#1 Bereshit  (Maqam Rast)

Maqam Rast - similar to the Arabic word for 'head,' Rast is applied to the opening portions of each book of the Torah and at other beginnings. Rast is the primary maqam from which all other maqamat are drawn.

This is the beginning and the end

As if the linear does not apply

It’s a circle a cycle a spiral

We ascend with the ending 

We begin Genesis

The end implies the beginning

By the beginning we are not naïve to the end.

Ouroboros, the self-devouring serpent

first living being     

Self-reflexive

Turn it and turn it

For everything is contained within

By Yochanan Ben Bag Bag        

Who knew the chambers of the Torah. 

-James Stone Goodman

Timaeus, 33

Avot 5:22

Tosefta Ketuvim 5:1 

Sefat Emet on Genesis