Parashat Beresheet
10/20/2022 01:00:43 PM
Oct20
Having completed our High Holy Days and celebrating the joyous observances of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, we now turn to the Book of Genesis, the first portion of the Torah called Parashat Beresheet. This portion is, of course, most famous for the creation story — for 6 days God engages in the creative work of shaping our world and its inhabitants: including plants, animals, and human beings. There are so many meaningful lines and important messages in this first part of the reading that we rarely make it past the seventh day — Shabbat — when we and God rest from controlling, adjusting, manipulating, and reworking our world to take time to appreciate it and one another.
Perhaps we don't read too much further along because some of what comes next is difficult and painful. The story of the first children, Cain and Abel, is one of intolerance, jealousy, cruelty, and violence. After killing his brother Abel, we hear God’s haunting question, “Where is Abel, your brother?” To this, Cain spits back, taunting God — and us — with his perverse question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?"
Each year as I read this section of the story, I want to yell back, "Of course, you are your brother's keeper!" This line has become one of the foundational texts calling us to be present for our family members as well as all of those our shared family called humanity. Through Cain's unanswered question, the Torah compels us to articulate this fundamental moral principle for ourselves.
For the next year, we will read the details of how one fulfills the unspoken commandment to always be "your 'brothers' keeper." The stories demonstrate the best and worst of human behavior. They show us examples of love and hate, justice, immorality, kindness, and cruelty. The commandments, or mitzvot, specify how we must act; the care we must take in treating those on the fringe of society, those with challenges or ones who lack means; how to be responsive to others and our world and bring about change for the better. So, my friends, we must read on and step up because indeed "we are our 'brothers' keepers."
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Amy Schwartzman
Sat, April 19 2025 21 Nisan 5785