The Secret of Bereishit: Why Every Day Is a Chance to Begin Again

During Sukkot, we recite a special prayer: “May the Merciful One grant us the privilege of sitting in the sukkah made from the skin of the Leviathan.” What exactly is this mysterious sukkah, and what does it represent?

King David declares in Psalms (104:26): “There is the Leviathan, which You formed to play with.” This raises an intriguing question: Does Hashem really play with whales?

Our Sages describe a fascinating game that the Leviathan enjoys playing. It takes its tail and places it in its mouth. The Leviathan is so enormous that it can easily reach its tail with its mouth. And this, in a spiritual sense, represents something that brings Hashem tremendous joy when the Jewish people study Torah.

We, too, take the end and connect it to the beginning. We join the conclusion of one Torah portion to the opening of the next, discovering beautiful connections and endless new insights. We connect the end of one year to the beginning of another, linking one idea to the next and continually uncovering new meaning in the Torah. These wonderful Torah insights bring tremendous joy to Hashem.

With that in mind, let us explore a beautiful connection between the very end of the Torah and its beginning.

The Hidden Heart at the Beginning and End of the Torah

The Torah concludes with the words “Le'einei kol Yisrael,” meaning “before the eyes of all Israel.” Its final letter is therefore the Hebrew letter lamed (ל). The Torah then begins with the word Bereishit, meaning “In the beginning,” which starts with the letter bet (ב).

Wouldn't it have been more beautiful if the order were reversed? Imagine if the Torah began with a lamed and ended with a bet. Together, those letters would spell lev (לב), the Hebrew word for “heart.” Just think of all the beautiful interpretations that could be drawn from the idea that the Torah begins and ends with the letters of the word heart!

But that isn't how the Torah is written. Instead, it begins with a bet and ends with a lamed, spelling bal (בל) rather than lev. Why? The answer reveals something beautiful about the relationship between Hashem, the Torah, and the Jewish people.

The Torah Is God's Seal of Love

In Song of Songs (8:6), we read: “Place me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm.”

Think back to the month of Tishrei and the holidays we have just celebrated. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were primarily about the heart. They were days of inner reflection, prayer, repentance, and spiritual transformation. Sukkot, on the other hand, involved our hands and arms. We built sukkahs, held the Four Species, and expressed our devotion through physical actions.

These two aspects of spiritual service correspond beautifully to the verse: “Upon your heart” and “upon your arm.”

Consider how a traditional stamp works. If you want the letters to appear correctly when you press the stamp onto paper, you must engrave them backward on the stamp itself. Only when the stamp is pressed onto the surface do the letters appear in their proper order.

This is precisely the secret of the Torah's first and last letters. In Hashem's seal, the letters appear in reverse order: bet followed by lamed, spelling bal. But when that divine seal is impressed upon us, the letters are reversed, forming lev, a heart.

How extraordinary! Our Torah truly is a heart. It is a great, overflowing expression of love.

As Rabbi Shimon teaches in the holy Zohar, “Ana bachavivuta talya,” meaning that everything depends upon love. The Torah is filled with heart, and its essence is love.

The Most Important Message of Bereishit: You Can Always Begin Again

There is another beautiful connection between the conclusion of the Torah and its beginning. The Torah ends with the words “Le'einei kol Yisrael,” meaning “before the eyes of all Israel,” and immediately afterward, we begin again with “Bereishit,” meaning “In the beginning.”

Before the eyes of every Jew, there should always be a new beginning. We should constantly keep the possibility of starting over in front of us.

Every day is a new beginning. Every morning offers another opportunity. Every single moment holds the possibility of renewal. No matter what happened yesterday, no matter how many mistakes we made or how many times we stumbled, we can always begin again.

That is the message of Bereishit, and it is also the secret hidden in the very first letter of the Torah.

Why Does the Torah Begin With the Letter Bet?

The Torah begins with the letter bet (ב), rather than the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph (א).

When we look carefully at the shape of the letter bet, we see that it is closed on three sides: above, below, and behind. Only the front remains open. This shape carries a profound lesson about how we should approach life.

It is important that we stop looking backward, and endlessly revisiting everything that has already happened. We mustn’t become trapped in old pain, past mistakes, or disappointments, or to be consumed by what lies below, by the times we fell or failed. Further, we must not remain preoccupied with what is above, worrying endlessly about how we may have disappointed Heaven.

The letter bet teaches us to look in the one direction that remains open: forward. The past has already happened. We cannot change it, but we can choose what comes next. We do not need to spend our lives digging through old wounds, reliving our failures, or carrying yesterday's regrets into tomorrow.

Hashem gives us the opportunity to begin again. We can leave behind what has been, embrace the possibilities ahead, and move forward with renewed hope.

Every Ending Is Also a New Beginning

As we begin reading the Torah again, we are reminded that life is not intended to be defined by past mistakes and missed opportunities. It is a continuous invitation to grow, renew ourselves, and begin again.

The Torah ends and immediately begins anew. Its final words lead directly into its first word, teaching us that an ending can always become a beginning.

As we enter a new month, let us carry this message with us. Let go of yesterday's pain. Stop dwelling on old failures. Remember that the future is still open. Every morning, every day, and every moment can be your own personal Bereishit, a fresh beginning filled with new possibilities.

Wishing you a wonderful new month, filled with renewal, hope, and beautiful new beginnings.