I’m Orthodox, but a while back I was in my local Reform Temple for an event they were hosting. While there I picked up one of their chumashim out of curiosity just to see how they translated things.
I opened to the very beginning and thought it was interesting how they translated בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱ-לֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ
The way I always learned this was that it means “in the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth.”
However, their translation started “when G-d created the earth…” I continued on to see if this translation was consistent with a ב meaning “when”, and it was.
How is this way of learning out the meaning of the verse reconciled with Rashi’s commentary from which we learn that the reason it starts with “in the beginning”, is to shut down any accusations from the nations of Jews having stole the land of Israel from the nations of Canaan.
submitted by /u/jewshmo
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Source: Reditt
