What does it mean, Bereshit?
Bereshit has been rendered "in the begining" for a long time, but this sentence doesn't really gives away the right meaning. The best way to translate it is "In the begining of God's creation of heaven and earth" or "When God began creating heaven and earth".
Chitzonim
Book of Jubilees
The recounting of the first stories of Bereshit is especially outstanding in the Book of Jubilees.
History
The whole biblical myth of creation echoes the literature of the Ancient Near East. Tehom might be a reminiscent of Tiamat, Mesopotamian goddess of the sea who is defeated by Marduk. The flood is depicted all across the globe and a story very close to the biblical one can be read in Sumerian, where the main character's name is Ziusudra and Atra-Hasis or Utnapishtim in early and late Akkadian respectively.
Geography
Fertile Crescent
The region became known as the Fertile Crescent due to the fetility of its lands, whose outline resembles a crescent moon, in contrast with the dryness of the Arabian Desert below. ├ ⌠‘arvit⌡
Archeology
Fertile Crescent
The region became known as the Fertile Crescent due to the fetility of its lands, whose outline resembles a crescent moon, in contrast with the dryness of the Arabian Desert below. ├ ⌠‘arvit⌡