About BERESHIT BARA

The Creation Story in a Round Book

The Story

In the Book BERESHIT BARA is found the Biblical text in its entirety and in its own language. The position and design of the text is what makes this book special, the Biblical words are divided into small literary units and scenarios, where there is in each page a single verse or isolated verses. The presentation of the text comes to accent the inner rhythm of the story, to be used as guidelines to help both the one who reads out loud and the reader.The book is divided into the seven days of Creation. The first Six verses- until the first, “And G-d said” are like an introduction to the story.

The Circle

BERESHIT BARA is a Round story because it describes  the Creation of a whole world and creation of the circle of life. Its shape is meant to make it unique and also to attract the heart of the child. We leaf through the pages upwards in order to allow for adding new languages, that we will add in the future alongside of the complete hebrew text.

  

Repeated patterns

The language patterns that repeat themselves on the days of Creation. Like: “And it was”, “ And G-d saw that it was good”, “And there was Evening and Morning...” appear in the same design and act as a repeating chorus. In every day of the Creation, they receive a full page and a constant uniform look, which is easy to recognize and invites the child to join in the reading. For those who begin to take interest in the books, and in their hearts are yearning to discover the secrets of reading, this way of presentation invites an experience of success, satisfaction and strength.

The words of action of G-d

Every one of the actions of G-d And He said, And He saw, And He differed, And He read, And he commanded, And He Created, And He blessed... is characterized in the book with its own color and every one is written in the shape of a rainbow on a consistent place at the head of the page. We can develop a conversation with the children about the significance of the placement and to discover together the color that is given to each verb.In this way, their ears will get used to hearing the action and its opposite and will internalize them. Without superfluous and confusing explanations. The words of experience (HAVAYA - YEHI, VAYEHI, YHAYO) that repeat themselves many times in the story are always in silver.

Words in special design

In the book We have implemented  words that are designed, that stick out, that are sunken, that are smooth, that are rough, that are transparent etc. in order to invite the children to join in the story of Creation. The Effects in the book are not random; they converse with the young reader in sign language. The hollow words: Light and G-d, and the sentence: The spirit of G-d floats on top of the water- are cut out. In the right light they create a projection onto the next page. It is recommended to read words and sentences in full light, even with a torch. And occasionally outside - What is better than to read about the story of Creation on a sunny day- in nature. The colors are sharper, every detail of the illustration is revealed and one feels especially the projections of light.

The key words of the Book of Creation that return throughout the book, such as water, day, night, grass, tree, birds... are designed in a way that hints to their meaning. In such a way the young child, that still doesn’t read, can connect successfully to reading, The personal lettered success that takes place within the Bible endears itself to the child.It is wonderful to start our acquaintance with the Bible with the language of the Bible with the words with which the world was created. The designed words allows also lovers of the Bible that do not read Hebrew to follow the Story.



The Book opens with a page where there is all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the vowel symbols. Every letter also has a numerical value. These are the building blocks of the World. The letters and the Vowel symbols that are in the page can be used, and they invite young and old to invent enjoyable letter and Vowel symbol games that are meant to be effective in advancing the reading.

The Book is signed on the page with all the specially designed words according to the content. In the word seach, the opposites in the story are emphasised- there are seven! The fact that the word good comes without the word bad sticks out. The word bad only appears in the second chapter of Genesis.

Illustrating The Story

The word illustration in Hebrew contains the word light. The illustration in BERESHIT BARA comes to light up the words, to clarify and throw light on the story. In her unique way the artist Sonia Sechel lit up the eternal story, that opens up with the creation of Light. The design and the illustrations in The Bereshit Bara  bring to life the plot and they serve as a kind of illustrated dictionary for the Bible language. We recognize and understand the sensitivities that exist in the varied population in relation to illustrating The Bible text, and we tried to respect these sensitivities. The illustrations are the handiwork of Sonia Sechel, In the book Genesis Creates she adds and expands on whatever there is in the words and also allows a lot of room for imagination, she doesn’t diminish the level of the artwork for the children, rather brings them into contact with artwork at a high level- in a way worthy of the children. This is also how the pinnacle of the humanity,creativity and literature deserves to be illustrated. The team that created and designed  the book together with the illustrator sees in the illustration a kind of commentary on the book of the Creation of the World. The illustrator uses multiple styles intentionally in order to avoid uniform illustrative commentary, and to encourage audiences of all ages to create in their own way with the inspiration of the Bible.

The Value of the Book

The story of Creation is a story that builds on itself, it enthralls little children because it allows them to orientate themselves,  to take part and to control the plot. The repetitions and the clear structure of the story allow for success and a sense of ability. The book of Creation deals with the first and most known things, and in this way helps a child who learns his surroundings to create order in his chaos, to create a whole world picture. This is a story that is suitable to the level of a young child finding himself in time. It strengthens the familiarity with the days of the week and with the full day and full week as units of time.


Counting enthralls and challenges little children. Here they are given an opportunity to learn the numbers from one to seven. Say, do ,see, are basic verbs that are useful that children know and need a lot in daily life, that repeat themselves again and again in daily life. Also the Biblical conjugation of the verbs is accepted by the children naturally.

The Story of the Creation of the World is a foundation story: foundation of the World, space, time. concepts, values, culture, this is a foundation story that prepares readers for reading and understanding further Bible Stories.

Rabbi Hananya likened the Torah to a deep well full of water -  “Its waters were cool, sweet and good and no creature could drink from it. A man came along and tied rope to rope, he then pulled and pulled and he drew from the well and drank. Then everyone started to draw and drink.”
Book of Legends of Bialik and Rabinsky