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Yeshivat Nahar Shalom

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The Weekly Parasha

Introduction To The Chumash of Bereishit (Book Of Genesis)

By Yeshivat Nahar Shalom Staff•October 5, 2026
"proper conduct (derech eretz) precedes the Torah"The Book of Genesis is called the Book of the UprightThe Holy One, Blessed Be He, Looked into the Torah and Created the WorldAnd I was with Him as an Amon"—do not read Amon (nurseling), but Oman (artisan)all things and actions of all the worlds were inscribed by the Holy One, blessed be He, in the Torah

And we have learned from here that you should not say that the Torah created the world, but rather the Holy One, blessed be He, through His looking into the Torah created the world, and it turns out that the Holy One, blessed be He, is Himself the artisan, and the Torah was before Him corresponding to Him as an artisan as well (for the Holy One, blessed be He, depicted in the Torah the entire reality)

Introduction to the Chumash of Bereshit – Sefer HaYashar (The Book of the Upright), the deeds of the Patriarchs and proper conduct (Derech Eretz) that preceded the Torah, the elevated status of the Torah, according to which the world was created, and the belief that all of creation and its orders are rooted in the Holy Torah, from our teacher and our master, the Head of the Yeshiva, the Kabbalist, the Tzaddik, Rabbi Benayahu Shmueli, shlit"a.

23rd of Tishrei 5787 | Oct. 10, 2026 | 13:45

Introduction to the Chumash

Proper Conduct Precedes the Torah

The Book of Genesis is called the Book of the Upright (Rashi on II Shmuel 1:18), and this is the book of the patriarchs of the world who lived their lives according to the uprightness and truth of our Torah, the Torah of truth. They paved the way for us, whose entire strength is to cleave to the way that ascends to the House of the Almighty in the sense of "the actions of the fathers are a sign for the children" (Midrash Tanchuma, Parshat Lech Lecha 9), and our Sages, of blessed memory, have already said (Tanna Debei Eliyahu Rabbah, Chapter 25) that every person must ask, "When will my deeds reach the deeds of my forefathers?" Likewise, the Book of Genesis is a holy book filled with faith, wisdom, ethics, and proper conduct in the sense of "proper conduct (derech eretz) precedes the Torah" (Tanna Debei Eliyahu, Chapter 1). As is known, the greatest education is personal example; therefore, let us reflect on how they behaved, and from them we shall learn paths of life.

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Looked into the Torah and Created the World

It is written in the Holy Zohar (Part II, page 161a): The Holy One, blessed be He, looked into the Torah and created the world. The Maharal of Prague wrote (Tiferet Yisrael, Chapter 62) that "the Torah is the order of the world," and according to this, we can understand what our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Eruvin 54a): "He who feels pain in his head should engage in Torah; he who feels pain in his entire body should engage in Torah". This is because any illness constitutes a departure from order and uprightness; therefore, one should engage in Torah in order to return to the order of the world, to the uprightness of creation.

And this is what is written (Proverbs 4:22), "And healing to all his flesh," and "Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it," for in the Holy Torah is everything that was, is, and will be in detail, and in general, it contains all wisdoms. And there is no matter that is not hinted at in the Torah (Taanit 9a), for all of creation is the raw material for the possibility of the existence and fulfillment of the Torah, a sort of "practical application of the Torah".  As the prophet Yirmiyahu said (33:25): "If not for My covenant by day and night, I (would) have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth".

It is written in the Holy Zohar (Part II, page 161a): When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He looked into the Torah and created the world; from the Torah the world was created. As our Sages, of blessed memory, explained (Genesis Rabbah, beginning of Chapter 1) on the verse (Proverbs 8:30): "And I was with Him as an Amon"—do not read Amon (nurseling), but Oman (artisan). One must reflect upon this: was the Torah an artisan? This can be understood through a parable of a king who wanted to build a palace: if he does not hire an artisan, he can never build the palace. However, after the palace is built, the palace is named only after the king, and everyone says, "This is the palace that the king built". All this is because the king put his thought and mind into this palace. Likewise, when the Holy One, blessed be He, came to create the world, He looked at the artisan; and even though the artisan built the palace, it is named only after the king, as people say, "This is the palace that the king built," and certainly the king built the palace. The Torah cries out: "And I was with Him as an artisan," for the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world. Before the world was created, the Torah preceded the world by two thousand years; and when the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to create the world, He would look into the Torah at every single word and made the craftsmanship of the world corresponding to it. This is because all things and actions of all the worlds were inscribed by the Holy One, blessed be He, in the Torah, and through this, the Holy One, blessed be He, looked into it and created the world.

And if you say: Who can be an artisan for the Holy One, blessed be He? Rather, the looking of the Holy One, blessed be He, was in this manner: In the Torah it is written: (Genesis 1:1) "In the beginning the L-rd created the heaven and the earth," He looked at this statement and created the heaven. It is written in the Torah: "And the L-rd said, Let there be light," He looked at this and created the light, and so with every word and word that is written in the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, looked and made that matter. And regarding this it is written (Proverbs 8:30) "And I was with Him as an artisan," and thus the entire world was created. And we have learned from here that you should not say that the Torah created the world, but rather the Holy One, blessed be He, through His looking into the Torah created the world, and it turns out that the Holy One, blessed be He, is Himself the artisan, and the Torah was before Him corresponding to Him as an artisan as well (for the Holy One, blessed be He, depicted in the Torah the entire reality).