Last year I took a break from braiding the parashah (Torah portion) every week. It was a combination of not being able to fit it into my schedule and also not being fully committed after two cycles of the same structure. Once it started feeling like something I had to do instead of wanting to do, I realized it didn’t make sense to put my time and energy into it, especially with so much else on my plate.
So the last few months I’ve been thinking about a different approach I can take this Torah reading cycle and I’ve landed on something I’m super excited about.
In the weeks when I have the time for it, I’m going to braid one letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order, from Aleph to Tav. And since there are twice as many Torah portions as there are letters, this gives me plenty of weeks to give a pass when my schedule can’t fit it in.
I’m still going to provide my commentary on the Torah portion every time I braid, but through a different structure. This time, I’ll identify an interesting verse in the Torah portion that begins with the letter I am braiding. If that doesn’t exist, then I’ll find a significant word to comment on and will share my commentary this way. It’s a new style of interpretation, a bit more classic midrash. I can’t wait!
This past Shabbat I made the letter Aleph, using a unique 5 braid strand I learned from @challahprince. I was so happy with how it turned out!
Thanks for your interest in this project - follow me on instagram at @braid_the_parashah
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Parashat Bereishit
(The first Torah portion in the book of Genesis)
Many people comment on the fact that the Torah begins with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet instead of the first letter.
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
When God began to create heaven and earth—
There are all kinds of explanations for why this may be. One thought is that perhaps the Torah did not originally begin with this verse. Maybe it did begin with Aleph but then later redactors of the text added this “new” beginning before the original beginning. What do I mean by this?
Well, it is commonly acknowledged that there are two creation stories in the Torah. The first from Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 2:3. The second begins with Genesis 2:4, where we read:
אֵ֣לֶּה תוֹלְד֧וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם עֲשׂ֛וֹת יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃
This is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When God יהוה made earth and heaven—
If you can read Hebrew, you’ll notice that this verse begins with an aleph, the first verse in the Torah that begins with this letter. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps the first draft of the Torah started with this version of the creation story with later generations realizing it would read better if the two stories were flipped.
Who knows, right? But it is suspicious that the first creation story begins with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the second creation story begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
The phrase אֵ֣לֶּה תוֹלְד֧וֹת (Eileh Toldot) is used quite frequently in the Torah, often describing the generations of folks who separate two major time periods. It is a phrase representing a transition in the text, a way for the Torah to acknowledge that we are moving from one big story to another. Usually it is used to describe people, but in this case it is describing the heavens and the earth… as a way of saying, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth as they developed (without much incident) until arriving at the next dramatic period of time in the world.
It makes me think a lot about what stories we decide to emphasize, and which we decide to skip over. We do this all the time today when we are telling stories to other people… we don’t recount every single detail… instead we skip ahead to the dramatic moments, whatever they may be. The Torah does this too, inviting later generations of commentators (us!) to fill in the gaps of everything that might have happened during “eileh toldot” those generational gaps in the text. What stories do you tell and what do you leave out?
