October 26, 2024: Parashah Torah Portion Bereshit - "In The Beginning"

Shabbat: October 25th, 2024 at sunset until October 26th, 2024 at sunset.

Scriptures:

• Simchat Torah: Friday October 25, 2024: Parashat V'Zot HaBerachah - "And This Blessing" Torah Portion: Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12

  Haftarah (Prophets): Joshua 1:1-18

  Brit Chadashah (New Covenant): Revelation 22:1-5
  

• Shabbat Bereshit: Saturday October 26, 2024: Parashat Bereshit - "In The Beginning" Torah Portion: Genesis 1:1-6:8

  Haftarah (Prophets): Isaiah 42:5-43:11

  Brit Chadashah (New Covenant): John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:15-17; Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:1-3; Romans 11:36; Revelation 4:11; 22:13

Restore Israel Team: Elihana Elia, Dr. Hadassah Elia & Devorah Silva

This Erev Shabbat, Friday October 25, 2024 was very significant, as it was Simchat Torah. This year in particular was a very important day in Israel's history, as this marks the one year anniversary, in the Jewish calendar; Tishri 23, 5785, which was when October 7, 2023 happened last year.

For Simchat Torah we read the very last portion of the Torah, called V'Zot HaBerachah - "And This Blessing", found in Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12 as well as the first chapter of Bereshit, found in Genesis 1:1-2:3. Then, on the next day, Shabbat October 26, 2024, we read the entire portion of Bereshit: Genesis 1:1-6:8.

This means that we receive a "double portion" of Torah for this week, which is very appropriate for the time and season that we are in, as we read the end of the scroll and then "rewind" it to the beginning again.

Now, just before he was to die, Moses wanted to bless the tribes of Israel and to praise the LORD for His care of the fledgling nation. The portion begins:

"This is the blessing which Moses the man of God blessed Israel before his death." Deuteronomy 33:1

How appropriate that we should end off the last portion with a blessing and Simchat Torah - "Joy of the Torah", in which we are commanded to rejoice before ADONAI with a double portion of His Word, His Torah!

Even though Moses knew he was going to die, which certainly must have been a somber moment for him, he still chose to take the focus off of himself and instead, chose to bless the children of Israel!

There are a lot of parallels here with the current situation Israel is in right now; in the midst of a war, at the anniversary of a massacre that killed many. Yet, in the midst of this difficulty, we are commanded to rejoice, choosing to bless ADONAI, taking our eyes off of our circumstances and fixing our eyes upon YESHUA, the Author and Finisher of our faith!

"Focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

Our spiritual inheritance is bound up with the Torah: it is part of our story, our history, our heritage (Gal. 3:7; Rom. 4:16; Luke 24:27). The stories of Torah serve as parables and allegories that gives us the deeper meaning of the ministry of MESSIAH YESHUA:

"Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come." 1 Corinthians 10:11

"For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." Romans15:4

At the end of Simchat Torah, which is the final portion of the entire Torah portion itself, we "rewind the scroll" back to the very beginning, and start reading Parashat Bereshit - "In The Beginning".

Bereshit - “In the Beginning”, the first Parashah in the annual Torah reading cycle, begins with God’s creation of the world.

Since we begin the Torah again for the new year, it is worthwhile to remind ourselves that the Scriptures speaks from an omniscient, "third person" perspective. When we read, "In the beginning, God (ELOHIM - אלֱהיםִ), created the heavens and the earth," Genesis 1:1, we must ask ourselves, who exactly is speaking? Who is the narrator of the Torah?

The very next verse states that the Spirit of God (RUACH ELOHIM - רוּחַ אלֱהיםִ) was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2), followed by the first direct quote of ADONAI Himself: "Let there be light" Genesis 1:3.

The creative activity of ELOHIM and the presence of the RUACH ELOHIM (the Spirit of ELOHIM) are therefore narrated by an omniscient Voice or "Word of God." Obviously the Spirit of God is ADONAI Himself (who else?), just as the Word of God is likewise ADONAI Himself, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1. Therefore the first verses of the Torah reveal the nature of the Godhead.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only Son, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:14

God is One in the sense of echdut, "unity," "oneness,". Just as you have a group of people representing a nation: Israel, and yet, God is beyond all theological understanding. ADONAI's Personhood entirely transcends all our finite conceptions of unity and oneness, yet ELOHIM forever is One!

Indeed, the word Bereshit itself includes the root word of "Head" - Rosh, which suggests the "Head of all things," - That is, to YESHUA MESSIAH, the Creative Word of God who is the "Head of all beginning and authority" and through Whom and for Whom all things were created:

"For in Him all things were created: Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; All things have been created through Him and for Him." Colossians 1:16

"And in Messiah you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority." Colossians 2:10

ADONAI’s creation of the world, from light to darkness, to the animals we see all around us; The Torah tells us about everything that ADONAI brings into being, culminating in His creation of humanity - which is followed by the very first Shabbat, in which ADONAI rests from all melacha (creative work) that HE has done!

The first people, Adam and Eve, eat from the Tree of Knowledge and are banished from the Garden of Eden. Their elder son, Cain, kills their younger son, Abel, and Cain is destined to a life of wandering.

Why is Simchat Torah connected with Bereshit? Because the Millennium and the New Heavens and New Earth will be the restoration of all things - including Eden! We will dwell with ADONAI again in the Garden, with our new glorified bodies!

"42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:42–53

We will also celebrate Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) together with all of the nations coming up to Jerusalem, to celebrate Him dwelling with us!

"16 Then all the survivors from all the nations that attacked Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, and to celebrate Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). 17 Furthermore, if any of the nations on earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, they will have no rain." Zechariah 14:16-17