Rashi’s famous comment on the opening verse of Genesis – that the Torah begins with the story of Creation to rebuff the nations who say that the Jewish people has no right to the Land of Israel – figured prominently in the Bible study circle hosted Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.When Education Minister Shai Piron alluded to the commentary in passing, Netanyahu urged – jokingly – for him to continue.
In his Torah commentary, Rashi (an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1040-1105) quotes Rabbi Yitzhak – who Piron said was Rashi’s father – as asking why the Torah begins with “In the beginning” and the account of Creation, instead of with the verse that gives the Jewish people their first commandment.
Rashi says that the reason is that if the nations of the world say to Israel that they “are robbers, because you took by force” Canaan, Israel could reply that all the world belongs to God, he created it and can give it to whomever he wants. (READ MORE)
