Bereishit
Was Chava Created From a Rib, or a Tail?
An aggadic deep-dive into how Chava was formed, the prohibition on walking behind a woman, and how Kayin and Seth came after Chava's teshuva.
Rabbi Schapiro on the Parshah: Bereishit
Why does the Torah open with the letter Beis instead of Alef? A look at answers from the Yerushalmi, Zohar, and Ibn Ezra, and the deeper lesson: before we can learn Torah with our intellect, the "second step," we first need a felt connection to the Giver of the Torah.
Parshas Bereishis
Resolves an apparent contradiction between the Midrash's teaching that the world was created full and complete and the teaching that Hashem made creation 'to be done,' meaning it still needs tikkun. Locates the difference in Shabbos itself: the six weekdays were created perfect as they are, but Shabbos introduces a higher madregah at which the same level is no longer enough. Draws out the practical lesson, using the mashal of a growing maaser obligation and the halachos of Chanukah candles, that the avodah that was complete all week needs to be built on, not just repeated, once Shabbos arrives.
Parshas Bereishis
Takes up the well-known question of why the Torah opens with a beis rather than an alef, rejecting the simple Yerushalmi answer that beis stands for berachah and alef for arur as too neat, since plenty of good words start with alef too. Adds the story of the Sanhedrin's forced translation for Talmi HaMelech, in which the opening words were flipped to start with 讗诇拽讬诐, tellingly beginning with an alef. Concludes that a beis marks Torah study as a second step, built on a prior recognition that Torah is Hashem's own chochmah, while treating Torah as chochmah alone is exactly what turns learning into a source of kelalah rather than berachah.
Parshas Bereishis
Addresses the difficulty of the Torah calling the sixth day of creation very good when that same day saw the sin of the eitz hadaas and all its consequences. Following the Midrash's reading of tov meod as referring to the yetzer hara, explains that the possibility of aveirah followed by teshuvah, capable of turning zedonos into zechuyos, reaches a level that a straightforward tzaddik never touches, since it alone carries the maalah of drawing light out of darkness.
Parshas Bereishis
Revisits why the first letter of the Torah is a beis rather than an alef, going past the simple Yerushalmi answer into the story of the Sanhedrin's coerced translation for Talmi HaMelech, where 讘专讗砖讬转 讘专讗 讗诇拽讬诐 was flipped to 讗诇拽讬诐 讘专讗 讘专讗砖讬转, a version that, tellingly, begins with an alef. Draws the conclusion that beis represents Torah study as a second step, coming only after a recognition of Torah as Hashem's own chochmah, a recognition available to a Yid connecting to the Torah's kedushah but not to a goy who relates to Torah as chochmah alone.
Parshas Bereishis
Reopens Rashi's famous first comment, that the Torah opens with maaseh bereishis to answer the nations' claim that Eretz Yisrael was stolen, and asks why that complaint alone would be enough to reorder the entire Torah. Reframes the goyim's ta'anah as philosophical rather than monetary: a claim that serving Hashem should be purely spiritual, with no real stake in a physical land, a claim the yetzer hara makes to every Yid in its own way. Answers with the idea of dirah b'tachtonim, showing that a land, and the physical world generally, is exactly where the Torah wants gashmiyus elevated into kedushah.
Parshas Bereishis
Passes along the Tzemach Tzedek's guidance that being maavir sedrah, shnayim mikra v'echad targum, specifically before Shabbos Parshas Bereishis makes it far easier to keep up that weekly chiyuv through the rest of the year, and encourages taking it on for this parshah in particular.