Drash Cards for Bereishis (ca 5760)

by Marc Mangel

• Today — first a little bit about words

• After the first day, we read “Yom Echad” but after the sixth “Yom Ha SheShe” (Ch 4, v 31).  Also in that verse we have “Et Kol” rather than “Et HaCol”   — indicating this about the whole of what was created rather than all that God created.   And in that verse we have “Tov Me-od” rather than just “Tov”

• And evil: Ch 4, v 7 tells us that there is an inclination in us to evil  — it is easy to be a saint if there are no challenges.

• The Musar movement was started by Rabbi Israel Salanter in Lithuania who felt that non-Chasidic Jewry was brittle with intellect and arcane scholarship.

• The Muser movement had the goal to create urban centers for ethical reflection.

• Think about these different questions.  “I am given to greed.  How did greed play a role in my day?”

• “I act greedily” vs “I am greedy”

• Saying “I am a thief” means that teshuvah is impossible.  Saying “I stole” means that teshuvah is possible

• How we view ourselves and our actions determines how we deal with the evil inherent in created beings