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929 תנך ביחד - 929 International President Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on Genesis 1

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Author: 929 תנך ביחד
Categories: Religion Education
Tags: religion, education
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-15 19:02 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Join the 929 study project, reading one chapter of Tanakh each day with Jews around the world, and treat the words of the Torah as a source of meaning and inspiration. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks argues that Judaism is a religion of holy words, since God creates the world through speech and humans shape their social world through language.

Key Points

  • The opening verses of Genesis, "Bereshit bara Elokim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz," are framed not in physical or cosmological terms, but through repeated divine speech such as "vayomer Elohim" and "yehi or."
  • God creates by words, so Judaism is described as a religion centered on holy words more than holy places, people, or times.
  • Humans are described as made in the image of God because they create and damage the social world with words, imagine futures, and act to bring them about.
  • Language and texts are presented as tools that frame and enlarge the imagination.
  • Sacks recalls a dialogue with Israeli novelist Amos Oz, where they agreed on the power of language, a theme reflected in the book "Jews and Words" by Amos Oz and his daughter Fania.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: Study one chapter of Tanakh per day as part of the 929 project, joining Jews around the world in learning together. Read the words closely, let them inspire spiritual and moral growth, and offer your own commentary to develop new interpretations and resonances.
  • The Hebrew verses quoted include "And God said, let there be light, and there was light, and God saw that the light was good."
  • The 929 project is named after the 929 chapters of Tanakh, studied at a rate of one chapter a day.
  • The transcript presents the project as a shared communal practice, emphasizing valuing one another's insights as well as individual study.
  • Sacks notes that Oz is "not terribly religious," and that he opened their dialogue by joking he might not even agree with himself.

Bottom Line

The video frames the Torah's creation story as an invitation to take words seriously, since speech shapes both the natural and social worlds, and to use the 929 daily study practice to turn that understanding into new meaning and shared action.