Bereishit

1. Creation

The story of creation really highlights the idea of creation and the creative process in general. Look at how much satisfaction can be gotten from being involved in the creative process---Hashem keeps saying "vayehi tov". I remember back when I was in camp, we were learning about the 5 levels of pleasure. According to what we were learning, the greatest level of them all is the pleasure you get when you are involved in creating something. It seems to be ringing true. At the end of the sixth day of creation, not only was it good, but it was very good. And then finally, Shabbat. After Hashem finished creating the world, he took a day to just sit and appreciate how amazing it is. This day is so special that He blessed it, and we take this one day every week to think about creation and to think about all we created in our week.
Moral of the story? Take the time to do something creative, even if you aren't especially talented at it. Play music, do something artsy, or plan a super fun activity or event. And at the end, when it is all finished, you can sit back and see how great of a job you did. Now THAT is pleasure.
But don't bask in it for too long. There's still more you can do. After all, and THEN G-d gave man his soul.



2. And guys finally start to learn...

I know that it always takes guys awhile to figure things out, and that they are often less than perceptive when it comes to girls, but come on---it took until perek vav for the guys to start noticing the girls and realizing that they need to play the game?? That's a whole lot of generations away from Adam and Chava. Noach already has kids by this point! Oh, and what I'm taking from pasuk bet ("vayikchu lahem nashim mikol asher bacharu") is that guys are meant to MAN UP and take some initiative. GUYS---get with the program. It took them long enough to learn then, and it's taking them long enough to learn now:)



3. Accountability

One theme that I keep noticing in Bereishit is the lack of people taking accountability for their actions. Adam, Chava, Kayin. Each of them either makes excuses, tries to pin the blame on someone else, or even pretends that they didn't do anything wrong. This is one of my biggest pet peeves, and something that everyone today really needs to work on. If you mess up, it's okay. Just own up to it. You aren't expected to be perfect, just honest and responsible.



So there you have it: my first real post. I have no idea what the next ones will bring, whether they be more tanach-esque or more journal-esque. Only time will tell!