{"id":1603,"date":"2020-10-12T10:30:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T10:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2020-10-13T05:17:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T05:17:57","slug":"spelling-out-bereshit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/spelling-out-bereshit\/","title":{"rendered":"Spelling out \u201cBereshit\u201d&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1604 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/beresh22.jpg?resize=200%2C132&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"132\" \/>The 18th century Torah sage Vilna Gaon taught that the Hebrew word \u201cbereshit\u201d (\u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea), which is the very first word of the Bible, may be thought of as an acronym for meaningful spiritual life. The first letter, Bet (\u05d1\u05bc), stands for bittachon (\u05d1\u05bc\u05b4\u05d8\u05bc\u05b8\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05df), a word that means complete trust in God\u2019s love for your life; the next letter, Resh (\u05e8), stands for ratzon (\u05e8\u05b8\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df), or the desire to live according to God\u2019s will; the central letter Aleph (\u05d0) stands for ahavah (\u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4), which is the love for God and for our fellow man (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18); and the letter Shin (\u05e9\u05c1) is for shetikah (\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4), or \u201ckeeping silent,\u201d which is the cardinal virtue of godly self-control and wisdom (James 1:26; 3:1-18; Psalm 34:13; Prov. 13:3, etc.). The letter Yod (\u05d9) is for yirah (\u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4), or reverence for God\u2019s authority and dignity; and finally, the letter Tav (\u05ea) is for Torah (\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4), the study of which brings transformation and sanctity to your life (Psalm 19:7; Psalm 119:105; Prov. 6:23; Matt. 5:17-19; 2 Tim. 2:15-16).<\/p>\n<p>Torah begins with the word &#8216;bereshit&#8217; (\u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea), which may also be understood to say &#8216;God created the world for the sake of the beginning.&#8217; All the Creator asks is that you make a beginning, that you turn in the right direction.&#8221; Repent and believe &#8212; what? Believe that you are loved, you need God&#8217;s compassion and healing in your life&#8230; Indeed, we never really get past the first steps made in earnestness toward God. In that sense we are &#8220;always beginning,&#8221; since we never get beyond the need of the heart to turn to God. We are all incomplete, awaiting the end for which we were created, and therefore we are always calling on the LORD, always abiding in Him, always seeking His face&#8230; We begin, we end, and in everything Yeshua is the Center of our hearts&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 18th century Torah sage Vilna Gaon taught that the Hebrew word \u201cbereshit\u201d (\u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea), which is the very first word of the Bible, may be thought of as an acronym for meaningful spiritual life. The first letter, Bet (\u05d1\u05bc), stands for bittachon (\u05d1\u05bc\u05b4\u05d8\u05bc\u05b8\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05df), a word that means complete trust in God\u2019s love for your life; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-dvar","category-hebrew-reading-practice","category-torah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1605,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603\/revisions\/1605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}