Bereshit Unfolded

About this poem

The Biblical Hebrew word בראשית (“Bereshit”), translated into English as “In the Beginning,” are the first words of The Holy Bible which begins with the Book of Genesis, itself named “Bereshit” or “Bereshith” in Biblical Hebrew; and which informs all of humanity that God (Elohim) is the only One who as Creator (בורא, “Boreh”), starts a new beginning. Mankind does not have the power or the authority to create things, but only to “make” (עשה, “asah”) things. It is only God who “creates.” It is God who, in His creation, gave us His Word so that we, made in His image, graced with the insight and imagination to “make” or manufacture things, would understand that He is the Beginning (Alpha) and the Ending (Omega) of all things. This 8-line, one-stanza Japanese-style poem, composed in the form of an acrostic, uniquely combines the 5-7-5-7-7 metered Tanka poem (the first five lines of the poem) with the 5-7-5 metered Haiku poem (the last three lines of the poem) to compose a novel 8-line unrhymed poem symbolizing the Divine Wisdom of God’s Creation of Wholeness or Completion. more »