PARASHAT BEREISHIT

    Saturday 18^th October 2025                                   17^th Tishrei  5786

PARASHAT BEREISHIT

Genesis 1:1 - 6:8; Isaiah 42:5 – 43:10;

John 1:1-17

The Greater and Lesser Light

“And God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night and the stars” (Genesis 1:16).

On the fourth day of creation God placed the sun and the moon into their proper positions. The famous medieval Biblical commentator known as Rashi relates a passage in the Talmud (Chullin 60b) that describes the incident that caused the moon to become a “lesser light.”

Rabbi Shimon son of Pazzi pointed out a contradiction: the verse says, “And God made the two great lights,” and then continues, “the greater light [...] and the lesser light.” The Torah begins by describing them as equal “great lights” and yet the end of the verse indicates that one was “greater” and the other was “lesser.”

Rabbi Shimon explains: “The moon said unto the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! Is it possible for two kings to wear one crown?’ Whereupon God commanded: ‘Go then and make yourself smaller.’ ‘Sovereign of the Universe!’ cried the moon, ‘Because I have suggested that which is proper must I then make myself smaller?’

Replied the Almighty: ‘Go and you will rule by day and by night.’ (This refers to the fact that the moon can be seen during both the day and the night). ‘But what is the value of this?’ cried the moon. ‘Of what use is a lamp in broad daylight?’ God replied, ‘Go. Israel will calculate by you the days and the years.’”

The Almighty goes on trying to placate the moon by extolling the virtues of being smaller and the Talmud gives examples of famous Jewish luminaries who had the appellation “small” attached to them (including our forefather Jacob and King David). Still the moon was not happy.

Seeing that the moon would not be consoled, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the Jewish people: “Bring an atonement for Me for making the moon smaller.” This “atonement” is the special sacrifice that is brought on the first day of every month (Rosh Chodesh in Hebrew).

In Judaism, the holidays are based on the monthly lunar calendar (which gets adjusted to align with the annual solar calendar that is 11 days longer). The Hebrew word for year is shana – which has a numerical value of 355 – corresponding with the fact that a lunar year is 354 days, 8 hours, and 28 minutes.

Every month the moon is “renewed” and here again the Hebrew language faithfully expresses just that. The Hebrew word for month is chodesh – which is the same root as the Hebrew word for “new – chadash.”

Returning to Rabbi Shimon’s teaching, how are we to understand God’s conversation with the moon? If the moon had a valid complaint (i.e. “two kings cannot share one crown”) then why did the Almighty originally create them equally? If the complaint wasn’t valid, why does God try so hard to placate the moon, eventually ending with the Almighty asking the Jewish people to bring a sacrifice for His “transgression”?

What the moon failed to recognize is that God had created a perfect system of time; the sun was to control days, weeks, and years, while the moon was to control months and the times for all the holidays. This wasn’t “two kings sharing one crown.” The Almighty had created the perfect union, and the original intent was that the sun and moon would work in unison, much like a marriage.

The modern view of marriage is that it is a partnership. This is a mistake. A partnership is when two individuals team up for synergetic purposes: 1+1=3. In other words, the basis of all partnerships is the presumption that working together partners can achieve more than what they could manage individually.

But each partner is in the relationship for their own reasons. The main issue with partnerships is that often when the individual needs or visions no longer align the partnership is quickly dissolved. Sadly, this also explains the extraordinarily high divorce rate in Western society – which views marriage as a partnership.

In truth, marriage is really supposed to be a merger – together man and woman become an indivisible entity. This week’s Torah reading expresses this sentiment beautifully: “A man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

In a marriage there are different roles, and each person is responsible for their part of the whole. Marriage isn’t a partnership between two kings: It’s a union of two individuals for one greater whole. Partnerships are easy to dissolve. In fact, a prenup, like any good partnership agreement, outlines the terms and conditions of that dissolution. On the other hand, a merger is almost impossible to untwine.

My father has five decades of experience with marriage and couples counseling as well as brilliant insights into people and conflict resolution. He once made the following observation: “Over ninety percent of issues in marriage are about control.” When couples complain “he’s too religious for me” or “she spends too much money” the issue is rarely about religion or finances – they are really just fighting over control.

This issue stems from an incomplete understanding of what marriage is supposed to be. Comedians are quick to point out a real truth: “Marriage is when a man and a woman become as one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.” Instead of understanding that they are in a merger with two equal managers over separate domains of responsibility, they start fighting over who’s in charge.

The sun and moon were supposed to represent the ultimate man-woman relationship (“The two great lights”). But the moon didn’t see the union for what it was; the moon felt that it needed its own identity. The Almighty tells the moon that if you don’t see the value of the unified whole then you have to take a smaller role because you are absolutely right – “two kings cannot share one crown.” The moon’s reduced role was really a function of its refusal to join an indivisible union with the sun.

Ultimately, the moon gets the last laugh, so to speak. Much like in a marriage when a woman feels wronged, it doesn’t make a difference if the husband is right or wrong – he’s wrong. That’s why the Talmud ends as it does; when God saw that the moon would not be consoled, He asked the Jewish people to bring a sacrifice as an atonement for Him.

This was a recognition (and a lasting lesson for mankind) that being right doesn’t really matter. What matters in a healthy union is recognizing the other entity’s pain and accepting responsibility for their feelings, and doing what it takes to rectify it.

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