Each reading of the biblical texts is different. The text is immutable, the reader changes. Therefore, the beginning of a new cycle of the Torah constitutes a milestone in the intellectual and spiritual evolution of the reader.

The challenge of the first chapters of Genesis does not disappear.

It is the challenge of those who propose that the Torah is actually

a composite based on primary texts. This fact is highlighted by the repetition of the story of the creation of the universe. Because, according to some scholars, it manifests a trace of some prior texts that served the alleged human author or authors of the Holy Scripture.

However, according to many traditional exegetes, there is a didactic reason for both stories of the creation. While the first chapter constitutes a general account of the origins of all that surrounds us, the second chapter is specific: it concentrates on the history of man, who is the reference point of the narrative.

It underlines the unique relationship with the Creator because only humans can enter into a mutual correspondence with God. This is a “berit”, a pact, which establishes obligations on both sides. The religious history of Humanity refers to the structure and conditions of this “berit”, and the

violations and compliance that invariably happen with this “covenant” with God. When the relationship with God fractures, we find the seed of destruction, a fact that is increased with the unstoppable process

of globalization, which has turned the globe into a village.

The Chachamim, the sages, were attentive to these textual difficulties,

and for this reason, they held discussions about the inclusion of some texts in the compendium of the Tanakh, the Bible.

In particular, the book of Esther raised a big question: Is it possible to include in the Sacred Scriptures a text that does not mention the name of God? They decided affirmatively because of the phrase: “Kiyemu vekibelu hayehudim aleihem veal zar’am veal kol hanilvim aleihem veal yaavor lihyot osim… ”, “the Jews decided that they, their seed and all who joined them, should continue to scrupulously observe according to the established… ”. Compliance with the instructions of Esther and Mordechai to vow again to follow the instructions of the Torah, was the decisive fact for the book of Esther to be included in the canon of the Bible.

The Genesis account is majestic. Creation is not the result of a collision of wills between the gods, or the product of cataclysms that occurred in the cosmos. The world is born as an expression of the will of God, who

with the expression “Vayomer Elohim”, “And God said”, placed idea and thought above any physical activity or action.

Bereshit teaches that there is a purpose in creation. It is about a universe in which apparent chaos and uncertainty reign together with caprice and chance. But there is a Creator and, therefore, purpose and design must also coexist with the mentioned chaos.

The location of men and women in an idyllic Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, shows a friendly nature that provides fruit for sustenance. However, when nature rebels it can be constrained and controlled. Anti-seismic constructions can be erected, for example.

On the other hand, the existence of the human species is endangered by

man himself because of his aggressiveness, a quality that strangely may also be indispensable for his own growth and development, evolution, and improvement.

Therefore, the Torah demands that the conduct of man be governed by a set of laws that were revealed by the Creator at Sinai. God could not abandon his creation solely in the hands of those beings whom he endowed with great intelligence and who are capable of construction or destruction. To ensure the survival of the species and of nature with the flora and fauna it possesses, the Mitsva, a set of norms of behavior had to be instituted also in order to guarantee the arrival of an eventual era, Yemot HaMashiach, “the days of the Messiah, an era of coexistence and harmony that will not be a consequence of the Will of God but will be the product of the conviction and behavior of his last creation on the sixth day of Bereshit: the human being.