If I want to translate the first verse with Beraishit as construct, and without butchering the rest of it i.e. without butchering the verb bara, then I can add these two little words "of when". (particles I suppose).
"In the beginning of when God created the heaven(s) and the earth"
It's not wrong English, there's nothing invalid with it.. A nicer construction might be "In the beginning of God creating the heaven and the earth", but that's a bit far from the hebrew, it butchers the verb bara.
The beginning of when is ok. For example
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Begi ... BZ43429BQQ "the beginning of when women started working" or
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistor ... _Armenians "during the beginning of when a Mesopotamian Dark Age was occurring" (funnily enough "During the beginning of when God created the heavens and the earth" works nicely, and adding the word 'during' when using "of when", does perhaps sound better in English.. I think perhaps bet prefix can be translated as during?)
I know that often when two words are connected, it is reflected in the trope(i.e. the marks for cantillation and punctuation), so for example a phrase would have a conjunctive trope on the first word and a disjunctive trope on the second word. e.g. to use the ashkenazi terms a mercha on the first word and a tipcha on the second. The common, mercha tipcha combination.
whereas I notice that the word beraishit has a tipcha on that word, and tipcha is a disjunctive accent. Which i'd have thought tends to mean there perhaps isn't such a phrase-like connection between that word and the next one or next ones?
Here are three other ways. besides "of when".
NRS Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
OKE Genesis 1:1 In the first times the Lord created the heavens and the earth.
PJE Genesis 1:1 At the beginning (min avella) the Lord created the heavens and the earth.
(And ironically it's the YLT - youngs LITERAL translation) that seems to butcher the verb bara!)
YLT Genesis 1:1 In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth --
Infact one could still say it's construct and translate it as "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"!
Because a noun in construct, when followed by a verb, doesn't have to be, and I guess can't be translated or understood with "of".
2Sam 22:1 בְּיוֹם הִצִּיל י״י אֹתוֹ In the day -that- the LORD delivered him
So one could say why have a particle there if you don't need one. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And yeah berashit can be seen as construct and thus connected to what follows, even without a particle there. As a construct noun with a verb that follows it, needn't be followed by an implied 'of'. (as the example from 2 Sam 22:1 shows). So if "in the beginning of" seems a bit forced, one needn't say it.
Ralph Zak