We begin once again. Bereshit, the book of beginnings.
But despite Bereshit meaning “in the beginning”, little more than one of the 50 chapters in the book of Bereshit is dedicated to the Creation narrative. Perhaps this led our sages to give the book another name: Sefer Hayashar, the Book of the Upright.
Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin (1816-1893) in the introduction to his commentary on the Torah, explains the significance of this name: during the era of the Second Temple, Jews were indeed righteous and engaged in Torah study, but they were not yashar, “upright”, in their societal behaviour.
The righteous suspected anyone who was not religious in accordance with their viewpoint to be a heretic and treated them with disdain. This lack of tolerance for those different to them led to rampant murder, ultimately causing the destruction of the Temple, since God, who is described as yashar, is intolerant of such distorted individuals.
The behaviour of the patriarchs, described in the book of Bereshit, was in stark contradistinction to that of the “righteous” of the Second Temple era. Because as well as being righteous and pious, our ancestors were also yashar. “This means they behaved civilly with the nations of the world, despite them being idolaters,” Rabbi Berlin says. Abraham prays tirelessly for the people of Sodom; Isaac is easily appeased by Abimelech despite Abimelech’s minimal words of appeasement and Jacob speaks softly and calmly with Laban, despite Laban attempting to kill Jacob.
Hence, he explains, Bereshit is called the Book of the Upright. Because the ultimate purpose of the entire Torah we will read this coming year is about the Torah transforming us into upright and civil individuals.
This idea is echoed by Rashi. When God is creating Adam, He says “Let us make man in our image”. Belief in one deity is a fundamental of Jewish belief. But God wants to teach us humility, that the great should consult with those beneath them and so God “consulted” with the angels, hence the plural expression.
Rashi adds: “Even though there is room for a heretic to misunderstand the Torah by ascribing creation to two powers, it is important to teach us derech eretz of humility”. I find this most remarkable. God is willing to write something that may be theologically misunderstood in order to teach us how to be yashar, upright and humble. As Proverbs says, “The ways of the Torah are pleasant and all its paths of peace” (3:17).
This year’s sidrah columnists for 5782 are:
Dayan Daniel Kada, Lauderdale Road Synagogue
Rabbi Benji Stanley, Westminster Synagogue
Rabbanit Sara Wolkenfeld, chief learning officer, sefaria.org
Rabbi Sam Taylor, Borehamwood and Elstree (United) Synagogue
Rabbi Naomi Goldman, Kol Chai (Reform) Synagogue