The weekly reading for the week of 24 Tisrei, 5768 - October 6, 2007 Parashah: Bereshit Genesis 1:1 to 6:8; The regular Haftarah: of Isaiah 42:1 to 43:10; Mei Kituvim: Nehemiah 9:1-38; Brit Chadashah: Matthew 12:1-50


Parashah Lite Edition (Focuses on one verse or idea anywhere in the readings below)

The Bagel: Cheap imitation.

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown" (Genesis 6:4).

We say: "That's just a cheap imitation of the real thing!" We say this when something inferior is in place of the better made stuff. This week's readings share a common Hebrew word often translated as "mighty." In two of the three verses employing this idea, G-d is the Mighty One. The remaining verse is found here in Genesis 6:4 that describes the Nephilim version of G-d's power and might. But a comparison reveals that their power is nothing more than a cheap imitation of G-d's might. Mind you, they were powerful compared to us, but were really nothing before G-d. Sometimes we get enamoured with the world's cheap imitations of G-d's things. The real gets set aside for the fake, the artificial, and the cheap imitation. But there's is no substitute for the One, Who is the "express image of G-d" that is, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cream Cheese: Broken spirituality? Exchange it for the real - in Christ!

• Torah:
  Genesis 1:1 to 6:8.
  
• Haftarah:
  Isaiah 42:5 to 43:10.
  
• Mei Kituvim:
  Nehemiah 9:1-38.
  
• Brit Chadashah:
  Matthew 12:1-50.