Reading For The Hatan Bereshit

k'ri-ah lechatan bereishit

קריאה לחתן בראשית

Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

Hebrew

זֶרַע לְמִינֵהוּ וְעֵץ עֹשֶׂה־פְּרִי אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ־בוֹ לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב׃
וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם שְׁלִישִׁי׃

Israeli

zera leminehu ve-etz oseh-p'ri asher zaro-vo leminehu vayar Elohim ki-tov.
vayehi-erev vayehi-voker yom sh'lishi.

Hebrew

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה
וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים׃ וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר
עַל־הָאָרֶץ וַיְהִי־כֵן׃ וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת־שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים אֶת־הַמָּאוֹר
הַגָּדֹל לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם וְאֶת־הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים׃
וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר עַל־הָאָרֶץ׃ וּלְמֹשֹׁל בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה
וּלְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב׃ וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר
יוֹם רְבִיעִי׃

Israeli

vayomer Elohim yehi me-orot birkia hashamayim lehavdil bein hayom uvein halaylah
vehayu le-otot ulemo-adim uleyamim veshanim. vehayu limorot birkia hashamayim leha-ir
al-ha-aretz vayehi-chen. vaya-as Elohim et-sh'nei hame-orot hagdolim et-hama-or
hagadol lememshelet hayom ve-et-hama-or hakaton lememshelet halaylah ve-et hakochavim.
vayiten otam Elohim birkia hashamayim leha-ir al-ha-aretz. ulemoshol bayom uvalaylah
ulehavdil bein ha-or uvein hachoshech vayar Elohim ki-tov. vayehi-erev vayehi-voker
yom revi-i.

Hebrew

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל־הָאָרֶץ עַל־פְּנֵי
רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם׃ וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים וְאֵת כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה ׀
הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם וְאֵת כָּל־עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים
כִּי־טוֹב׃ וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים לֵאמֹר פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת־הַמַּיִם בַּיַּמִּים וְהָעוֹף
יִרֶב בָּאָרֶץ׃ וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם חֲמִישִׁי׃

Israeli

vayomer Elohim yishretzu hamayim sheretz nefesh chayah ve-of ye-ofef al-ha-aretz al-p'nei
rekia hashamayim. vayivra Elohim et-hataninim hagdolim ve-et kol-nefesh hachayah
haromeset asher sharetzu hamayim leminehem ve-et kol-of kanaf leminehu vayar Elohim
ki-tov. vayvarech otam Elohim leimor p'ru urevu umilu et-hamayim bayamim veha-of
yirev ba-aretz. vayehi-erev vayehi-voker yom chamishi.

Commentary

… here that the universe has a precisely calibrated mathematical structure at every level, from the microscopic to the cosmological.

The text is also designed to show that creation has an underlying order. For the first three days, God establishes a series of distinct domains from the undifferentiated void: On the first day, He separates light from darkness and day from night, on the second, the upper and lower waters, on the third, sea from dry land. For the next three days God furnishes each of the domains with the appropriate objects and life-forms: On the fourth day, the sun, moon and stars, on the fifth, birds and fish, on the sixth, animals and humankind.

The key verb, appearing five times, is ב-ד-ל, meaning "to distinguish, demarcate, separate." This will eventually become a key word relating to the priests: they will be charged with distinguishing between pure and impure, holy and mundane. There is a sacred ontology, a God-given structure to the universe whose integrity we are commanded to respect and preserve.

… how God created the world, but that God created the world. It did not merely happen. Behind the emergent order of the universe is a God who loves creativity and order.

The creation narrative is not a substitute for science, but rather the articulation of fundamental moral principles that govern our understanding of the universe and our place within it. The first is that the world is good - the word chimes like a motif, no less than seven times. This in itself is a radical rejection of the view, widespread in the ancient world, and to some extent throughout history, that the physical world is bad, the arena of pain, suffering and injustice, from which we are liberated only by death and life-after-death.

Then there is the deep structure of the text itself. As modern commentators have noted, the pattern of seven - a universe created in seven days - lies not only on the surface, but is also replicated in less obvious ways throughout. So, for example, there are seven words in the first verse, fourteen in the second, thirty-five in the closing three verses describing the seventh day. The word Elokim, "God," appears thirty-five times, eretz, "earth," twenty-one times, and the passage as a whole contains 469 (7x67) words. There is an intimation …