Parshas Breyshis.

1. Every Jew has to believe that there exists the Creator of the universe. It is worthwhile to note that this belief is logical; the majority of scientists are convinced that the world could not appear on its own. If the world did not have a Creator, our life would be pointless without any purpose or hope. The belief in purposeful Creator also helps us deal with the various tests we face throughout life.

2. Besides the indirect proofs of the existence of the Creator, our nation also experienced direct acknowledgement of His existence when He opened Himself to all our people on Mount Sinai. Since then, millions of Jews transferred the knowledge about the Creator from generation to generation. The Torah predicts that this knowledge will be never forgotten and that no other nation will ever claim that the Creator revealed Himself to all of them as well.

3. We have to believe that the Creator is One and does not consist of parts; He is entirely above time and space limitations. Our beliefs about the Creator are based on what He himself told us in His Torah and at Mount Sinai. We must believe that it is only proper to pray to the Creator, we should not make an intermediary between ourselves and Him.

4. Every Jew has to believe in the gift of prophesy – the Creator communicated with certain people and told them about Himself and His Will. We must believe that the prophesy of Moshe was more clear than that of other prophets and the Torah of Moshe that we transferred from generation to generation will never change.

5. We must believe that the Creator knows all the deeds and thoughts of people. The Torah itself testifies to this fact. The Creator rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those who go against His will. However, the reward and punishment is usually after death as well as in the future world. This is why we often find a situation in this world where the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. Still, sometimes certain mitzvos cause a person to receive at least partial reward in this world. In general, the judgment of the Creator is very complicated and includes many factors including the various lives of a particular individual.

6. Every Jew has to believe that in the end of days the Creator will choose a righteous individual from the descendants of King David and will make him the new king. In that generation the Jewish people will again live in the Holy Land, rebuild the Holy Temple and keep all of the Torah’s precepts. All the nations of the world will then know and accept that there is only One God.

7. After death, a person’s soul does not die, but continues to live. We must believe that in the end of days, the Creator will return even the bodies of those people who deserve, back to life. The soul will completely purify the body and the combination of body and soul will rise to very lofty spiritual heights.