Friday, October 25, 2019

Adam I and Adam II

Bereshit
Gen. 1:1 - 6:8
PrĂ©cis: The first Book of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis, literally “in the beginning” or “When God began to create”) begins with the familiar story of creation. The world is created in six days and God rests on the seventh. The stories of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are included, as is the story of Cain and Abel.
            We begin the annual reading of the Five Books of Moses immediately upon its conclusion. Why? Perhaps it is because with each passing year, our experiences allow us to understand more of what life has to offer, and what the text has to offer. Yohanan Ben Bag Bag said (Pirke Avot 5:25), “Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it. Don't turn from it, for you have no better standard of conduct.”

Gen. 2:7 “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew in his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”

            In The Lonely Man of Faith, Rabbi Soloveitchik suggests that the first chapters of Bereshit offer two contradictory images of Adam. The first Adam is a “majestic man,” who uses his creativity to master his environment as mandated by God. The second Adam is a “covenantal man” who accedes to the will of God. Soloveitchik explains how a person of faith needs to unite both aspects described.
            Adam I (Chapter 1) is created with Eve. They are given the directive to control nature, a characteristic which the Rabbi calls “majestic.” Adam deals with the world in pragmatic, without much specific direction from God.
            Soloveitchik identifies Adam II (Chapter 2) as the “covenantal man.” While Adam I was told to rule the garden, Adam II is the keeper of the garden who tills and preserves it. This agrarian image of Adam II is introduced by God’s comment that “It is not good for man to be alone” and by God’s creation of Eve through Adam’s sacrifice of a rib. Unlike Adam I, this “covenantal” Adam needs the participation of the Divine. Thus, in the second Chapter, it is insufficient for Adam to be created in God’s image and given a fiefdom; Adam II is “the lonely man of faith” who seeks to engage with God. Soloveitchik does not declare one image of Adam to be right and the other wrong: the human struggle is both spiritual and material, both mystical and scientific.

            How does this apply to us today? Perhaps it is this: in our own struggle, we should not, like Adam I, focus solely on the material or be satisfied with our ostensible rulership over the earth. Instead, like Adam II, we need to devote ourselves to trying to be more humble, more concerned with the welfare of others, and to seek to enhance our covenant with God, with all that it implies, and as you understand it.