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Why should the Torah (תורה) have begun with HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem instead of Bereishis? Rashi (רש"י)'s cryptic comment reveals that at creation everything was made simultaneously—God, man, and the universe were one. The shiur develops how Nissan restores man's original mastery over time and space, lost at the sin, empowering Klal Yisrael to run the world and create the Mishkan.
Rabbi Zweig addresses Rashi (רש"י)'s famous opening comment that the Torah (תורה) should have begun with "HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem" (Shemos 12:2) rather than Bereishis. The difficulty is obvious: if Torah is a book of law, it must begin at Sinai where mitzvos were given; if it's a book of history, it must begin with creation. How could it possibly begin with the mitzvah (מצוה) of sanctifying the new moon in Egypt? The shiur builds on another perplexing Rashi at the beginning of Bereishis. Rashi explains that "Bereishis Bara" doesn't mean "In the beginning God created" as a chronological sequence, but rather that everything in creation—light, water, earth, man—was created simultaneously before "Yehi Or." Only afterward did God arrange everything into its proper place over six days. The Ramban (רמב"ן) disagrees, reading Bereishis as the straightforward beginning of a sequential creation. But Rashi's read raises a profound question: why would God create everything at once and then arrange it?
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Shemos 12:2 (HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem), Bereishis 1:1
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