Parshat Breisheet (Breisheet 2:10) describes the geography of the Garden
of Eden:

A river went out of Eden to water the Garden, and from there it divides
into four headwaters.

Verses 11-12 add:

The name of the first is Pishon which surrounds all the land of
Chavilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good. Also found there
are bdellium and onyx stones.

Where is the land of Chavilah?

According to Breisheet Raba (16:4), the Land of Israel is hinted to as “Eretz HaChavilah”. We learn this from Tehillim 42:6:

Why are you miserable, my soul and why are you disturbed on my account?
Hope (Hochili) to God! I will yet thank Him for the salvations of His presence.

Rashi explains the word Hochili (hope) to mean wait and look forward to
the redemption.

We see a similar theme in Tehilim 31:25:

Be strong, let your hearts take courage, all who wait longingly
(hameyachlim) for God.

This teaches us that in difficult situations we should put our trust in
God’s salvation and we should not let devastation take control over us.

What is the gold of the land?

Gold is figurative for the Torah. As we see in Tehilim 19:11: The words
of the Torah are “more desirable than gold, than even much
fine gold.” We learn from here that there is no Torah learning like the Torah
of Eretz Yisrael and no wisdom like the wisdom of Eretz Yisrael.

What is unique about the Torah of Eretz Yisrael as opposed to the Torah
from abroad?

Rav David Avraham Spector brings Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook’s
answer from Orot HaTorah 13:3:

The Torah from Chutz La’Aretz (abroad)
deals with correcting the individual soul, both in the material and spiritual
spheres…The Torah of the Land of Israel on the other hand is totally different
as it is always concerned for the entire society, for the soul of the entire
nation.

This week, we have seen death and
devastation in Israel that has affected every Israeli. Yet we are a nation that
does not give up. We do not put our trust in our enemies, we continue to put our
trust in God, mobilize our troops and work together to move forward and not let
the terrorists win.

May our prayers for the welfare of
the State of Israel be answered:

Strengthen the hands of the defenders
of our Holy Land; grant them deliverance, our God, and crown them with the
crown of victory. Grant peace in the Land and everlasting joy to its
inhabitants.

Sponsored by Sharona and Josh Halickman in memory of Evelyn
(Cookie) Halickman Seligman z”l, sister and sister in law of Mel and
Myrna Halickman

We read in Breisheet 2:16-17:

And God commanded
the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not
eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”

In Midrash Rabba 25:2, Rabbi Yehuda
ben Pazi teaches us that Adam was not able to follow God’s commandment for even
one hour.

We learn in the Talmud, Sanhedrin
38b: In the ninth hour (of the Friday of creation), Adam
was commanded not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. In the tenth
hour, he sinned (he ate from it). In the eleventh,
he was judged. In the twelfth, he was expelled and left
the Garden of Eden, as it is stated: “But man abides not in honor;
he is like the beasts that perish” (Tehillim
49:13). Adam did not abide, i.e., sleep, in a place of honor for even one
night.

Midrash Rabba continues: And behold,
your children, Israel are able to hold back and wait three years to eat from a
new tree, observing the mitzvah of Orla.

Rabbi Huna said: When Bar Kafra
heard what Rabbi Yehuda ben Pazi taught, he said: Rabbi Yehuda taught well. As
it says (Vayikra 19:23): “When you enter the Land and plant any tree for food,
you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for
you, not to be eaten.”

Three years it shall be forbidden
for “you”. You know not to eat from the tree and can restrain
yourselves as opposed to Adam who could not hold himself back.  

The Jewish people’s observance of
three years of Orla is a tikun
(correction) for the three hours that Adam should have patiently waited to eat
from the tree.

Or HaChayim explains that according
to the midrash, all Adam had to do was to wait
until the advent of Shabbat to eat the fruit. At that point he would have been
permitted to recite Kidush over the wine. This follows the view that grapes
were the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

In order to make a tikun for Adam’s
sin, we have to have patience. We can only make Kiddush when it is Shabbat. If
we plant a tree, we can’t eat the fruit for the first three years. In the
fourth year the fruits could only be eaten in Jerusalem. Only in the fifth year
were the fruits permitted to be eaten everywhere.

May we start the new year with a lot
of patience!

We learn about the Even HaShtiya,
the foundation stone of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) in the Mishna, Yoma 53b:

After the Ark (Aron) was taken away,
a stone was there from the days of the early prophets (Shmuel and David) and it
was called “Shtiya”, foundation. It was three fingerbreadths higher than the
ground, and upon it the Kohen Gadol would place the shovel full of burning
coals.

The Gemara quotes a braita to
explain the name of the stone:

The stone was called Shtiya,
foundation, because from this stone the world was founded (hushtat).

The Shtiya stone is the foundation
of the world because it is the place of the avoda (service) in the Beit
HaMikdash and we learn in Pirkei Avot 1:2: The world stands on three things:
upon the Torah; upon the avoda and upon gmilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness).

Our Mishna confirms the view that
the world was created from Zion.

Rashi explains: Zion was created
first and then clods of material struck around it from every side and continued
to do so until they reached the ends of the earth.

According to Rabbi Eliezer: The
world was created from its center, as it says (Iyov 38:38) “When dirt was
poured to a single bedrock and clumps stuck around it.”

Midrash Tanchuma, Kedoshim 10
teaches:

Just as a navel is set in the middle
of a person, so the Land of Israel is the navel of the world. As it is stated
in Yechezkel 38:12, “who dwell on the navel of the earth.” And the foundation
of the world comes out of it, as stated in Tehillim 50:1-2, “A Psalm of Asaf. O
Almighty God, HaShem spoke and called to the earth from the rising of the sun
to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appeared.”

The Land of Israel sits at the
center of the world; Jerusalem is in the center of the Land of Israel; the Beit
HaMikdash is in the center of Jerusalem; the Heichal is in the center of the
Beit HaMikdash; the Aron is in the center of the Heichal; and the foundation
stone, out of which the world was founded, is before the Aron.

The Talmud Yerushalmi, Yomah 5:3
brings an additional proof from Yishayahu 28:16 that the world was created from
Zion: “Therefore, thus said my Lord HaShem Elokim: Behold, I have laid a stone
for a foundation in Zion: a sturdy stone, a precious cornerstone, a secure
foundation.”

As we read Breisheet, the account of
the creation, at a time where we don’t have free movement to travel wherever we
would like due to the Covid19 restrictions, let’s not take Jerusalem and the
Temple Mount for granted and let’s hope and pray that we will all be able to
visit the holiest place in the world as soon as it is safe to do so.

In Parshat Breisheet, after Chava and
Adam eat from the forbidden fruit, man receives the following punishment
(Breisheet 3:19):

By the sweat of your brow you will
eat bread until you return to the ground for from it you were taken for you are
dust and to dust you shall return.

Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin (1823-1900) in
his book Sefer Pri Tzadik (Rosh Chodesh Shvat) explains that the month of Shvat
(where we eat fruits on Tu B’Shvat and speak about their holiness) serves as a “tikun,” correction for Adam and Chava’s transgression.

In Breisheet 2:16-17 we see God’s two commandments to Adam:

HaShem Elokim commanded the man, saying, “You
may certainly eat from every tree in the garden. But from the Tree of Knowledge
of what is good and evil, you shall not eat from it, for on the day you eat
from it, you will certainly die.”

It was a mitzvat aseh (positive
commandment-“you shall”) to eat from any of the fruits of the garden which were
infused with kedusha (holiness) in the same way that we bring holiness into
other mitzvot when we say “asher kidshanu bemitzvotav…”, “who has sanctified us
with his commandments…”

It was a mitzvat lo taaseh (negative
commandment- “you shall not”) to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.

Each of the Shtei HaLechem (two
loaves that were brought on Shavuot) corresponds to each of the mitzvot
mentioned above from the Garden of Eden. Through these loaves the fruits of the
trees are blessed.

Rav Tzadok explains that in his
opinion, the fruit that Adam and Chava ate was wheat. Before the sin, wheat was
like a fruit on a tree. As it says in the Talmud, Shabbat 30b:

Rabban Gamliel sat and expounded the
following: In the future (in the days of Mashiach) the soil of the Land of
Israel is destined to bring forth ready-made bread rolls and fine woolen
clothes.

According to Rav Tzadok, just as in
the future the wheat will grow on trees as ready-made rolls, so too were there
ready-made rolls growing on trees like all of the other fruit in the Garden of
Eden. However, once they sinned, man received the curse of “By the sweat of
your brow you will eat bread.”

Since we don’t have the Beit HaMikdash
(Temple) and the Shtei HaLechem today, how can we make a tikkun for Adam’s sin,
aside from eating fruit on Tu B’Shvat?

We have just started the Shmita
(Sabbatical) year in Israel. Fruit grown in Israel during the Shmita year on
land which is declared Hefker, ownerless, becomes holy. The fruit is infused
with Kdushat Shviit, the Holiness of the Shmita year and must be treated
respectfully. Those who are in Israel this year will have the opportunity to
eat the holy produce just like Adam and Chava ate in the Garden of Eden.

Now all we have to do is wait for the
time of Mashiach when rolls will once again grow on trees!

Sponsored by Sharona, Josh, Dov, Moshe and Yehuda Halickman in
honor of Myrna Halickman’s Eishet Chayil Award on Simchat Torah at Beth Zion
Congregation, Montreal

When humankind was created, God gave
the following blessing (Breisheet 1:28) “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the
earth and subdue it, and dominate the fish of the sea and the birds of the
heaven and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

Two chapters later, after eating
from the tree, we read about the punishment for “the woman” (Breisheet 3:16):
“I will greatly increase your sorrow and your pregnancy. You will give birth to
children in pain. Your desire will be for your husband and he will dominate
you.”

Rashi comments that “your sorrow”
refers to the pain of rearing children, “your pregnancy” refers to the pain of
pregnancy and “you will give birth to children with pain” refers to the pain of
childbirth.

A few verses later (3:20) we see
that “HaAdam, the man, names his wife Chava because she would become the mother
of all of the living.”

It seems from here that every woman
will be subjected to the punishment that the first woman received. However,
according to Sforno, in the case of Sarah, the curse was actually transformed
into a blessing.

From when we first meet Sarai, in
Breisheet 11:30, we are told “Sarai was barren, she had no child.” At that
point she was sixty-five years old.

In Breisheet 17:15-16, twenty-four
years later, God changes Avram’s name to Avraham and then he changes Sarai’s
name as well:

And God said to Avraham, “As for
Sarai your wife, do not call her by the name Sarai, for Sarah is her name. I
will bless her and I will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she
will be a mother of nations, kings of peoples will descend from her.”

Sforno comments that Sarah’s
blessing will be the opposite of the first woman’s punishment: she will have an
easy pregnancy, she will not have pain when giving birth and raising the child
will not be difficult.

After Sarah spent many years unable
to conceive, God gave her an easy pregnancy and childbirth. From everything
that we know, Yitzchak was well behaved and didn’t give his parents any problems.

May all those who are trying to
conceive be bestowed with Avraham and Sarah’s blessings and may they be granted
the child that they have been praying for. We hope that all women will be
granted an easy pregnancy and childbirth and that their children will not give
them too much trouble!

After Adam and Chava sinned by
eating the fruit, their eyes were opened, they realized that they were naked
and they made clothing out of fig leaves. They heard the voice of God and they
hid among the trees of the Garden.

In Breisheet 3:9 we read: “HaShem
Elokim called to Adam and He said, “Ayeka?” (translated as “where are you?”)

According to the Midrash, Breisheet
Raba 19:9, God obviously knew where Adam and Chava were. Therefore, we shouldn’t
pronounce the word “Ayeka”, “where are you?” Rather, we should vocalize it as a
lamentation “Eycha”, “How did you change over from good to bad?”

Rabbi Abahu taught in the name of
Rabbi Chanina, it says in Hoshea 6:2, “They (B’nai Yisrael) like Adam have transgressed
the covenant; they have dealt treacherously against me.”

God put Adam in the Garden of Eden
and commanded him not to eat from the tree. Adam transgressed and ate from it.
God therefore punished him and banished him from the Garden of Eden so that he
would atone for his sin and God lamented “Eycha.”

God brought B’nei Yisrael to the
Land of Israel and commanded them to observe the mitzvot. B’nei Yisrael
transgressed. As a punishment, God banished them to foreign lands to atone for
their sins since they were no longer worthy of living in the Land of Israel. God
lamented “Eycha” as it says in the book of Eycha (Lamentations) “Eycha yashva
badad”, “How does the city (Jerusalem) sit solitary?”

We see from here that the banishment
of the Adam and Chava from the Garden of Eden is similar to the banishment of
the Jewish people from the Land of Israel.

How can we make a tikun (correction)
for Adam’s sin? The best tikun would be for the Jewish people to return to the
Land of Israel and take advantage of the opportunity to live in the Land that
we were promised. Our ancestors were banished because they did not observe the mitzvot
properly. Now that we have the State of Israel, the Jewish people can return to
the Land and observe all of the mitzvot in the Land where they were intended to
be observed including the Mitzvot HaTluyot Ba’Aretz (those commandments that only
apply in the Land of Israel).

The
first word in the Torah is “Breisheet”, “In the beginning.” Rashi asks why the Torah
begins with the depiction of the creation of the world rather than with Rosh
Chodesh (the new moon), the first mitzvah that the Jewish people were commanded
as a nation.

Rashi’s
answer is that the description of the creation is necessary as it proves the
Jewish people’s claim to the Land of Israel. If the nations one day say to the
Jewish people, “You are robbers, you have taken by force the land of the
seven nations”, then Israel can reply “All the earth belongs to God.
He created it and gave it to whomever he saw fit. It was His will to give it to
them and it was His will to take it from them and give it to us.” 

How fitting that this portion coincides with the
week that UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific
Organization) denies the Jewish claim to Jerusalem’s holy sites, a stolen
papyrus that mentions Jerusalem was reclaimed and ten years of excavations on
the Temple Mount produced proof of the First Temple.

In a comment on the fact that UNESCO refuses to
acknowledge the Temple Mount as a Jewish holy site, solely calling it by its
Muslim names, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon said: “The
absurdity continues, and UNESCO has adopted yet another ridiculous decision
that is completely disconnected from reality.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented,
“This is the continuation of the theater of the absurd. Who is really deserving
of condemnation is UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, not Israel. Extremist
Muslim forces are destroying mosques and churches. Israel is the only country
in the region that protects them and allows freedom of worship.”

The stolen papyrus which has been recovered by
the Israel Antiquities Authority was originally found in a cave in the Judean
Desert. It is a part of a wine shipping order that dates back to the 7^th
century BCE and is the oldest non-Biblical document to mention Jerusalem.

Yesterday, Israeli archeologists announced that
they unearthed artifacts including olive pits, animal bones and pottery from
the First Temple, over 2600 years ago.

What is unique is that these artifacts were found
on the Temple Mount itself, not through the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

According to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the
historic ties of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and Jerusalem are
clear.

Even the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Kokova
stated, “In the Torah, Jerusalem is the capital of King David, where Solomon
built the Temple and placed the Ark of the Covenant.”

We now understand why the Torah needed to start
from the creation and tell us the whole story as our enemies are stealing and
destroying our artifacts which tell the story of our claim to the Land of
Israel, the City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

In Breisheet 1:9 God said: “Let the waters beneath the
heaven be gathered (yikavu hamayim) into one area and let the dry land appear.”
And it was so.

According to Yalkut Shimoni the word “yikavu” comes from the
word tikva, hope. It means that the waters will do whatever is necessary to
help God in the future (even if it seems outside of the realm of nature).

Rabbi Yochanan in Breisheet Raba 5:5 points out that at the
time of creation, God already planned for the splitting of the sea at the time
of the Exodus from Egypt.

Rabbi Yirmiyahu ben Elazar takes this concept a step further
and adds that at the time of creation God planned all of the changes in nature
that would take place, not just the splitting of the sea. As it says in Kohelet
3:14, “I realized that whatever God does will endure forever: Nothing can be
added to it and nothing can be subtracted from it…” In Yishayahu 45:12 we read:
“I made the earth and created mankind upon it; It is I, My hands spread out the
heavens and I commanded all hosts to come into existence.”

The Midrash continues, I commanded the heaven and the earth
to be silenced before Moshe (in Parshat HaAzinu “HaAzinu HaShamayim
VaAdabera…”, “Give ear, O heavens and I will speak…”). I commanded the sun and
the moon to stand before Yehoshua (Yehoshua 10:12) at the time that he fought
the Emorite kings (“Shemesh B’Givon don viyareach b’Emek Ayalon”, “Sun, stand
still at Givon and moon in the Valley of Ayalon.” I commanded the ravens to
feed Eliyahu HaNavi at the time that he was hiding from King Ahav (Melachim I,
17:4, 6: “I have commanded the ravens to supply you with food there…”, “The
ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the
evening…”). I commanded the fire not to harm Chananya, Mishael and Azarya when
Nevuchadnezar, King of Bavel threw them into the fiery furnace. I commanded the
lions not to harm Daniel in the lion’s den. I commanded the skies to open up
for Yechezkel (Yechezkel 1:1) “The heavens opened and I saw visions of God.” I
commanded the fish to spit out Jonah (Jonah 2:11) “Then God addressed the fish
and it spewed Jonah onto dry land.”

We see from here that at the time of creation God knew that
unusual circumstances would come up throughout history and he therefore planned
accordingly.

In Parshat Breisheet (Breisheet 1:31-2:1-3) we read about
the completion of the creation of the world: “And God saw all that He had made,
and behold it was very good. It became evening and it became morning, the sixth
day. The heavens and the earth were completed, and so were their
conglomerations. God completed by the seventh day His work which He had made,
and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He abstained from all His
work, which God created to do.”

Did God create anything on Shabbat itself?

According to Rashi the concept of rest had not yet been
created. With the coming of Shabbat came rest and when rest was created the
creation was complete.

On Friday night, we recite “Vayechulu HaShamayim V’HaAretz ”,
“The heavens and the earth were completed” (Breisheet 2:1-3) three times, once
in the Amida (silently), once with the entire congregation in unison and once
at home while reciting Kiddush over wine.

In the Talmud, Shabbat 119b, we learn from Rava or from
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi that even if one prays as an individual on Friday night
(not with a minyan) they should still recite “Vayechulu HaShamayim V’HaAretz ”
as Rav Hamnuna said: Whoever prays on the eve of Shabbat and says “Vayechulu…”
is treated by Scripture as if they became a partner with God in the creation…

According to Maharsha, God’s creation would have fallen short
of its purpose unless people acknowledged Him as the creator.

In Breisheet Raba 10:9 we find a parable of a king who had a
chupa ready, the only thing that was missing was a bride! When the world was
created there was just one thing missing, Shabbat.

Each Friday, as we set aside our work for 25 hours and
declare how God created the first Shabbat, we once again become partners in the
creation of the world.

Part of Chava’s punishment is (Breisheet 3:16): “I will
greatly increase your suffering (itzvonech) and your pregnancy (heronech). You
will give birth to children with pain (be’etzev teldi vanim)…”

According to the Gemara in Eruvin 100b, the word
“itzvonceh”, your suffering, refers to the anguish of raising children, The
word “heronceh”, your pegnancy, refers to the pain of pregnancy. The words
“be’etzev teldi vanim”, you will give birth to children with pain, refers to
the pain of childbirth.

In Breisheet Raba 20:6 the word “vanim” is explained as the
anguish of raising children.

Once the babies are born, we spend the rest of our lives
raising them.

Many women say extra prayers and techinot when they are
pregnant and/or in labor but it is important to pray for our children when we
are raising them as well.

It says in the Gemara in Shabbat 23b: Rav Huna said: One who
is habitual in lighting the light (candles) will have sons who are Torah
scholars.

Rashi comments that in Mishlei, Proverbs 6:23 it says “For
the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light.” By observing the mitzvah of
lighting Shabbat and Chanuka candles one brings the light of Torah into the
world.

In  Mishlei 20:27 we
read: “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord”.

The Midrash in Tanchuma states that Chava extinguished
Adam’s “candle” by giving him the fruit to eat.

By lighting the Shabbat candles, the woman is making a
tikkun (correction) for Chava’s mistake and turning the lights back on.

Many women add the following prayer after lighting Shabbat
candles:

May it be Your will Hashem, my God and God of my
forefathers, that you will show favor to me and all of my relatives; and that
you grant us and all of Israel a good and long life; that you remember us with
beneficent memory and blessing; that you consider us with a consideration of
salvation and compassion; that you bless us with great blessings; that you make
our households complete; that You cause Your presence to dwell among us.
Privilege me to raise children and grandchildren who are wise and
understanding, who love Hashem and fear God, people of truth, holy offspring,
attached to Hashem, who illuminate the world with Torah and good deeds and with
every labor and service to the Creator. Please hear my supplication at this
time, in the merit of Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah and cause our light to
illuminate and not be extinguished forever and let our countenance shine so
that we are saved, Amen.