WRJ Voices: B'reishit

“B'reishit bara Elohim et ha-shamayim v’et ha-aretz”.

G-d creates the world and everything in it in six days and rests on the seventh (1:1-2:3). Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden, where they eat the forbidden fruit and are subsequently exiled (2:15-3:34). Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain kills his brother, Abel (4:1-24). Adam and Eve have another child named Seth. The Torah lists the ten generations from Adam to Noah (4:24-5:32). God regrets having created human beings and decides to destroy everything on earth, but Noah finds favor with God (6:5-6:8).

Parashat B’reishit is the first parashah in the Torah as it describes the origins of the world, that of men and women. These human beings will end up playing decisive roles in this world, from Adam and Eve to Cain and Abel, to Noah … all the way to present times. B’reishit portrays equality between the sexes and their shared reflexion of G-d’s image. Since the beginning, women are portrayed as the key to success, from giving birth to shaping their family’s destiny.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve made the choice of eating the forbidden fruit and giving in to temptation although G-d had instructed her not to. She gives Adam the fruit to eat and therefore G-d finds them both culpable and equally vulnerable. Throughout history, women have played important roles towards what I call “the independence of women”, such as the right to vote, reproductive rights, equal employment rights, and more; all subjects which WRJ strongly stands for. Women have fought hard throughout time to be heard and treated equal to men. WRJ is continuously creating awareness on numerous social justice issues to bring equality to women. When Eve tastes the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden it shows us that even from the beginning women were born with the instinct to be equal partners in work and play, in wholesome relationships with G-d, earth, nature and our human counterparts.

Are we then close to making it a reality and freely worship and read Torah at the Western Wall as Reform Jews? When G-d created Eve from Adam, did he anticipate this ever happening, is that what was in G-d’s plans? Perhaps we can say women have always had to fight hard for what we believe is right, but I think it is safe to say that we are not alone. If we look back into “the beginning” and carefully read about Eve in the Garden of Eden, we can interpret that she gave the fruit to Adam so that she was not alone in her actions. Forming part of a group larger than one’s self is imperative to survival. Take for example yourself. You are reading this not only because you are a Jewish Woman, you are reading this because you belong to WRJ and perhaps a Sisterhood and a Temple, because you belong to a larger group. So think back to when you started taking action in your Temple and/or your Sisterhood. I bet you there were times when it was challenging to introduce a new idea because it was pushed into the category of “that is not how we usually do it”. Did you give up then, I bet not. Your perseverance and enthusiasm and determination to get a point across persisted.

At the end of creation, G-d also wanted to give up, but he found in Noah the perfect opportunity to continue on, and he did. So as you read this message and feel like sometimes you want to give up, don’t. Fighting inequality, arguing a point, standing up for your beliefs is what every woman should do, just like Eve did. Our movement supports Women of the Wall, our country supports the opportunity to have a female as president, we all support various aspects of WRJ, and I support my sisterhood. What we can take out of this week’s Torah portion is that as women, it is in our hands to challenge ourselves to new things and see what happens next; it is in our hands to not be afraid and to try the unexpected, just like Eve did in the Garden of Eden. And the next time someone thinks that your idea should go back to the category of “that is not how we usually do it” stand up for you, for our Sisterhood, your Temple, your WRJ and just do it.

Lillian Kapilivsky, is Sisterhood President at Temple Emanuel of McAllen, Texas, and WRJ Southwest district incoming board member, area director. She has been a WRJ board member since 2015 and participated in the Wilkinfeld Leadership Conference in London 2016. Lillian was born in Lima, Peru.