Bereishit: Parshah Summary

Creation & Adam

In the beginning, Hashem created the world with His unlimited power and love. On the first day, Hashem separated light from darkness. On the second day, Hashem separated the waters above (creating heaven) from the waters below on earth. On the third day, Hashem finished putting the waters in their place and revealed the dry land. Hashem then created mates for every day. Hashem created the fourth day to be a mate for the first day, and filled the darkness with the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Hashem created the fifth day as a mate for the second day, and filled the heavens above with birds and the waters below with sea creatures. Hashem created the sixth day as a mate for the third day, Hashem created all the land creatures.

To finish the creation of the sixth day, Hashem took the dust of His creation and the breath of heaven and said, "Let us create man in our image". Hashem then created Adam, who was made with the image of the Creator & His creation. Hashem put Adam in the Garden of Eden and placed him in charge of managing what Hashem created.

All the days had a mate, and all the creatures had a mate, but Adam did not. Hashem said, "It is not good for man to be alone," and put Adam to sleep. Hashem took one side of Adam and created Chavah (Eve) and gave Chavah to Adam. Chavah was the first woman.

And on the seventh day, Hashem stopped creating all the work He had created for mankind. Hashem sanctified the day and named it "Shabbat."

The seventh day saw all the other days had a mate, and cried out, "Where is my mate!?" Hashem said, "My people will be your mate. The Messiah will be your husband. Just as the sea is filled with sea creatures and the land with land creatures, you will be filled with the souls of the righteous. All other days will have an evening and morning, but in the future, the sun will never set on you, for you will be filled with light for eternity and your day will never end."

In the Garden of Eden, Hashem placed the Tree of Knowledge. He told Adam and Chavah that they could eat from any tree except that one. But unfortunately, they were tempted by a tricky snake who convinced them to eat from the forbidden tree. This was a big mistake, and it caused them to lose their special connection with Hashem.

Adam and Chavah were no longer allowed to stay in the Garden of Eden and had to leave. Hashem placed an angel with a firey sword to block the entrance back into Eden.

Even though Adam and Chavah made a mistake, Hashem promised to send a special person, called the Mashiach, who would help fix the world and bring back the special connection between Hashem and all people.

Kayin and Havel

After Adam and Chavah left the Garden of Eden, they had children, and their family grew. Adam and Chavah had many daughters and two sons named Kayin and Havel. Since there were no other humans except for family, Kayin and Havel married their sisters.

Hashem had given a special commandment to Kayin and Havel. He told them to how to bring offerings to Him to show their love and gratitude properly. Kayin was a farmer, so he brought fruits and vegetables from his fields as an offering to Hashem. Havel was a shepherd, so he brought the best of his sheep as an offering.

When Hashem accepted Havel’s offering with love and favor, Kayin felt sad and angry because Kayin’s offering wasn’t accepted. He didn’t understand why Hashem didn’t accept his offering in the same way. Hashem said that Kayin needed to improve himself first. The offerings weren't about going through the motions, but the heart behind it.

Kayin went to Havel, and he became so angry with Havel that he rose up and killed Havel.

Hashem saw what had happened and came to Kayin. He asked him, “Where is Havel, your brother?” Kayin knew he had done something terrible, and he tried to hide his guilt. But Hashem, who knows everything, already knew what had happened.

Hashem told Kayin that his actions were wrong and punished him by making him wander the earth. Kayin was filled with more remorse and sadness. He realized that his jealousy had caused him to do something terrible and kill his own brother. Kayin took his wife, and went away to the land of Nod.

Noach

As the world became more populated, people started doing things that were not good. They forgot about Hashem and started behaving in ways that hurt others and themselves. The light of the world was dying. If people continued living this way, they would forget their purpose entirely and the world would have no purpose.

Hashem decided to help fix the world by removing all the evil in it. But out of everyone on earth, there was only one righteous person named Noach (Noah). Hashem saw that Noach was a good person who followed His ways, so He decided to save Noach and his family from what Hashem had planned.