Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible - Bereshit

In the beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth. (Bereshit 1, 1)

The translation of the first word in the Hebrew Bible is “in the beginning.” But the word which appears here indicates something more important than beginning. In Hebrew it also hints at Rosh (Head). And the allusion here is not to a human head but to a special beginning - the beginning of the beginnings.

Let us go back to the wordבראשית  Bereshit on which the commentators have heaped numerous commentaries, and which we shall not enter into. We note that inside the word Bereshit is the word ראש  Rosh. In Hebrew, when we find the word ראש Rosh very often the meaning is “beginning” or “the highest place”. ראש ההרRosh Hahar means the top of the mountain.ראש הממשלה Rosh Hamemshala, Prime Minister, is the first man, head, in the government. Let us add to this the words יושב ראש Yoshev Rosh, and also the expression ראש לשועלים Rosh Leshualim from Pirkei Avot 4, 20 where it says: “Be rather a tail to lions than a head to foxes”. By this verse our Sages recommend that each of us should cleave to the great leaders, even to the least important of them (zanav, tail) and not try to be the leader (rosh, head) of the small people.

When one wishes to refer to a place where humans have never trodden before and where the scenery is wonderful, we say ארץ בראשית “Eretz Bereshit, ???.

Thus we see that the word Rosh is not only something primary, but also something which is important. We all know the arches from ancient times. Those arches were built with cement but were based on the pressure of the stones. The stone at the top of the arch and upon which all the other stones rely, is called האבן הראשה Ha’Even Ha’Rosha, the keystone. This means the main stone, the one that is at the top.

In the process of the frog’s development, when it hatches from the egg, it has the shape of a little fish called ראשן Roshan, Tadpole. This expression describes its appearance, which is composed mainly of a big head and little tail, but also the fact that this creature is at the start of its life.

An obvious derivative of ראשrosh is the ordinal number ראשון rishon, first, as in יום ראשוןYom Rishon, Sunday, the first day after the Shabbat.

We also use the root ראש Rosh in the form ראשי rashi, to indicate a person or thing which is the most important or chief, as in the title רב ראשי Rav Rashi, Chief Rabbi.

And finally, in Hebrew, in order to stress the very first beginning of all, we say בראש ובראשונה Berosh U’berishona. The literal meaning of this expression is “first and foremost”, “first of all”.

To sum up, the word Bereshit indicates beginning and primacy. In current Hebrew we don’t use this word which is too special. However, the expression “Berosh U’berishona” is widely used and is worth using.

 

Now the earth was unformed and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. (Bereshit 1,2)

Those who study the Torah in depth in general, and the Creation of the world in particular, try to understand the meaning of the description ‘tohu u’bohu”. In English this means: “without form and void”, but in Hebrew these unique words have a meaning of desolation, ruin and destruction.

2 ( Hebrew Bible )

In the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) in the weekly portion, Parshat Haazinu (32,10) it says: Yimtzaeihu b’eretz midbar uvetohu yelel yeshimon..”, “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste a howling wilderness,” from which we learn that the word תוהו “tohu” means - wasteland, desert.

Also in ancient Semitic texts, like Ugaritic, the word “Tohu” means -desert.

In Arabic, the word means a dry waterless place. and in Arabic the word בוהו “bohu” means - empty, without anything.

Consequently, we understand that the words “tohu ubohu” describe a waterless, empty place.

Presumably this meaning of the origin of the word in Hebrew does not help you to understand how that “tohu ubohu” really looked. But at least we have put some order into the words for you and that is something.

Incidentally, in fine literary Hebrew, the expression תוהו ובוהו “tohu ubohu” can be used to describe a big disorder, a real mess. For example: החדר של הילדים שלי היה ממש תוהו ובוהו. אי אפשר היה לראות את הרצפה. Hacheder shel hayeladim sheli haya mamash tohu ubohu. I’efshar haya lirot haritzpa. (My children’s room was a real mess. You couldn’t see the floor.) Well, who doesn’t know his children’s room? It’s always like that.

 

And the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters (Bereshit)

The word “hovered” does not adequately describe the expression “Merachefet”.

The verb לרחף “Lerachef”, describes flight without movement of the wings. Only big birds can do this, imbuing this action with majesty and splendour.

In the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), in Parshat Haazinu, the eagle is described as שמרחף “Shemerachef”, hovering, over its young, as is written: Kenesher yair kino al gozlav yerahef, “As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, hovers over her young,” (Deuteronomy 32, 11). The eagle doesn’t need to move its wings - it hovers. Similarly, the spirit of G-d hovers over the water, silently and majestically.

Let us try to picture the silence of the days of Bereshit, of the first day of Creation, the darkness on the surface of the water and some sacred spirit, hovering invisible over the waters. It is unseen, it makes no noise, but its presence is felt.

The word לרחף “Lerachef” describes a situation of being between heaven and earth. It is not the flight of an aeroplane nor the flight of a bird , it is something else that does not require energy.

Therefore the person who does מצנח רחיפה “mitznach rechifa”, paragliding,? is one who “hovers” שמרחףbetween heaven and earth. He doesn’t move any limb, he doesn’t use an engine, he uses the wind and nothing more.

The glider also hovers, since it has no engine.

There is also הרחפת Harachefet, the hovercraft, which is a boat that doesn’t touch the water, but flies over it.

In popular Hebrew, when one wishes to describe a person who is not particularly realistic or connected with his environment, they say הוא מרחף “hu merachef,” he hovers”. This description is not necessarily negative. The astronaut also hovers in the air. Therefore, in Hebrew, we can call someone who hovers אסטרונאוט “astronaut”.

3 ( Hebrew Bible )

 

Sample sentences:

After he won the competition it is impossible to speak to him, he is in the clouds??

He’s a real astronaut, all day long he thinks about his new wife.

 

Therefore, the Hebrew description of the first days of Creation in Bereshit is most appropriate, when the spirit of Elohim hovered over the water. It was, one can presume, in a quiet and silent manner, like a quiet bird that spreads its long wings and hovers silently over the surface of the waters in the dense darkness.

 

And G-d said:”Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters” (Bereshit, 6)

 

The commentators don’t know how to interpret the word רקיע “Rakia”.

In the Book of Daniel it is written: והמשכילים יזהרו כזוהר הרקיע Vehamaskilim yezaharu kezohar harakia..,” ( “And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament”). Therefore we understand that the firmament can shine. However, we don’t know how the Rakia of which the Book of Bereshit speaks looks. In Hebrew the wordרקיע“rakia” actually means something solid. Generally it is beaten surface. If we try to understand the Rakia firmament which is referred to, it is beaten and solid. In the Book of Exodus (39, 3) the preparation of the High Priest’s ephod is described with the words: “Vayerakiyu et pachei hazahav” (And they did beat the gold into thin plates..), meaning that they beat sheets of gold and then engraved different designs on them. This engraving on a flexible sheet of gold is called רקוע “Rikua”.

Concerning the powerful action of “rikua,”beating, we can learn from what is written in Ezekiel 1, 22... ureka beraglecha. “And stamp with your feet”... We learn from this that the act of beating requires strength. However, in the Book of Ezekiel the word “rakia” has a different image: “Rakia ke’ein Hakerach..???.. This is an image of ice and not of metal. In both cases something flat is referred to. The Book of Ezekiel goes even further and says that this firmament also shines brightly.

If we try to understand the meaning of our rakia, made of “water above the firmament” Mimayim me’al Harakia (Bereshit 1, 7) we can understand that this refers to water which is above and some form of light which passes through it. There are commentators who believe that this firmament of water is in fact ice. The ice is appropriate for the division between water and water, since it is itself made of water.

And now let us return to the Hebrew. We learnt that the rakia is something flat and hard. We learn that it also shine brightly sometimes. This brings us to a very modern word - the TV screen.

In good Hebrew, the TV screen is called מרקע “mirka”. After we tried to understand how the Biblical “rakia” looked, it is easier for us to understand the origin of the word Mirka. Here too the reference is to something flat from which a certain light emanates. As to the nature of that light and what we receive from it, opinions are divided, but we shan’t go into that just now.

 

4 ( Hebrew Bible )

 

Let us return to the words in Ezekiel “ureka beraglecha” (“and stamp with your feet”). These words are not widely used in modern Hebrew but they describe a nervous person very well. Therefore, if it we say- Hu raka beraglav lifnei hapakid ha’adish..He stamped his feet in front of the indifferent clerk,” we can understand the situation in which the man was nervous and took out his negative energies on the ground on which he was standing and not on the indifferent clerk who did not attend to him as he expected.

And let us now return to the plain meaning of the word רקיע Rakia. In spoken Hebrew we understand the word rakia to mean sky. Therefore we can say: Ani berakia hashevii acharey shesiyamti lichtov et hasefer sheli, (“I am in the seventh heaven after finishing writing my book”). This means “I feel sky-high after finishing writing my book.” Another expression is מרקיע שחקים Markiya shechakim, Skyrocketing. Markia -goes up to the sky, shechakim -sky. This is a idiom meaning going up very high, up to the sky.

A sample sentence:

Hatzipiot merosh hamemshala hechadash markiyot shechakim, The expectations from the new prime minister are sky high.

 

To sum up:

רקיע (rakia) in its simple form means sky. But it is also something flat and strong . It can be worked by powerful action called beating, רקוע Rikua.

From the Rakia we also got to know מרקע הטלוויזיה “mirka ha’televizia, the TV screen (this word is not yet commonly use in Hebrew but is becoming more and more popular in everyday speech.)

After you have understood the meaning of the word רקיע rakia, I hope that you are ברקיע השביעי “barakiya hashevii” (in the seventh heaven.) And if not, I shall really ארקע ברגליי erka beraglai, stamp my feet, because you didn’t understand the matter sufficiently.

Israelis with a background in Hebrew frequently use the word רקע Reka, (background,) meaning knowledge or experience of a certain subject. It is also used when describing the background of a picture etc..

 

 

And G-d said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. (Bereshit 6)

 

This time we shall examine the word מבדיל “Mavdil”, divide. The meaning here is a separation between one thing and another. However, the word מבדיל Mavdil refers to separation in a broad sense. Division does not only refer to separation between one thing and another but to giving a different definition to every thing. This means, even though here it refers to the separation, between water and water, every water has a different function and a different meaning.

 

 

 

 

5 ( Hebrew Bible )

When we make הבדלה Havdala, when the Shabbat ends, we separate between the Shabbat and the weekdays. However, the Shabbat is different in many ways from

a normal day. Therefore they are not only separate from one another,

but the נבדליםNivdalim, are “distinct”. Incidentally, the beautiful hymn sung at the end of Havdala is called המבדיל Hamavdil (“which distinguishes”).

In Hebrew when we want to indicate two parallel things which are not of equal importance, we say להבדיל “lehavdil”, (with a difference..)??

For example:

Ben-Gurion hinhig et ha’am le’atzmaut, aval lehavdil, Saddam, hinhig et amo lechurban, ( Ben-Gurion led the people to independence, but the difference is that Saddam led his people to destruction..)

In addition, when we want to emphasize the difference between two parallel examples we say: להבדיל אלף הבדלות Lehavdil elef havdalot..(there is a world of difference between them.)

For example:

Artzot Habrit hi aretz, ulehavdil elef havdalot gam Andora hi aretz, The United States is a country, and a world of difference, Andorra is also a country.

“Lehavdil” and “lehavdil elef havdalot” are widely used in everyday Hebrew.

The word most commonly used in Hebrew to describe difference is הבדל Hevdel, and is used to refer to any kind of difference. Hahevdel beinenu hu she hu shamen ve’ani raze, The difference between us is that he is fat and I am thin. .

 

נבדל  Nivdal-offside

Since we are talking about Havdala let us talk a bit about sport, or more precisely about football. It is true that this sport is not yet especially popular among Americans, who prefer American Football to Soccer, but the English among the readers will certainly better understand what we are talking about here.

In football there is a rule of נבדל Nivdal, offside. According to this rule if the attacking player has the ball opposite the opposing goalkeeper alone he is in an offside position and the linesman signals with his flag that he is offside and cannot continue. Thus, the offside situation describes a situation in which one player is separated from the rest of the players.

In politics too we find the connection with הבדלה “havdala”. The members of extreme political groups which do not agree with the regular streams are called בדלנים badlanim, separatists. These people remain separate from the general population or country, in another place, outside the general consensus.