All About Eve (and Adam and God)
D’var Torah on B’reishit, Gen. 1:1—6:8
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
The first book of the Bible (also the first of the Five Books of Moses—the Torah), Genesis is quite probably the one most influential and widely discussed book in the world. Volumes have been written about it. Its texts and stories have been set to great masterpieces of art and music. Whole encyclopedias can be filled with commentaries and teachings based on its words.
There is a reason for that. More than any other book, Genesis changed the way in which human beings see themselves. Genesis enables us understand ourselves as something more than the microscopic dust speck that, in the larger picture, we must truly be.
Genesis does not pretend to be a scientific dissertation. Little was known about the universe some 3500 years ago, when the ideals and ideas of Judaism first began to appear and to take shape. But what was known then was so organized as to give meaning to human existence—and more than that, to provide a role for us in the ongoing act of creation.
The first few words of the book introduce the main event: Creation. Genesis has us recognize a divine Being so powerful that “He” can create the whole universe by uttering a single sound, a single syllable. Yet the source of this infinite power also has to be attentive, gentle and caring enough to notice and nurture the smallest of His creatures, providing all life with proper tools and sustenance. The God of Genesis, far from the zealous and raging God that some portray Him, not only imbues human beings with almost infinite creative abilities—He also gives us the equipment, tools and training to use our gifts in the best possible way.
God does not merely create. In almost the same breath, God considers, makes choices, separates, organizes and categorizes—setting an example for all human endeavor. Most importantly, God imposes a moral value on the universe. What more ancient civilizations (actually, the philosophy is still current today) called an amoral universe, is, in this book, anything but amoral. The world has both “good” and “bad” in it, and Genesis makes it quite clear which is which.
Torah means teaching. Genesis, the first book of the Torah, contains not only wonderful and imaginative stories; it also teaches. The study of Torah involves not only reading the narration, but also mining for the precious morals that each story contains. Some lessons lie close to the surface and are easy to understand. Yet, the more we study, the deeper we dig, the more lessons and the richer truths we find.
Often, the stories begin (or at least reach a climax) with failure. However, there’s always—or almost always—a way to begin again, to rise again. The gift of Genesis is a second chance to redeem the remainder of one’s life, to give it meaning and purpose.
The story of the Garden of Eden (Chapter 3) is a perfect example: Adam and Eve get a warning not to eat of a certain fruit. They disobey and eat of the fruit. They get expelled from God’s presence. Yet this exile is not final. It turns out that there are ways to get back to the garden—not in the full measure of what used to be, now a fabled and impossible dream, but rather within context of our own everyday, very real, lives.
By modeling our behavior after God’s, by choosing well (choosing “good”), we can earn back some of what we lost.
Another example is the story of Cain and Abel (Chapter 4). Cain kills Able. Cain is punished. Lesson: Don’t kill your brother. And yet more: This parable is also about making the right choices; about temptation and how we can control its lure (with difficulty, but it is possible). And then, too, it’s about the possibility of repentance and of being given a second chance.
Ultimately, this whole parashah, this first weekly portion of Genesis (called, after the Hebrew name of the book, B’reishit), is all about second chances. At its conclusion, in Chapter 6, we are introduced to Noah—and we already know about the flood. Noah is the one who will bring all life its redemption—its renewed opportunity to make the right choices, this time the better, the moral choices.
The broad lesson of the Torah is that humanity can regain God’s favor by modeling our behavior after God’s actions. In this, too, Genesis is a revolutionary book. The ancient gods, be they of Greek, Egyptian or Mesopotamian mythologies, are wily, jealous, abusive, even murderous. They may represent ideals, but justice is not one of those ideals. Neither is mercy. Yet these are the two most important qualities of the God that Genesis offers us human beings. In return, we are expected to be the same. By filling our lives with these attributes, we not only give our insignificant existence meaning, we also make it holy. The image of God, so universally touted, so universally argued over, turns out to be nothing physical at all. It’s in the traits which characterize us, in the moral decisions we make, in the goodness that we create.
©2010 Boaz D. Heilman
I really like this summation. "it’s in the traits which characterize us, in the moral decisions we make, in the goodness that we create." When one thinks of oneself as essentially bad, sinful and unredeemable behavior tends to follow that lead. If on the other hand we believe that the "image of God" can be found within and in our own actions and choices...behavior tends to follow a different lead.
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