Questions on Parshas Bereishis to think about and discuss:

1. When were the first children, Kayin and Hevel, born? Before or after the sin of Odom?
2. What happened to Chanoch and why throughout history was he the only one who this happened to?
3. Where do we see one of the main powers given to man in this world from Parshas Bereishis?
4. Only after the sin was man given clothes. Why not given them as soon as he was created?
5. What were the different professions of Kayin and Hevel and why did they pick them?
6. What lies behind the name of “Odom”? Why is all of mankind named after the name of the first man created?
7. What does it mean at the end of Parshas Bereishis (6:6) that “Hashem regrets having made man”? How do we understand this with regards to Hashem?
8. Why are we all responsible for the actions of Odom that we all now have his curses that resulted from the sin?
9. What is the smaller letter in Parshas Bereishis and why?
10. Is there any pattern between the six days of creation?
11. The Mishna (Pirkei Avos Chapter 5) brings that the world was created with ten mamoros, sayings. What are they?
12. Odom was warned that on the day he would eat from the forbidden tree, the Eitz Hadaas, he would die (Bereishis, 2:17). Yet we find that he goes on to live for 930 years?
13. Odom was thrown out of Gan Eden due to his sin. This was to prevent him from going ahead and then eating from the Eitz Hachaim and living forever (Bereishis, 3:22). What would have been so terrible with this?
14. At the end of the parsha it recaps and brings the lifespan of each of the first ten generations from Odom until Noach. Why does it need to repeat this again? Why split it up between the years before they had children and the number of years after this and then repeats their total number of years?
15. When it lists the total number of years of the first generations, we find a difference between Odom and all the others. Only by Odom (Bereishis, 5:5) does it first mention the hundred years before the smaller years of tens and units. However, by all the others it does the reverse – first mentions the smaller amount and then the hundreds. Why this difference?
16. Odom was told that he could eat like the animals things that grew from the ground (Bereishis, 1:29-30). Was this coming to exclude anything else meaning that he could only eat vegetables like animals or only to exclude hunting animals to eat their meat? Was Odom allowed to eat fish? Was he allowed to eat things that grow from the air – like mushrooms?
17. Chronologically the sin of Odom should have been recorded before mentioning about Shabbos on the seventh day. Why is Shabbos mentioned before the sin?
18. The snake was cursed that (3:14) it would eat earth. Surely, this is a blessing not a curse since wherever it would go it would have free food?
19. How many children did Odom have?
20. Usually we know a parshas as Parshas and then the name. By Bereishis it is also known as Shabbos Bereishis. Why?
21. On day three of Creation Rashi (1:11) brings that the earth sinned and instead of the tree tasting like the fruit it disobeyed. How do we understand something inanimate having a mind of it’s own to disobey?
22. At the end of each day of creation it concludes with saying it was evening and morning and then gives the number of the day of creation. Why does it not also do so for Shabbos and say it is day seven?
23. What was the fruit of the Eitz Hadaas that Odom ate? People say it was an apple. is there a source for this?
24. When did the sacrifices of Kayin and Hevel take place and what is the significance of this?

Ideas for answers on the general parsha:

1. Some learn they were born before the sin (Rashi, 4:1) while others say after the sin.
3. Generally it is the power of speech as the Targum Unkulos says (Bereishis, 2:7). More specifically it is the power of tefilla (Rashi, 2:5). Chazal see this amazingly in the name of Odom when spelt out fully – אד”ם=א’לפ ד’לת מ’ם the inner letters spell the word מתפלל, a davenner!
4. This gives us an insight into the difference of man before and answer the sin. Before the sin he was mainly spiritual with only a small amount of physicality, much like an Angel. He therefore did not require clothes. It was only after the sin that changed man’s make-up becoming more physical and less spiritual that there now became a need for man to have clothes.
5. Hevel was a shepherd ( Rashi, 4:2) since he saw that the earth had been cursed. In contrast Kayin was a farmer wanting to work with something cursed. This perhaps reveals to us their nature that was later reflected in their sacrifices to Hashem.
6. We find lots of different insights into the name “Odom” that shows the nature and power of mankind – hence all people are called generally after this name, as Odom. 1) Odom being called after the Adoma, earth, that he was formed from. This expresses man sharing the nature of the ground. In a positive light this shows that he can be humble and lowly and grow things. In a negative light he is lazy like the ground. 2) It comes from the possuk of “Adame LeElyon”, that man aspires and has powers to rise up and make great spiritual changes to the world.
8. Odom was not merely one person who made a decision and therefore all his descendants are now suffering. Rather Odom was made up from all different Neshamos of all the future generations and they all decided together to sin. Therefore this punishment is to all of mankind for their part in the sin.
9. It is the letter Hei in the word BeHeborom (Bereishis, 2:4). It comes to show that the word can be read differently. The literal translation is “when they were created” while with the smaller Hei it can be read as “with the letter Hei he created them” (see Rashi).
10. The Vilna Gaon (in his commentary on the aggodos) points out that the creation of the first three days are again reflected in the creation of the last three days. The first and fourth day have to do with light (light on the first day and the celestial bodies on the fourth day). The second and fifth day have to do with water (the separation between waters on the second day and the creation of creatures from the water on day five). The third and sixth day have to do with the ground (on day three dry land was seen and on day six man and creatures were created from the earth).
11. There is an argument between the Bavli and the Zohar. The Gemora Bavli (e.g. Rosh Hashana 32a) brings that Bereishis is counted as the first one while the next nine vayomer written in the pesukim together make up the ten mamoros. However, the Zohar says that all ten are the words vayomer meaning that Bereishis is not counted and instead the vayomer of (Bereishis, 2:18) that it is not good that man is alone is the tenth one.
12. A day by Hashem is considered as 1000 years (see Tehillim 90:4). Odom therefore was meant to live for 1000 years due to the sin and not forever. However, he saw that Dovid was destined to die on the day of his birth and therefore he gave him 70 years from his life and this is why Odom only lived 930 years. The reason for why Odom did this is perhaps since Odom caused the sin and Dovid is the one from whom the Moshiach will come to get back to rectifying the negative effects of his sin. An allusion to this is seen in the Shelah who says that אד”ם ר”ת א’דם-ד’וד-מ’שיח – that in Odom’s name is seen the letters of the start to end of this world the people who caused and rectified the sin, namely Odom – Dovid – Moshiach.
13. Rashi (3:22) brings that by Odom living forever he would make people go after him self-proclaiming himself as a god. However the Nefesh Hachaim brings that when Odom sinned, evil entered inside him and now he was a mixture of good and evil. Had he now gone on to live forever it would have been in this state. This would not have allowed the rectification process of removing the evil from inside the person and leaving him only with goodness.
17. Perhaps the idea is to show the holiness of Shabbos that it touches the level that is untainted by sin.
18. The Kotzker Rebbe answers that it is really a curse. It is given everything in order to distance it from having any need to ask and come close to Hashem. However, man has many needs so that he always needs to daven and draw close to Hashem.
19. We know that he originally had two sons, Kayin and Hevel. Rashi (Bereishis, 4:1) brings that with Kayin a twin girl was born and with Hevel two twin sisters. Sheis was born later (4:25). However, the possuk (Bereishis, 5:4) brings that after Sheis he had more sons and daughters and their amount is not listed.
23. The Gemora (Brochos 40a) brings a few opinions. Either it was a grape, or a fig or wheat. What is interesting is according to all opinions it was one of the shivas haminim, seven species that Eretz Yisroel is praised for. How is this significant? What also needs understanding is the opinion that it was wheat. Nowadays, wheat goes from the ground and not on a tree. From here we see that it appears that before the sin of Odom, wheat grew on trees. What lies behind this? There is however another opinion that it was an esrog. With regards to the fruit being an apple, perhaps the source is found in Tosfas Shabbos 88a that brings from Rabbeinu Tam that an apple in the Gemora there refers to an esrog. Perhaps it follows that so too here in reverse, instead of calling the fruit an esrog it is called an apple.
24. See Rabbeinu Bechai (Bereishis, 4:3) who brings that the sacrifices were brought on the fiftieth day of creation and this alludes to the sacrifices that we bring on Shavuos, the fiftieth day from leaving Mitzrayim that is like a new creation of the world with the creation of the Jewish Nation for whom the world was created for. It was a time when evil could have been uprooted.