The first 3 words of Bereshit are; \\\”Bereshit Bara Elokim\\\”. When written in Hebrew the last letter of each of these words; (Taf-Aleph-Mem) are the 3 root letters of the word Emet-truth but in a jumbled up order.
At the end of the creation of the seventh day (Shabbat), the last 3 words are; \\\”Bara Elokim La\\\’asot\\\” The last 3 letters of each of these words (Aleph-Mem-Taf) spells out Emet, but this time in the correct order. What is the meaning of this?
When Rabbi Alan Garber of Leeds gave this vort he explained that the reason the spelling of Emet is jumbled at the beginning of Bereshit is because this wasthe nature of the world at the beginning of creation,
no order had been given to the world and things were still being created. However, when the heaven and the earth were finished, Ha-Ribono Shel Olam abstained from all His work and blessed the seventh day. And this is reflected in the nature of the world on Shabbat – we step back from creating (no malachos) and from the hustle and bustle of the 6 days and things are in order. Emet is spelt in the correct order because Shabbat is truth, everuything is in order – a taste of the world to come.
In the memory of Rabbi Kass, a great teacher who truely cared for the well-being of his students.
