PARACHAT BERECHIT (1) - HITAT DU JOUR 26 TISHRI 5787 - 07 Octobre 2026

Hello everyone, welcome to our daily study session. Today is Wednesday, Yom Revi, of Parshat Bereshit, the 26th of Tishrei 5787. The entire month of Tishrei was of incredible intensity. Each day brought its share of unique mitzvot, making us feel such a vivid closeness to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

So many beautiful actions to accomplish. On Rosh Hashanah, we crowned Hakadosh Baruch Hu as our King. With the powerful and vibrant sound of the shofar, we began our year under the sign of sweetness and recited Tehillim all day long. On Yom Kippur, we shared an intimate face-to-face with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, experiencing the purity of the angels, entirely absorbed by prayer .

Immediately after began the festival of Sukkot, sheltered in a small sukkah, placed under the protection of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, affirming our unity, our achdut, through the lulav, hadassim, and aravot, all gathered together in a single impulse for Torah, we danced and exulted with joy as we restarted the Torah cycle and an honor, an Aliyah to the Torah, was reserved for everyone. But now, school time and work time have resumed their place. Has the spirituality flown away? We sometimes have the impression that the magic has faded, that it is just an ordinary day.

But let us think again, we are on the wrong track. Spirituality is well and truly here to stay. The kedushah is there, it resides in our minds, in our hearts day after day, at every moment. In truth, even if it seems to us that the spiritual intensity has faded, it is precisely in an ordinary world that we must serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

It is right there in the routine, in what might appear to be monotony. Yes, that is the deep reason for our presence here below in this physical, material world. Hakadosh Baruch Hu desires that we perform the mitzvot, even when the enthusiasm is not obvious. For that is how we prepare the world to welcome Him , by making this earth a warm home for Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

We are not Jews only on the days of the holidays. At every moment of our life, we prove our attachment to Hashem. We finally reach the supreme goal, the one for which we were created, that of performing the mitzvot and sanctifying ourselves, rejoicing, having the opportunity to perform mitzvot, to study Torah, and to draw just a little bit closer to Him. Send us your dedications via WhatsApp at 33 6 21 37 24 52.

Today, it is a special dedication to all these children who have returned to school with intensity, with true joy. Each word of Torah will rise up to Hashem today, and we ask Him to bless them, protect them, and grant them serenity, tranquility, and the desire to study Torah with joy. With the spirit of the first parashah, we are in the awakening . At the beginning of our parashah, we explored the six days of creation and Shabbat.

We explored the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, the Etz HaDa'at, which was committed by Adam and Hava. Today, the Torah lifts the veil on the aftermath of this event and also recounts the second major drama of humanity, the story of Cain and Hevel. After tasting the forbidden fruit, Adam and Hava risked setting their sights on the Etz HaChayim, the Tree of Life, which would have granted them immortality. The fruit of the Etz HaDa'at had awakened in them the inclination toward evil, the Yetzer Hara.

This would have meant eternity for evil itself. Hakadosh Baruch Hu therefore expelled them from the Garden of Eden, stationing an angel at the entrance to forbid access. Before this exile, Adam and Hava had founded a family, five children in total consisting of Cain and his twin sister. There was also Hevel.

And two other sisters. It was a set of triplets. They united with their sisters; it was a union that was tolerated at that time. Hevel, for his part, chose the profession of shepherd.

The earth was cursed. Following the original sin, Cain, for his part, insisted on becoming a farmer. Both decided to bring offerings, Korbanot, to Hakadosh Baruch Hu to thank Him. Cain offered fruits from his harvest, but he did not take great care to select the finest or the best ones.

Hevel, on the other hand , offered the finest and fattest of his lambs. Hakadosh Baruch Hu welcomed Hevel's offering with benevolence, signaling His acceptance with a fire that descended from heaven. Seized by jealousy, Cain refused to question himself and rejected Teshuvah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu encouraged him to act rightly , however, reminding him that he had the strength to overcome his Yetzer Hara and that a quality Korban was still available to him.

Deaf to these warnings, Cain gave in to anger and eliminated his brother, he killed Hevel . Hakadosh Baruch Hu condemned him to an exemplary punishment, and from this day forward, he would never again know the stability of a fixed home. Moreover , the earth, already stingy with its benefits, would prove even more sterile toward him. Cain was dismayed by the severity of this sentence.

He feared that the first person he met or a beast might strike him down during his wanderings. Hakadosh Baruch Hu protected him by placing a distinctive sign on his forehead to preserve him. He will, moreover, set the end of his punishment for this generation later on . But Cain, persisting in his refusal of teshuvah, of sincere repentance, chose to settle in a fixed place, thus defying the injunction of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

The Torah then traces the descendants of Cain. He built a city which he named after his son, Enoch. Enoch fathered Irad, who is the father of Mehujael, who himself was the father of Methushael, whose son was Lamech. >> These genealogical markers shed light on the continuation of Cain's story in the parsha.

Today, we are in the second part of Psalm 119, and today is the 6th of Cheshvan. Chapter 119 contains a famous verse. "From all my teachers I have gained insight," meaning I have instructed my spirit from all my masters, for your precepts will be the subject of all I say and share with others. The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot teaches this: "Who is wise?

He who learns from every person." The source of this teaching is found precisely in this verse of Psalms, as the Rebbe visited Camp Gan Israel in the year 5720. He shared with the children several teachings from the founder of Chassidut, including a luminous explanation of this verse. A priori, one might ask the question: do we really have to learn from every single person? Not everyone is a teacher, and not everyone possesses a laudable teaching.

Some individuals behave badly , and we would gladly do without their example. Yet the Rebbe teaches us that we must effectively draw lessons from every person. From some, we learn the path to follow and the good to accomplish. From others, we learn what must be absolutely avoided.

And the Rebbe concludes that by applying the instruction of the Mishnah and knowing how to observe everything, each of us becomes a true "talmid chacham" and brings immense nachas, satisfaction, to his parents and his teachers. Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh, Siman 10. Yesterday we saw that anger finds its source in a lack of emunah. If one firmly believed that Hakadosh Baruch Hu orchestrates every misplaced word spoken by others, one would not get angry.

The Rebbe Rashab develops this idea to shed light on a similar principle taught by the Baal Shem Tov, which can be found in the Tzavaat HaRivash. If a Jew is in the middle of davening, absorbed in his prayer, and a non-Jew comes to interrupt or disturb him, what should his reaction be? Well, he should not get angry. On the contrary, he must consider that the Shechinah also animates that being and has brought about this obstacle in order to stimulate his deep spiritual powers of concentration, leading him to pray with greater focus, with greater kavanah.

This approach sparked some controversy. Some objected that it is unthinkable that the divine vitality from above resides within a non-Jew. It is this objection that Rabbi Shneur Zalman dispels here in this letter. He first recalls what our Sages tell us, that anger betrays a failing faith.

Then he details how divine vitality permeates the entire universe in the form of individual providence. What is called Hashgacha Pratit. The Baal Shem Tov teaches that the words spoken by Hashem during creation were not uttered once and for all. This perpetual renewal escapes us due to the thickness of the veil with which Hashem wraps Himself to mask His action.

Unlike humans, who are content to transform existing materials —for example, wood into paper, fruit into juice, metal into an object—and no longer need to intervene once the object is finished. Hashem drew the universe from absolute nothingness, yesh me'ayin, and if He were to cease vivifying it for even a single instant, the world would instantly vanish. He does not need to destroy it. Once this Hashgacha Pratit, which we have already studied in the Shaar HaYichud, is understood, one realizes how this providence is exercised even through the intermediary of a non-Jew who comes to disturb a Jew's prayer during the time of exile.

Meditating on this reality drives away any anger we might feel. We understand that this test is orchestrated by Hashem to urge us to redouble our efforts in our concentration, in our kavanah, and to disregard everything happening outside and sometimes even inside our thoughts. Hayom Yom, today is the 26th of Tishrei . We saw today in the Tanya the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov on permanent creation, this recreation of the world, in a way, by the breath of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

The Rebbe reveals here that the Midrash had already formulated this truth long before the Baal Shem Tov. So why does Rabbi Shneur Zalman insist on attributing it specifically to the Baal Shem Tov? Rabbi Shneur Zalman wished to slip in an allusion to 18 Elul, the anniversary of the Baal Shem Tov's birth. The verse which states that divine vitality breathes a renewal into the world without ceasing specifies that this energy resides in the heavens, that is to say, Shamayim.

Now, Shamayim, the firmament, was created on the second day of creation, Monday. And it is precisely on a Monday, the 18th of Elul , that the Baal Shem Tov was born. The Rebbe wanted to inscribe, at least in the form of an allusion, the memory of this blessed day in the pages of the Tanya. And we conclude with the study of the Rambam.

Today, we are in the Hilchot Gneivah, the laws concerning theft. In the first chapter, the Rambam defines the concept of theft. It is strictly forbidden to steal anything at all, no matter how minimal the object may be, from anyone whatsoever. In chapter 2, the Rambam specifies the cases where a thief is required to pay a fine, a Knas, settling for double the value or quintuple if it involves the theft of an ox or a lamb that he subsequently slaughtered or sold, for example.

Finally, in chapter 3, the Rambam sets out the jurisprudence of the Beth Din tribunal regarding the circumstances that exempt the guilty party from the fine. For instance, if he is guilty of a more serious crime punishable by death, or if he has spontaneously confessed to his theft, then the confession exempts him from the Knas, or if he is completely insolvent. And there you have it, that was the daily Rambam. I invite you to share it with as many people as possible so that we may continue to grow at every moment of our existence.

at +33 6 21 37 24 52. May God bless you , may He flood you with material and spiritual blessings and total success today, as we said, this is a special dedication to all those children who will study Torah today. May He bless and protect them, give them the joy of study, and fill them with happiness and tranquility. See you soon.