All praise and all glory to The One True Living LORD God Almighty, in Jesus' name, amen!
Sabbath, 08/12/06, 12:01 PM EST USA
After having just learned that the Sabbath actually does start at sundown on Friday (and ends sundown Saturday) I started studying Hebrew instead of studying Physics. (I kept remembering those kids I met at a Bible tent which was placed just outside of Austin Tx. I took photos of them for a photo-essay and was done in 3 days... I was with them for two weeks. I knew this - I wanted to be with their group even though I was an atheist at the time. But what I remembered was that they gave up their lives (meaning they stopped pursuing careers and possessions) in order to follow Jesus. I thought how wonderfully God blessed them - if only I could somehow do that ... but alas I was stuck having to pay off my heavy debt (which, by God's grace seems to be happening... I don't know yet ... this is my hope). So as a college teacher I cannot get a full-time job unless I have a PhD. So I decided to plan on returning to school to finish my incomplete PhD. Several months passed and I was dedicated to reading my graduate texts in order to get ready to re-take the CUNY Qualifying Exam. Weeks passed and I always remembered those kids... then it hit me - give up my pursuit. So I did. Then it came to me that this makes sense for more reasons than wanting to be like them.
I gave it up and regretted it only a few moments for a couple of weeks. Now I am gladly, and consistently, reading books on learning Hebrew. And so just before I posted this I decided to read the first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1. Then I thought it would be cool to learn this verse by heart. So I repeated it over and over ...
Beresheet barah Elohim et ha shamoim ve' et ha-aritz.
Beresheet barah Elohim et ha shamoim ve' et ha-aritz.
Beresheet barah Elohim et ha shamoim ve' et ha-aritz.
Beresheet barah Elohim et ha shamoim ve' et ha-aritz.
Beresheet barah Elohim et ha shamoim ve' et ha-aritz.
...
... and then it struck me that I can translate it as well. I didn't expect much - or even anything - after all that verse has got to be known by almost everyone on the planet because it is so famous (indeed!). And the meaning has been gone over by professional translaters for literally centuries (from the Greek Septuagint to the latest NIV). So I started...
Beresheet = "beginning" translated as "In the beginning" probably to be grammtically correct for English speaking people.
barah = create ... and then I saw something I never noticed before...
"Beresheet" begins BET-RESH-ALEPH
"Barah" begins BET-RESH-ALEPH!!!
I was amazed! - the first two words, never pointed out to me before - ever before - and suddenly I saw that "to create" is "to begin" (something)! I was so elated, I knew I had to post this on my website! And so this is my post and the reason why I always say...