Start from Beresheet

Where it all begins…

The Bible famously opens with the words “in the beginning,” but this is in fact an inaccurate English translation. In Hebrew the original meaning is far more interesting; the first word of the Bible is beresheet, meaning “at the heading”. The root of this term is the word rosh (ראש) which means “head”. 

The head is not just the top of the body; it is the seat of the intellect and therefore the core of human identity. The Bible’s message is that God’s creation of heaven and earth is an intelligent, intentional process, not a random mistake. We at the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies believe that reading Scripture should never be a mere act of reading; it must an intellectual activity. For the Bible to reach your heart, you need to use your head. So, we urge you to enroll in our live online Biblical Hebrew courses and learn to read Hebrew so that you can begin to appreciate the true meaning of the Scripture.