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Bereshit: The Sacred Space of Creation

by Ram ben Ze'ev


Bereshit: The Sacred Space of Creation
Bereshit: The Sacred Space of Creation

Since publishing my earlier article, Bereshit: The Creation of Sacred Space, Not Time, I have continued to reflect on the deeper implications of the opening word of the Torah. The term בראשית (Bereshit) is commonly translated as “In the beginning,” suggesting a point in linear time. But this interpretation—while popular—is fundamentally flawed when measured against the eternal nature of the Creator. G-D has no beginning and no end. Time is not His constraint. Time is His creation.


To translate Bereshit as a moment—“at the beginning”—is to assign a start to a timeline that had not yet been created. Such a reading fails to consider that G-D is not within time. Time is within G-D. This understanding leads us to a more faithful and revelatory interpretation: Bereshit refers not to time, but to space—sacred space. A realm carved out from the Infinite where creation could unfold.



This notion becomes even clearer when we consider the teachings of the Arizal regarding Tzimtzum (צמצום – contraction). Before the world could exist, G-D “contracted” His infinite light, creating an apparent void—a conceptual space—where something finite could exist. This space was not separate from G-D, for nothing can be. It was a diminution of revelation, a zone of concealment within which the illusion of separation could manifest.


That sacred void, that concealed sanctum, is Bereshit.


Bereshit is not the first second—it is the first domain. The hidden chamber within Ein Sof (אין סוף – the Infinite), in which all spiritual and physical realities could be emanated, shaped, and given name and form.


And yet, even in this “space,” nothing exists outside of G-D. This is the paradox of creation.


As the prophet Yeshayahu (ישעיהו) declares, “מלא כל הארץ כבודו” (Male kol haaretz kevodo)—“The whole earth is filled with His glory” (6:3). The Shekhinah (שכינה – Divine Presence) is not external to creation. She is embedded within it. In every soul. In every star. In every letter of Torah. In every breath of life.


The Holy Zohar (בראשית א:א) teaches that Bereshit contains the secret blueprint of all that would ever exist. It is the cosmic womb from which all things emerge. And the Tanya (Likutei Amarim, Chapter 36) affirms that the entire purpose of creation is for G-D to have a dwelling place below—within this physical reality. That dwelling place begins in Bereshit.


So when we read בראשית ברא אלקים, we must no longer think of it as, “At the beginning of time, G-D created...” Rather, we should understand it as: “Within the Sacred Space, G-D shaped the heavens and the earth.”



This reframing restores awe to the word Bereshit. It is not merely the name of a point in history—it is the Divine sanctuary that envelops all of creation. It is the initial mikdash (מקדש – sanctuary), hidden in plain sight.


Everything is within Him. Everything is through Him. And everything—every act, every thought, every word—occurs within the sacred chamber of Bereshit.


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