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Making sense of the sedra: Bereishis
The work of creation
The opening words of Bereishis are familiar: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Yet the world that follows is not immediately ordered and bright. It is tohu va-vohu — unformed, unsettled, dark. Then comes the first command in the Torah: “Let there be light.”
Light does not arrive because the darkness was imaginary. It arrives because darkness is not the whole story.
As we commemorate the third anniversary of October 7, that distinction matters. We remember lives taken, families changed for ever and a sense of safety shattered. To speak of light must never mean looking away from grief or asking those who mourn to move on. It means refusing to let cruelty have the final word.
Bereishis presents creation not as a single moment in the distant past, but as the beginning of a task. God brings order where there was confusion, gives shape to what was formless, and makes space for life to flourish. The Torah’s account therefore asks something of us, too. When the world feels broken, what can we help build? When fear narrows our vision, can we make room for courage? When hatred divides, can we choose acts that restore human dignity?
There is no simple answer to suffering. Faith does not make loss painless, and hope is not a prediction that everything will quickly be well. Hope is the belief that what we do still matters: the life we protect, the kindness we offer, the community we strengthen, the truth we refuse to abandon.
Every week, Jews begin the Torah again with the story of creation. We are reminded that the world is unfinished — and that each of us has a part in its repair.
The first light in Bereishis was a gift. The light we bring into the world is also a responsibility. In a time that has shown us how much darkness human beings can create, what will we choose to create instead?
Rabbi Benjy Morgan is CEO of Olami UK
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