Reading For The Hatan Bereshit

Keriah leChatan Bereshit

קריאה לחתן בראשית

Visible layers

Hebrew

זֶרַע לְמִינֵהוּ וְעֵץ עֹשֶׂה־פְּרִי אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ־בוֹ לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב׃
וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם שְׁלִישִׁי׃

Sephardi

zera leminehu ve'etz oseh-peri asher zar'o-vo leminehu vayar Elohim ki-tov:
Vayehi-erev vayehi-voker yom shelishi:

English

and trees bearing fruit, each with its own seeds in it. And God saw that it was good. There was evening; then there was morning: a third day.

Hebrew

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה
וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים׃ וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר
עַל־הָאָרֶץ וַיְהִי־כֵן׃ וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת־שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים אֶת־הַמָּאוֹר
הַגָּדֹל לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם וְאֶת־הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים׃
וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר עַל־הָאָרֶץ׃ וּלְמֹשֹׁל בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה
וּלְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב׃ וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר
יוֹם רְבִיעִי׃

Sephardi

Vayomer Elohim yehi me'orot birkia hashamayim lehavdil bein hayom uvein halaylah
vehayu le'otot ulmo'adim ulyamim veshanim: vehayu lime'orot birkia hashamayim leha'ir
al-ha'aretz vayehi-chen: vaya'as Elohim et-shenei hame'orot hagedolim et-hama'or
hagadol lememshelet hayom ve'et-hama'or hakaton lememshelet halaylah ve'et hakochavim:
Vayiten otam Elohim birkia hashamayim leha'ir al-ha'aretz: ulemoshol bayom uvalaylah
ulehavdil bein ha'or uvein hachoshech vayar Elohim ki-tov: Vayehi-erev vayehi-voker
yom revi'i:

English

God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to divide day from night; let them mark out signs and seasons, days and years; and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to light up the land." Thus it came to be. God made the two great lights - the greater light to rule over the day, and the smaller light to rule over the night, and the stars. And He hung them in the dome of the sky, to light up the earth; to rule by day and by night, and to divide light from darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening; then there was morning: a fourth day.

Hebrew

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל־הָאָרֶץ עַל־פְּנֵי
רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם׃ וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים וְאֵת כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה ׀
הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם וְאֵת כָּל־עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים
כִּי־טוֹב׃ וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים לֵאמֹר פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת־הַמַּיִם בַּיַּמִּים וְהָעוֹף
יִרֶב בָּאָרֶץ׃ וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם חֲמִישִׁי׃

Sephardi

Vayomer Elohim yishretzu hamayim sheretz nefesh chayah ve'of ye'ofef al-ha'aretz al-penei
reki'a hashamayim: vayivra Elohim et-hataninim hagedolim ve'et kol-nefesh hachaya
haromeset asher shartzu hamayim leminehem ve'et kol-of kanaf leminehu vayar Elohim
ki-tov: vayevarech otam Elohim leimor peru urevu umil'u et-hamayim bayamim veha'of
yirev ba'aretz: Vayehi-erev vayehi-voker yom chamishi:

English

God said, "Let the water swarm with schools of living things; and let flying creatures fly across the land, against the dome of the sky. And God created the great sea beasts, and living things of all kinds that crawl and that swarm within the waters, and winged, flying creatures of all kinds; and He saw that it was good. God blessed them: "Be fruitful, grow numerous, fill the waters of the seas; and let the creatures that fly grow many on the land." There was evening; then there was morning: a fifth day.

Commentary

… here that the universe has a precisely calibrated mathematical structure at every level, from the microscopic to the cosmological.

The text is also designed to show that creation has an underlying order. For the first three days, God establishes a series of distinct domains from the undifferentiated void: On the first day, He separates light from darkness and day from night, on the second, the upper and lower waters, on the third, sea from dry land. For the next three days God furnishes each of the domains with the appropriate objects and life-forms: On the fourth day, the sun, moon and stars, on the fifth, birds and fish, on the sixth, animals and humankind.

The key verb, appearing five times, is ב-ד-ל, meaning "to distinguish, demarcate, separate." This will eventually become a key word relating to the priests: they will be charged with distinguishing between pure and impure, holy and mundane. There is a sacred ontology, a God-given structure to the universe whose integrity we are commanded to respect and preserve.

… how God created the world, but that God created the world. It did not merely happen. Behind the emergent order of the universe is a God who loves creativity and order.

The creation narrative is not a substitute for science, but rather the articulation of fundamental moral principles that govern our understanding of the universe and our place within it. The first is that the world is good - the word chimes like a motif, no less than seven times. This in itself is a radical rejection of the view, widespread in the ancient world, and to some extent throughout history, that the physical world is bad, the arena of pain, suffering and injustice, from which we are liberated only by death and life-after-death.

Then there is the deep structure of the text itself. As modern commentators have noted, the pattern of seven - a universe created in seven days - lies not only on the surface, but is also replicated in less obvious ways throughout. So, for example, there are seven words in the first verse, fourteen in the second, thirty-five in the closing three verses describing the seventh day. The word Elokim, "God," appears thirty-five times, eretz, "earth," twenty-one times, and the passage as a whole contains 469 (7x67) words. There is an intimation …