Chevre, this week’s parsha is Beresheit/Genesis (בְּרֵאשִׁית). I’ll start with a personal update regarding the war. My immediate family and I are fine. We have relatives, friends and neighbors that are in the army or called up to the army for reserves. We will succeed to fight this evil as Am Yisrael has fought evil throughout the centuries.
Because of the war starting on Shabbat, we were sent home from shul before Torah reading on Simchat Torah. The last word of the Torah is Yisrael, which ends with a Lamed ל. The first word of the Torah, which we start right away is Beresheit - 2023 which starts with a ב. Together, these spell Lev לב or heart. Our heart is broken at what has unfolded, but our hearts have also swelled at the support we have received from across the globe. I personally have heard from as far away as China and as far back as my little league baseball coach. All this support is appreciated.
I found this week particularly difficult to find a positive message. The parsha starts off with the creation of the world. And each time something is created, it’s noted as good. So we can imagine an empty canvas and the artist creates the background and then starts to define and fill in detail after detail. And at each stage, is happy with what was created. When I build things on the cloud, I often have a similar feeling. I build something, go through my iterations and when it works (or mostly works), I’m actually giddy for a week or so every time that function or piece works as expected.
I bless you to always find the silver lining in the dark clouds and to be able to find the positive amongst the dark times. Shabbat Shalom