Bereshit

		Numbers in the Story of Creation
		In the Jewish tradition, there are many beginnings, and this week we are on the first Shabbat of the new Torah reading cycle. This week's Parashah is once again Bereishit - "In [the] beginning ..." If you are familiar with the Bible at all, you have probably read this first story many times, and know that it recounts the Creation by God in 'six days'. Then, there is the seventh day on which God 'ceased the work which he was doing.' He blessed the day, made it holy and on it stopped doing the work which He had created for Himself to do. Each day is associated with a number. Now, there are as many schemes for finding meaning in the Hebrew numbers as there are interpreters who study them. It is only fitting that the story of creation should have one of its very own. Perhaps there are many out there, but this week we would like to share just one of them with you.
Day One Unity		One: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and void and darkness was on the face of the deep ..." On the first day of creation, God creates light and then separates it from darkness only to have the two come together again, each at its appointed time, to form a unity called DAY. "And it was evening and it was morning, One Day": One Day (Yom Echad): In Genesis 1:5, Darkness and light alternate, giving and taking (evening and morning) to form a single "DAY." One Flesh (Basar Echad): From a single "adam" God forms a woman to create a duality, "them," the man and the woman. The two will come together, in their uniqueness as male and female, to once again form a unity. "For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will be one flesh."
a Second Day Duality		Two: On the second day of creation, the waters are divided into two parts of LIKE substance. One becomes seas (yam-mim) and one becomes skies (sha-ma-yim). Unlike the light and the darkness, or the man and the woman, there must be a permanent barrier between the waters so the two like parts (water) will form separate things (skies and seas). Day Two has many nouns that in Hebrew end with "yud.mem." These are not plural, but dual, meaning two: the waters (ma-yim), seas (yam-mim) and skies (sha-ma-yim). Other words that have dual endings are also things that come in pairs, like hands, feet, eyes and ears - they are mirror opposites and equal.
a Third Day Propogation, Seed		Three: On the third day, life is created with its seed in it. Living things are capable of reproducing after their own kind. There are three elements that sustain life mentioned on the third day: Mayim (water), yabasha (dry ground), and shamayim (heavens, where the sun will be placed and from where rain will fall). Hebrew roots are nearly all triliteral - that is they begin with three letters that 'produce' all the words of the language.
a Fourth Day Cycles		Four: On the fourth day, the luminaries are created and placed in the heavens. Their primary function in the story is to mark time for the agricultural cycle and for the liturgical calendar. Four means of marking time are given in the story of the fourth day: signs (stars and planets), appointed times (feasts), days (shabbats), and years (jubilees).
a Fifth Day abundance		Five: On the fifth day, the waters begin to teem with an over abundance of life. Creatures that come from the water are blessed and told to multiply and fill the waters of the sea and increase on the earth. The five elements that make life possible for the swarming things (sheretz) and the birds are listed here: earth (eretz), water (ma-yim), seas (yam-mim), heavens (sha-ma-yim) and atmosphere (raqi'a - sky). There are five verbs that describe how living things will propogate: 'pe-ru' (reproduction), 're-vu' (multiplication), mil-'u (fill up), yiv-ra (create), and 'yish-re-tzu' (swarm).
the Sixth Day Order, Control		Six: On the sixth day, God creates the animals, the great 'tanninim' (sea 'sea monsters') and the crown of his creation - the human being. God gives Adam the command to "multiply , increase and fill the earth", connecting them with the rest of creation, but then gives them authority to subdue the earth by controling those living things that propogate in abundance. If you read carefully, you will see that Man is only given rulership over the "fish (abundance) of the sea, the birds of the air and everything that creeps on the earth."
the Seventh Day Perpetual Perfection		Seven: Finally, the day of perfection when all creation is complete and self-sustaining. The darkness and emptiness of the opening verse of Genesis have been transformed into life, light, meaning and purpose. God has completed the work which he created for himself to do and ceases to work further. There is only one more act of dividing to be done. In this seventh day there is perpetual perfection, and so the 'day' is made holy - it is set apart from the other six forever holding out the promise of a time when everything is as it should be.