Bereshit
Gen. 1:1 -
6:8
Précis: 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.
