This Dvar Torah is dedicated to the memory of all the precious souls lost in Israel since Shmini Atzeres. May all of our learning serve as a merit for the holy soldiers of the IDF.
Parshat Bereshit
by Rabbi Avi Billet
There are 4 verbs used to describe the creation of human beings.
In Chapter 1, the Torah tells us
(כו) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱ-לֹקים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ:
(כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱ-לֹקים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱ-לֹקים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם:
First God, who is either speaking to the royal “We” or to angels, or to the ground, says “Let us make (נעשה) Mankind.” He goes on to create (ויברא... ברא) humanity.
In chapter 2, we find a different format used for the making of Man.
(ז) וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְקֹוָ֨ק אֱ-לֹקים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה:
(ח) וַיִּטַּ֞ע יְקֹוָ֧ק אֱ-לֹקים גַּן־בְּעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצָֽר:
God forms (יצר) the human (האדם) and then places this human in the Garden of Eden.
A few verses later we are told that since this man could not find a partner for himself, God put him to sleep, took a part of him (there is a debate as to what אחת מצלעתיו means) and built (ויבן) a woman.
(כב) וַיִּבֶן֩ יְקֹוָ֨ק אֱ-לֹקים ׀ אֶֽת־הַצֵּלָ֛ע אֲשֶׁר־לָקַ֥ח מִן־הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וַיְבִאֶ֖הָ אֶל־הָֽאָדָֽם:
While the English translations likely don’t do justice to what these words truly mean, let us nevertheless summarize.
God intended to MAKE (נעשה) man. He then CREATED (ויברא) man outside of the Garden, in the first account of creation. Then he FORMED (וייצר) man through gathering dust from the earth (note that this process is not described at all in chapter 1). This FORMED man was then placed in the Garden of Eden. When it came time to create woman, He BUILT (ויבן) her from whatever part of man is referenced by the word צלע.
Rabbi Soloveitchik famously distinguished between Adam of Chapter I and Adam of Chapter II in his “Lonely Man of Faith” focusing on the instruction given to Adam I (“Fill the world and dominate it”) and Adam II (“Work and Guard the garden”).
Netziv describes how Adam II was made up of portions of earth from all over the world so that humans would be able to live in all places and climates on Earth.
If Adam I and Adam II are the same person, however, that would seem superfluous. Adam of Chapter I was told to fill the world and dominate it. It seems, from the way the Torah describes Adam of Chapter II, he may have been a different human, whose job was to work and guard the garden. And since, unlike Adam I, who was created with a female, Adam II was created alone, it may also seem that Adam II was initially supposed to simply be the watchman for the Garden, living alone in that particular idyllic setting, perhaps even forever.
In fact, Netziv explains his task of עבודה and שמירה as referring to Serving God and observing Mitzvos, arguing that the purpose of the garden was to create a bastion for spiritual pursuit. The human in the garden was to be an earthly equivalent of an angel, doing God’s will in a non-heavenly setting. Mankinhd didn’t even have a need to eat or engage in any worldy activities – similar to the existence Moshe Rabbenu had when he was on the top of Mt. Sinai for 40 days.
We don’t need to rehash how man was taken out of that idyllic scene. But a couple of bullet points are noteworthy:
1. Man was alone in the garden, which may have been God’s plan. But since this Man was the same prototype as Adam I, he did not want to be alone
2. God agreed that it was לא טוב – not good – for him to be alone and that this Man needed a companion
3. The man who was formed (יצר) was paired with a woman who was built (ויבן)
4. Their different understandings of God’s command led them to violate the 1 rule God gave them
5. The breaking of the rule caused their expulsion from the Garden, after which they had to live a more difficult and challenging life of harder work and more difficult labor (pun intended), and eventually seasons.
This new reality may have put them into contact with Adam I (and Woman I?) who were living outside of the Garden. And when Kayin married, he may have created the first intermarriage with a different type of human, who was wired slightly differently, who had a different kind of creation, and who was just not made of the same “Garden of Eden origin” stuff.
And thus humanity became more complicated.
In this last week since Shmini Atzeres, we have come to see what we (our Jewish community) has known for a long time to be true. People are not all wired the same.
We are wired to be the live and let live type. Let us do our thing, let us live according to the Torah, according the Jewish culture we have. Don’t bother us. And you will find that we are very happy to not bother you.
For close to two millenia, Christianity had a difficult time accepting that. Thankfully in the last 30 years in particular there has been a significant turnaround (much of which is informed by the aftermath of the Holocaust, though it took a generation for it to become more widespread) that has turned many Christians from being our worst enemies to being the best friends of Israel.
Ironically, Jews thrived in Arab lands for over 1,000 years. But when the shoe changed, it is Arabs, and in particular some Muslim Arabs, that have gone in the complete opposite direction, mostly since the establishment of the State of Israel, though we know that in the pre-State period there were riots and unrest, hatred and murder of Jews as well.
How could this be? Aren’t we all human? Don’t we all share the notion of “live and let live?”
Clearly the answer is No. This is wired into the human condition. Some have בריאה and the desire to dominate as guiding their approach to life. Some have יצירה and the desire to serve God (in a healthy and Godly way that makes room for other people to live and thrive) driving their humanity. Some are builders because they were built. And some humans simply can’t help themselves and fall to the advice of the Nachash/serpent, who looks at the Word of God and simply says, “Just because God said to behave that way… so what?... enjoy the Forbidden Fruit!”
As the Serpent was cut down to size then, and told that he will bite the human, but the human will step on his head to kill him, may God help our People live up to the humanity we stand for, which is destroying the Nachash who looks to destroy humans who build and create and do for the betterment of humanity and God’s world.
May God see to it that the humans who value life overcome and fulfill our job of isolating the Nachash to his life mission of being cursed of all creatures, of eating the dust of the earth, and of being relegated to living out its days as rejected from every space where humans are welcome.
The Nachash wanted what the human had, but was unworthy because he defied God to try to get it. Those who defy what it means to be human are undeserving of a seat at the table of humanity.
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