THE LORD GOD CALLED TO THE HUMAN AND SAID TO HIM;

WHERE ARE YOU?

HE SAID: I HEARD THE SOUND OF YOU IN THE GARDEN AND I WAS

AFRAID,

BECAUSE I AM NUDE, AND SO I HID MYSELF.

HE SAID: WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU ARE NUDE? FROM THE TREE

ABOUT WHICH I COMMAND YOU NOT TO EAT, HAVE YOU EATEN?

THE HUMAN SAID: THE WOMAN WHOM YOU GAVE TO BE BESIDE

ME,

SHE GAVE ME FROM THE TREE, AND SO I

ATE.

THE LORD, GOD, SAID TO THE WOMAN: WHAT IS THIS THAT YOU HAVE

DONE?

THE WOMAN SAID: THE SNAKE ENTICED ME, AND SO I ATE.

(Bereishit 2:2-13)

Man Is A Creature of Dialogue and Is

Capable of Change

You

find that when the first man was created, he was placed in the Garden of Eden,

and He commanded him, saying: "From this you may eat and from this you

may not eat, for on the day of your eating thereof you will die" (Bereishit 2). Adam violated God's command, so He decreed a sentence; came Shabbat,

He sent him away. He began to talk with him, perhaps he would repent, as is

written, (Bereishit 3) "and Adonai the Lord called man and

said to him: Where are you?". The name 'Adonai'

signifies the attribute of mercy, as is written (Shemot 34), "Adonai

Adonai, merciful and forgiving God" – He placed the attribute

of mercy before the attribute of law, so that he repent. This is to say "For

you are not a God who desires wickedness", who has no wish to condemn

any creation. He began to converse with him, as is written (Bereishit 3), "Who told you that you were nude?… The man said, The woman

You put at my side – she gave me of the tree etc." He

left the man and began to speak with the woman, as is written (ibid.), "And

the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done etc." But

when He came to the serpent He did not engage in conversation with him as He

did with the woman, but immediately He handed down a sentence, as is written, "And

etc." and then he returned to woman and said to her "I

will make most severe your pangs in childbearing" and then he

returned to man, but He did not sentence him before hinting at repentance.

(Tanchuma,

Tazria, 9)

PROSAIC

MAN – POETIC MAN

Yair Eldan

The

Creation narrative begins with a shewa [a silent vowel- indicated by two

vertical dots beneath a consonant] – "B'reishit". Beneath

the first letter, there is a shewa. Thus the word is "B'reishit" ["In a beginning"] – rather than "Bareishit" ["In the beginning"]. That is to say that that the Torah, by not using the

definite article "the", is describing one of the beginnings, and not "the

beginning". From this

we derive that "The Holy One, Blessed Be He, creates worlds and destroys

them". S. H. Bergman wrote about the influence of the Copernican

Revolution, which proclaimed that the planet earth was no longer considered to

be the center of the universe. "This was an awesome event for man, and it

was difficult for him to get used to the new situation." Bergman claims

that, in answer to this distress, the philosophy of the modern age began to

deal with the "I" of man rather than with the planet earth. The Torah

began a similar revolution by reducing the significance of the world known to

us, and reminding us of its transience and fragility. From this existentialist

point of view derives R' Yitzchak's apologetic explanation, "The Torah

should have begun at "This New Moon for you" for this

was the first mitzvah with which Israel was commanded". Aside from "the

world" being only one world of many, R' Yitzchak finds it difficult to

accept the fact that the story of the first creation does not position man

(and, of course, Israel) at its center. The story of the first creation is

composed in prose – the hero of the story is God, and the creation of man is

presented as another chapter in the creation process. After the creation of

light, its differentiation from darkness, the setting of the firmament,

creation of the seas, vegetation, and the light sources, the living creatures

appear. On the fifth day God creates beast and fowl. This is the first time

that the Torah uses the verb "bet-resh-aleph" and it is

used in reference to creation of the beasts: "And God created the

saying, Be fertile and increase".

On

the sixth day, God created man. The Bible employs the same terms used in

reference to the animals to describe the creation of man: "And God

of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth." The

creation of man in the first creation narrative is just part of the total

creation process. The process of creation is presented as a progression; man is

not seen a priori as the crown of creation, but only post-factum.

My great-great-grandfather, R' Baruch Freudenberg notes this in his commentary

on the Torah, "Mekor Baruch":

"Now

let us imagine, were God to have created a being also on the seventh day. Then

this being would have been more perfect than man… he [man] would then have

been of a lower level just as is the beast in comparison to man…therefore, it

was not the sixth day – the day on which man was created – that was blessed

would survive, and whether he – man – is the purpose of the creation"

The

first Creation story not only speaks of a prosaic man; it is also written in

the prose genre. The story is committed to a time frame (Paul Valery: "Prose

is walking; poetry is dance") which moves from point A to point B and

brings the drama to climax and denouement. The second chapter of Bereishit, on

the other hand, presents a different picture of man's creation. In this

chapter, the creation of man is presented in poetic genre:

            "These

are the begettings of the heavens and the earth, their being created.

            At the time of Lord God's making of earth and heaven,

            no bush of the field was yet on earth,

            no plant of the field had yet sprung up,

            for Lord God had not made it rain upon the earth,

            and there was no human/adam to till the soil/adama…"

This

description is of totally different quality than that of Chapter one. The style

is condensed and concentrated, and has no commitment to a coherent time frame.

There is also no development leading to a climax, but harmonic wrapping of the

text. True, all these can also be characteristic of a prose text; the essential

difference between the two descriptions of man's creation is man's placement in

each of the stories. In Chapter two, man is described, from the very beginning,

as the crown of creation. In Chapter two, man is the basic premise – "there

was no human to till the soil". The poetry is based on man's

central position, on man's focusing upon his feelings, on man's looking inward

and drawing out a personal, one-time, point of view. Such looking requires

internal and external sensitivity, but it is, at the same time, bound up with a

certain egotism and with application of force on the environment by

establishing the presence of the poet's exclusive point of view. Prose, on the

other hand, makes possible a range of points of view – it is possible to

identify with a story's hero or with his adversary, with one of the secondary

characters, or with all of them. Man, in the second creation story, is poetic,

because the universe was created for him, and he is self-conscious. This man

assigns names to creatures, including woman. The giving of a name is, on the

one hand, an act requiring great sensitivity; on the other hand it is an act of

force, expressing mastery and ownership; even more – it includes the pretension

of really knowing the identity of the receiver and having the courage (or the

conceit) which facilitates description of this identity. Rav Soloveitchik identified

in the first creation story the social potential of creative man, and in the

second creation story, the philosophical potential of lonely man; he saw in

both of them an "inclusive personality" and human dialectic. Reading

the Creation narratives in terms of prose and poetry teaches davka a

relationship of dependence and not one of dialectic. Poetic man delves into the

recesses of his soul, and is capable of publicizing his findings. This exposure

tells things about ourselves that are difficult to express or even to think

about. Thus, davka through egotism is achieved the most immanent

intimacy between all men who identify their equal human base. Prosaic man keeps

an open channel with creation – both animal and human. Prosaic man maintains

the human tie daily, thereby ultimately facilitating the poetic immanent

intimacy; the poetic man builds the strong foundation for the daily bridges

which – were it not for the poetic revelations – would rot and collapse.

Fitting the mode of writing to the type of man the genre seeks to describe,

i.e., the fact that Chapter One of Bereishit is prose describing prosaic man,

and Chapter Two is poetry describing poetic man, informs us of the importance

of language in the formation of human consciousness and the creation of

interpersonal relationships. In this sense, the decision to begin the Torah

with a shewa – signifying lack of movement (and thereby openness and

receptiveness)-and not with a kamatz, (which signifies closing-off and

reduction) is a decision with ideological significance. On Simchat Torah the

Jewish tradition crystallized the custom of reading the story of Creation of

prosaic man (from "At the beginning" through "that

by creating, God had made"). We read about the creation of the

universe as a process, and about the creation of man as a spontaneous part of

this process. Simchat Torah, like other festivals, deals with formation of the

community and the strengthening of its ties. Therefore, poetic man is left

outside of Simchat Torah. His acuity, his egotism, and his truths are set aside

in order to permit the community to consolidate its prosaic ties, so that

through the year it will also be able to declaim poetry.

 Yair

Eldan is a M.A. candidate in the Cultural Studies program in the Hebrew

University.

All Humans Were Created

In The Image, and Therefore Every Affront to Man Is, As It Were, An Affront to

The Holy One, Blessed Be He

"Beloved is man, for he was

created in God's image… as is written: 'For in the image of God He made man"

(Avot 3:18)…

every man, said R' Akiva. R'

Akiva wanted to confer merit upon every man, even upon the Sons of Noah. Rambam

wrote in Laws of Kings 8:10):

"Moshe,

on the authority of the Almighty, commanded to obligate all mankind to accept

the commandments with which the sons of Noah were charged. And whosoever

refuses to accept them should be killed, and one who accepts them is called a 'ger

toshav' [literally: a resident alien – K.G.]. etc…

Whoever accepts the seven mitzvoth and is conscientious in their observance is

one of the righteous of the nations of the world, and he has a portion in the

world to come…"

I find it puzzling that the

commentators strayed so far from the path of R' Akiva's plain meaning, which

applies to every man and not to Jews alone. They base their interpretations on

Chazal's declaration that "You are called Man, but idolaters are not

called men." But this

is only a drash [homiletic exposition] upon a drash. Thus they – forcedly – brought in the matter of

the image and explication of the scripture which he offered as proof. But in my

opinion, the following is the well-paved and spacious path [of explication]: R'

Akiva comes to do right with all human beings, as we were commanded by Moshe,

our teacher, as explained by Rambam. And if we were commanded to impose [upon

the idolaters] by killing and destroying, all the more so are we charged to

impose upon them by acts which attract their hearts to the will of their

creator… They are remembered positively. And he taught them to understand

that they are beloved for they were created in the image.

(Tosafot Yom Tov, Avot 3:14)

R' Akiva expounded: Whoever

sheds blood is considered as though he diminished the [divine] image.

What is the reason for this: "Whoever

sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed". Why? "For

in the image of God did He create man."

 (Midrash

Rabba, Bereishit, 34)

"In the image of God":

This means that the mold prepared for him [for man] was a mold in the image

of his creator.

(Rashi, Bereishit 1:27)

R' Nehemiah says: From where do

we derive that one man is the equivalent of all creation? It is written (Bereishit 5), "This is the record of the begettings of Adam".

 (Avot

D'Rabbi Natan, 31:6)

 "When a man has sin guilt, resulting

stake, you are not to leave his carcass overnight

on the stake, rather

you are to bury, yes, bury him on that very day for an insult to God is a

hanging person – that

inheritance.

(Devarim 21:22-23)

"For an insult to God is a hanging person" – this is an insult to the king, for man was created in the mold of his

image and Israel are his children. This may be compared to two brothers who

resembled each other, one became king, and the other was apprehended in robbery

and hung; all who see him say 'The king is hanging.'

(Rashi, Devarim 21:22)

Man Was Created Singly

Man was created alone in the world, so that families not quarrel with

each other. And if now, when man was created singly, they quarrel with each

other, had he been created two at a time, how much more so!

(Tosefta,

Sanhedrin 8:2)

Therefore was man created singly…

for the sake of peace among men, so that one not say to his fellow: My father

is greater than your father.

(Mishna, Sanhedrin 4:5)

Progress and the Legal System Are No

Guarantee of an Enlightened World

Even though Cain and his sons established a city and a political

organization, and instituted laws and methods of social leadership, if wisdom

does not add its voice and if people are not just and justice-loving by nature,

none of the laws will avail, for should a despot arise, he will laugh at all

the laws and will expropriate judgment and justice.

(Malbim,

Bereishit 4:23)

After the Torah mentioned the

innovations in human civilization produced by Cain and his brothers, it quotes

Lemech's song, which proves that material progress was not accompanied by

ethical progress. Corruption ruled, and those generations took pride in their corrupt

behavior; davka those attributes detestable and odious in the eyes of God

were praiseworthy in men's eyes. In such a situation, it was impossible that He

who judges the entire earth not do justice. All the achievements of material

culture are worthless unless accompanied by ethical behavior.

 (Prof. M. D. Cassuto, "From Adam to Noach",

p. 130)

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser

(Editor), Miriam

Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak

Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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