VOYAGE à travers la Parachat (BERECHIT 1 - 2eme) - Rav Shmouel Timestit

Imagine you landed your final internship at one of the largest and most prestigious companies in the world. And what’s more, the CEO himself comes to tell you that if your internship goes well, and you succeed at everything asked of you as best you can, by the end of your internship you will be chosen to be the company's right-hand man. Incredible. That would be an exceptional opportunity.

You would certainly give your all to achieve this and become the company's right-hand man . But of course, when a proposal like that is made, there are always the veterans in the company who were there before you , who will say it’s not right and that the position belongs to them. So, they will do everything to sabotage you. They will do everything to ensure you don't get the position.

What does this have to do with this week’s Parashah? This week in the Parashah, we begin the book of Bereshit again. We will read there the story of the creation of the world by Hashem, the setup and destruction of the world, then the creation and the encounter with the holy Patriarchs, all the way to Egypt. All that in the book of Bereshit.

Of course, there will be ups and downs in that book, with many catastrophes. But what does that have to do with our story about jealousy? Well, in the creation of the world on the sixth day, He creates an incredible creation called the human being. The human being is the crowning achievement of creation.

A being gifted with speech, the Torah tells us. This means he is higher than animals, which lack this faculty of speech, even if they have their own language. And so he has a Ruach Elokim, he has divine inspiration. He will be called Adam.

And for this Adam, God will make a woman named Chava, who is extraordinarily beautiful. And Adam has an incredible connection with God. He is a creation of His hand. Adam has no father, no mother.

He was formed from the earth by Hashem Himself, and He will place him in the Garden of Eden. And there, there will be an old-timer who was already there, called the serpent, who will say, "Wait, this isn't right.""Why is God like this with him?" "He is friends with Adam, and on top of that, He gave him an extraordinary woman , while I’ve been here for a long time and I don't get any of this attention." It's not normal, he has to fall, he has to stumble. Hence the story of original sin. The serpent's jealousy will lead the world into darkness, will lead the world into death when death does not exist.

The creation of the world. Jealousy will transform the creation of the world into something of a duality, a duel that will not stop from the beginning of creation until the end of time. A duel between men, a duel where each will say "No, it's mine." No, it's mine . No, it's mine.

The first time that will happen is with Cain and Abel. Cain, who is impregnated with the spiritual seed of the serpent of original sin, he will say "The world is mine." I am the one who was chosen to repair original sin since I am the eldest, I am the one who has the role of the Messiah . Except he didn't understand that to be the Messiah, one must be what is called a Gan-Eden. What is that?

It means that we are in a Gan. What is the Gan? It's not a garden where you stroll around like in Candide. The Gan is Gimel and Nun.

What is Gimel and Nun? It is the the Gimel is the body and the Nun is the soul. Meaning you have to manage to create a link between the body and the spirit while being in Eden. What is Eden?

It's not a place that is pretty, where everything goes well, there are beautiful fruits and it's a bit trippy. No, Eden is Eden, it's beauty, it's calm , it's purity, it's holiness. Meaning you must have a holy body and spirit. Meaning you must have a holy spirit in a holy body.

And for that, to be able to give the measure of the things that God asked for, you will be on earth. You will live a life of materiality, but you must elevate it to the rank of spirituality to be able to echo my spirituality in your world. That was the goal of creation, that God would need a "Dirah Betachtonim," a residence down below. What is it?

The residence is ourselves. So what does that mean? To be a body that is capable of guarding and of working the world. As He said to Adam, He said to him: "I will put you in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it." It's exactly the same thing with our body.

We have a body that allows us to do things, to work. What must you do during the 6 days? You must work. It is a mitzvah, it is the first one in the first parasha of the week.

And then you are told "to guard it ," yes, you must keep the mitzvot. So what does that mean? You must work, you must guard yourself. That is to say, you must perform your divine service while protecting yourself.

You protect your eyes, you protect your mouth, your ears, your nose, your hands , you are careful. But Cain said, "No, it's not necessary." The world is mine. I am Tony Montana. Everyone must obey me since I am the eldest of Adam and Eve.

And so, I have a brother, his name is Abel. What is "Abel"? It is vapor, nothingness, something that has no value since if the world is mine , he is only the second, he has no place So if he is alive, it's because he wants to take my place, so I'd better get rid of him. And that is what happens.

So we see, in fact, that the jealousy of the serpent infiltrated Cain, who killed his brother out of jealousy. And that is how the world begins, because of a story of jealousy, because of a serpent that was not capable of knowing its place, of thinking that what God had given it as a mission, it thought the mission of someone else belonged to it by right. And well, this is where we are today after 5787 years because of jealousy. And as He said: "The blood of your brother cries out to Me." You killed an entire generation, you didn't just kill a man.

And through jealousy, one can destroy families, destroy companies, destroy worlds. Why? Because we think it should belong to us. No, God told us "Bishvili nivra." What does that mean?

It means for you, He created the world. For you, regarding your mission, your own life mission. What God did when He brought you into the world is that He placed you in a space that belongs to you, and the space of your neighbor does not belong to you , nor does that of your neighbor. What does that mean?

It means that you must be Yisrael, straight with Hashem. Straight, it means you don't zig-zag. Sometimes I take my neighbor's place, sometimes my boss's place, sometimes my neighbor's place, my sister's place, my friend's place. No, you are who you are meant to be.

That is the purpose of life . Be who you are meant to be. And that is exactly why He gave us the book of Genesis before the book of Exodus, even though Rashi tells us: "I don't understand, if the world was created for Israel, why doesn't the Torah begin with the commandments?" "This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you ," to become a nation. No.

Genesis, when God created the world , the creation of individuals, the creation of a family, why would we care about that? But we do care, because the Torah says: before being an engineer, before being a rabbi, before being a lawyer, before being a professor, before being a scholar, before being anything, be a human being and have derech eretz. No, today, in the name of knowledge, in the name of respect, in the name of... well, we think we can crush others at the slightest excuse.

No, before all that, have derech eretz, know your place Just because you are very scholarly doesn't mean you should crush others. Just because you are a great professor doesn't mean you should be arrogant. Just because you are rich doesn't mean you should think you are better than others. Because don't forget one thing, Pirkei Avot.

It tells us: know where you come from, do not forget where you come from, where you are going, and to whom you will have to give an account. And that is what is important to understand, that we must stay in our place to fulfill the mission God gave us and nothing else. May these few words of Torah help us bring the redemption. And may they be in memory of Abraham ben Debora, may He place him in the garden.

See you very soon.