to mean that man will live till 120 years old, it seems though that the verse is really referring to how many more years God will tolerate man before bringing the flood and destroying them. After this verse many people still live past 120. By the time Tehillim is written it seems that the average lifespan was about 70 and healthy strong people lived till about 80 (The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.) Since then the lifespan of man had decreased in the middle ages due to poor hygiene, plague, war, etc. Today with modern medicine, clean water, and hand washing with soap it has increased to about 79 in the United States. Japan has the highest at 84 with several African nations at the lowest expected lifespan in the 40s. Israel life expectancy is 82 (81 for men, 84 for women) so you can move to Israel if you want to live a few more years as well. Actually, if you want to live long, the 4 highest countries for life expectancy for men is: Iceland (81.2), Switzerland (80.7), Australia (80.5) and drum roll please….4th highest life expectancy for men in the world is ISRAEL!!! at 80.2 years for a boy born in Israel in 2012. For women Japan is #1 with 87 years and Israel is 84 years placing it in 10th place in the world (USA is 37th in the world). Globally life expectancy has been rising remarkably. Globally, a child born in 2012 can expect to live 6 years longer than a child born in 1990. Unfortunately, many of these older people suffer from different types of dementia. For example, about half of people that are above the age of 85 have Alzheimer’s dementia (and this does not include other types of dementia).
In the meantime, we are taught by the Torah to simply live life and follow God, “Tamim tihiye”. We are taught by the sages to not waste our time trying to determine the future or how long we are going to live. We should just live every day as if it is our most important day of our life. We should plan for the future but still live life in the present and just be the best people we can be each and every day of our lives. The Torah specifically does not teach us about our expected lifespan, as it is not crucial to us living a good life and being good people so we can just let God worry about the difficult philosophical questions, while we follow the Torah and mitzvot given to us. Abal Mee’eh U’eshreen
Le jardin d'Eden (Genèse 2.4-25)
4 Telle fut l'histoire du ciel et de la terre quand ils furent créés.
5 Lorsque l'Eternel Dieu fit la terre et le ciel, il n'y avait encore aucun arbuste des champs sur la terre et aucune herbe des champs ne poussait encore, car l'Eternel Dieu n'avait pas fait pleuvoir sur la terre et il n'y avait pas d'homme pour cultiver le sol.
6 Cependant, une vapeur montait de la terre et arrosait toute la surface du sol.
7 L'Eternel Dieu façonna l'homme avec la poussière de la terre. Il insuffla un souffle de vie dans ses narines et *l'homme devint un être vivant.
8 L'Eternel Dieu planta un jardin en Eden, du côté de l'est, et il y mit l'homme qu'il avait façonné.
9 L'Eternel Dieu fit pousser du sol des arbres de toute sorte, agréables à voir et porteurs de fruits bons à manger. Il fit pousser l'arbre de la vie au milieu du jardin, ainsi que l'arbre de la connaissance du bien et du mal.
10 Un fleuve sortait d'Eden pour arroser le jardin, et de là il se divisait en quatre bras.
11 Le nom du premier est Pishon: il entoure tout le pays de Havila où se trouve l'or. 12 L'or de ce pays est pur. On y trouve aussi le bdellium et la pierre d'onyx.
13 Le nom du deuxième fleuve est Guihon: il entoure tout le pays de Cush.
14 Le nom du troisième est le Tigre: il coule à l'est de l'Assyrie. Le quatrième fleuve, c'est l'Euphrate.
15 L'Eternel Dieu prit l'homme et le plaça dans le jardin d'Eden pour qu'il le cultive et le garde.
16 L'Eternel Dieu donna cet ordre à l'homme: «Tu pourras manger les fruits de tous les arbres du jardin,
17 mais tu ne mangeras pas le fruit de l'arbre de la connaissance du bien et du mal, car le jour où tu en mangeras, tu mourras, c'est certain.»
18 L'Eternel Dieu dit: «Il n'est pas bon que l'homme soit seul. Je lui ferai une aide qui soit son vis-à-vis.»
19 L'Eternel Dieu façonna à partir de la terre tous les animaux sauvages et tous les oiseaux du ciel, puis il les fit venir vers l'homme pour voir comment il les appellerait. Il voulait que tout être vivant porte le nom que l'homme lui donnerait.
20 L'homme donna des noms à tout le bétail, aux oiseaux du ciel et à tous les animaux sauvages, mais pour lui-même il ne trouva pas d'aide qui soit son vis-à-vis.
21 Alors l'Eternel Dieu fit tomber un profond sommeil sur l'homme, qui s'endormit. Il prit une de ses côtes et referma la chair à sa place. 22 L'Eternel Dieu forma une femme à partir de la côte qu'il avait prise à l'homme et il l'amena vers l'homme.
23 L'homme dit: «Voici cette fois celle qui est faite des mêmes os et de la même chair que moi. On l'appellera femme parce qu'elle a été tirée de l'homme.»
24 *C'est pourquoi l'homme quittera son père et sa mère et s'attachera à sa femme, et ils ne feront qu'un.
25 L'homme et sa femme étaient tous les deux nus, et ils n'en avaient pas honte.
Understanding Bereshit
Our focus in reading Bereshit should not be on trying to understand how the world was created rather, why it was created and what our purpose in this world is. It is meant to show us that there is one ultimate being that is the sole cause of all that exists. This showed B’nei Yisrael that the pagan concepts are wrong and the pagans were wasting their time and resources. The laws of other cultures at the time where not just. Certain cultures believed that they were superior to others. The Torah came and uprooted all these concepts and taught us that all humanity are descended from one person and therefore should all be treated equally and respectfully – ALL humans, I repeat ALL humans are equal. That is what is taught by our Torah and by our sages. Today, there are so many comments that are being said and being written, even by rabbis, that makes it seem as if many of us have forgotten this concept that every human in the world no matter what culture, religion, gender, race, etc. they are born into are created equal as we all descend from one person, and we are all created with the same flesh and blood, the same feelings and emotions, the same thoughts, etc. It is interesting to note that researchers did find that all current people have one common ancestor that lived about 6000 years ago, and we also know that this was around the time of the beginnings of civilization. At the time there were many people and many generations had passed, but all had eventually died out except for one lineage that lived on. All humans today are descended from that one common ancestor (Adam), who was not the first person.
Once we accept and understand the purpose of the Torah we no longer need to waste our time trying to explain how it can be explained through modern science (which is going to change and require a new explanation for what the Torah meant). There are so many articles being written trying to reconcile science and religion. In my opinion, although this is fun to do, it is a rather useless endeavor, especially since the science is going to continue to change. Rather we can spend our time to focus on a better understanding of what the parasha really means, what we are supposed to learn from it, and how we can use it to affect our lives and our behaviors.
Le mois de ‘hechvan
C’est le deuxième mois de l’année comptée à partir de Roch hachana , et le huitième si on le numérote, comme le fait la Tora , à partir de nissan .
Il fait partie, avec celui de kislev , des mois qui comptent 29 ou 30 jours selon qu’ils sont complets ( malé ) ou déficients ( ‘hassèr ).
Le signe du zodiaque qui lui correspond est celui du Scorpion, signe que le Midrach ( Yalqout Chimoni ) associe à la soif d’eau ressentie par la terre en automne après la sécheresse des mois d’été.
Un autre regard sur le mois de ‘hechwan consiste à relier son nom à son anagramme partiel na’hach , qui est celui du serpent tentateur ( Berèchith 3, 1), dont la morsure peut être mortelle. Peut-être est-ce pour cette raison qu’on l’appelle parfois mar’hechvan , le préfixe mar étant significatif d’une amertume.
Le mois de ‘hechvan est le seul des mois de l’année auquel ne sont associées ni fêtes ni mitsvoth spéciales. Une autre raisonon l’appelle Mar, qui signifie Monsieur
Et d’ailleurs, on nous apprend le Yalqout chim’oni ( Berèchith 7, 54), c’est le 17 ‘hechvan qu’a commencé le déluge. Voilà pourquoi, comme nous l’apprend la Michna ( Ta?anith 1, 4), c’est à cette date que l’on commençait, à l’époque talmudique, en cas de sécheresse, de jeûner pour que tombe la pluie.
The Heh that caused so much trouble
In the recounting of what was created on each day, the last verse of each day states: It was eve, it was morning, yom ehad, yom, sheni, yom shelishi, etc. but on the sixth day there is an extra ‘heh’: It was eve it was morning the sixth day. Why is “the sixth day” written with the definite article ‘the’ “Hashihi”? Rabbis throughout the ages have grappled with this big question created by this little letter.
Rashi explains that the letter Heh has a numerical value of five. Hashem created the world on the condition that it will endure only if the Jewish People accept the Five Books of the Torah. He also explains that all the six days are conditional on the sixth day of Sivan when we got the Torah (Tractate Avoda Zara 3a).
Rabenu Bechaye explains that it is given importance because it is the day that Man was created.
Sforno explains that it is the first sixth day for many to come where people will finish their daily activities in preparation for Shabbat.
Chizkuni explains that it is an important day because Hashem finished all the work of creation.
Bechor Shor explains that when Moshe wrote “Hashishi” he said ‘The’, meaning this is the day of the week that you will get double portion of Mann. Also it says ‘the’ for the seventh day for the same reason that this is the seventh day that will be referred to later when the Torah talks about Shabbat.
We are now accepting more hidushim and answers to add to the list.
Bereshit Quiz
1)Q. Why doesn’t it say “it was good” on the second day?
A. On the second day, Hashem separated the waters on the land from the waters in the heaven. It was not until the third day that Hashem organized the waters into oceans. Because the work with the water wasn’t completed until the third day and anything that is incomplete is not “good”, it does not say “good” until the third day. On the third day it says “Hashem saw that it was good” twice; once for the completion of the work of the second day, and once for the work of the third day. Since the third day (Tuesday) has the word ‘good’ twice, some have the custom of scheduling business deals on that day (although Maimonides and Rashi disapproved of this custom). The same reasoning applies to Fridays; On Friday it says once “it was good” and once “it was very good.” Others have argued that it is inappropriate to believe that good luck occurs on certain days.
2)Q. “Hashem said: let the earth sprout vegetation; herbage yielding seed, fruit trees yielding fruit...after its kind” What is a ‘fruit tree yielding fruit” (1:11)?
A. The midrash teaches that Hashem commanded the vegetables and fruit trees to grow in the same manner. He commanded that the plants should be similar to the vegetables that grow from it. Similarly, the tree should be a fruit tree, from which the wood tastes like the fruit that it yields.
3) Q. How did the snake trick Chava?
A. Rashi, based on the Gemara, explains that it was Chava’s fault (its always the women’s fault isn’t it?). In the Gemara they explain that not only is it forbidden to take away from the commandments of Hashem but it is also forbidden to add to them. This concept is learned from the verse “You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you.” (Devarim 4:2)
This was Chava’s mistake: When the snake asked her what Hashem’s commandment was, she replied that Hashem said that we may not eat from, or even touch the tree. Hashem had really only commanded against eating from the tree and she added the command of touching the tree (It is unclear from the text of the Torah if she added the “touch” clause or if Adam had added it when conveying to her Hashem’s command.) The snake knew that Hashem had not commanded against touching the tree, so he pushed her into the tree and when she saw that she was not punished for touching the tree, she thought she would not be punished for eating from the tree as well. This is why many rabbis are very careful when they teach laws not to add anything that is not the actual law, even to be more strict”. I believe that today this is one of the biggest problems in our religion. Too many people are too afraid to learn the laws properly that it is easier to just forbid “everything” and make generalizations of what is not allowed instead of being more specific regarding what is and what isn’t allowed. This drives many people away from the religion, when in reality they are just being exposed to a corrupted version of the religion.
4)Q. Why was the earth punished when Adam sinned?
A. Because it did not bring forth trees the way Hashem wanted. He commanded the earth to produce trees from which the wood tastes like the fruit, but it didn’t.
5)Q. What kind of food did Adam eat?
A. Adam and Chava, were vegetarian. The first non-vegetarians were Noah and his family (ten generations later) after they emerged from the ark.
6)Q. Hashem asked Cain “Where is Hevel...”, and Cain responded: “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” How could he tell Hashem such an outright lie?
A. Kli Yakar explains that he didn’t lie. Instead of translating the verse as I did in the question above, he translates “I didn’t know that I was my brother’s keeper.” Meaning, I did not know that I was commanded to keep him alive and not kill him. No one ever told me that murder is forbidden.
7)Q. Why did Chanoch die at a young age?
A. The midrash states that although he was righteous, he was easily influenced to do evil; therefore, Hashem took him before his time to protect him from sinning. This midrash has obvious philosophical problems.
8)Q. What was the marital situation of the people in this time?
A. The midrash state that they each had two wives, one for bearing children, and one for marital relations. The wife that was just for marital relations and not for bearing children would be given a special drink to make her barren, and this way she would stay beautiful.
9)Q. What was the sign that Shem (the ancestor of Abraham) was born with great propensity for righteousness?
A. He was born already circumcised.
10)Q. Why is the Shabbat when we read Parashat Bereshit, called Shabbat Bereshit? (We don’t say Shabbat Vayishlach or Shabbat Mishpatim)
A. Because on the high holidays everyone accepted on themselves to be better, and to start new things. We want to remind everyone that now we are starting over again from the beginning. Everyone has a chance to correct any mistakes from the past and start this year right. For example, we can try to never speak during the Torah reading starting today with Parashat Bereshit and continuing throughout the year. We also want to remind people that the holidays are over and the year is starting so if anyone took upon themselves to improve this year they should get started right away.
PROVERBS
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Actions speak louder than words.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
A picture is worth a thousand words
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today
God helps those who help themselves
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em
The grass is always greener on the other side
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Moishe walks into a post office to send a package to his wife. The postmaster says, "This package is too heavy, you'll need another stamp." Moishe replies, "And that should make it lighter?!"
Goldblatt was showing off. He told his friend, "I bought a hearing aid yesterday. It cost me two thousand bucks, but it is state of the art."
"What kind is it?" his friend asked.
"A quarter of twelve," was the answer.
Sophie and Shirley, two elderly widows in a Florida adult community, were curious about the latest arrival in their building; a quiet, nice - looking gentleman who kept to himself.
Shirley said," Sophie, you know I'm shy. Why don't you go over to him at the pool and find out a little about him. He looks so lonely." Sophie agreed, and later that day at the pool she walked up to him and said, "Excuse me, mister. I hope I'm not prying, but my friend and I were wondering why you looked so lonely." "Of course I'm lonely, he said, "I've spent the past 20 years in prison." "You're kidding! What for?"
"For killing my third wife. I strangled her."
"What happened to your second wife?"
"I shot her."
"And, if I may ask, your first wife?"
"We had a fight and she fell off a building."
"Oh my," said Sophie.
Then turning to her friend on the other side of the pool, she yelled, "Yoo hoo, Shirley! He's single!"
CHABBAT CHALOM
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
David Hasson
