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Why does Rashi (רש"י) read "Bereishis" as "When God began creating" rather than "In the beginning God created"? The shiur develops the distinction between "rishon" (first in sequence) and "reishit" (origin/source) to show that Bereishis establishes God's personal investment in creation. This transforms how we understand mitzvos and sin—we're not just following commands but maintaining God's personal property.
This shiur presents a profound analysis of the opening verse of the Torah (תורה), "Bereishis bara Elokim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz," focusing on the fundamental difference between Rashi (רש"י)'s interpretation and that of Ramban (רמב"ן). While Ramban reads it as "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," Rashi interprets it as an introductory sentence: "When God began creating the heavens and the earth, He said 'Let there be light.'" This leads to a deep exploration of why such an introduction is necessary. The shiur addresses a seeming contradiction with the Gemara (גמרא)'s teaching that the world was created with ten divine statements (asarah ma'amarot), when only nine explicit statements of creation appear in the text. Rabbi Zweig explains that according to Rashi, Bereishis itself constitutes the tenth statement - not as an act of creation, but as the fundamental recognition that God is the origin (reishit) of all existence.
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Parshas Bereishis 1:1
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