Parshat Bereshit

This week we begin the cycle of reading the Torah once again, with Breishit, the first parshah in the book of Bereshit, or Genesis. This parshah, of course, begins with the story of creation. I find myself focusing this year on the Adam and Eve material. There are actually two stories of the creation of human beings, this one, from Gen. 1:27-28:

And God created man in God’s image, in the image of God, God created him; male and female God created them.

And this one, from chapter 2:

God formed man from the dust of the earth. God blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being … Then God said, “It is not good for man to be along; I will make a fitting helper for him”…. So God put a deep sleep upon the man, and while he slept, took one his ribs and closed up the flesh at that spot. And God fashioned the rib God had taken from the man into a women, and brought her to the man… (Gen. 2: 7, 18, 21-22).

There are some clear differences between these two texts: in the first one, humans are created at the end of the process; in the second, at its beginning. The first story seems to indicate that the humans were created together, or even as one creature; the second one has the woman created from part of the man.

But the “Five Books of Miriam” has an interesting take on this: maybe the two stories aren’t so different after all, as in the second story the man is instructed to merge back into the woman: Gen 2:24: “Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.” Or as the “Five Books of Miriam” puts it: “In both cases, human wholeness depends upon a Other to complete the divine image.”

What is Genesis but the story of the development of humanity from two early specimens, to a family-clan grouping, to a people in relationship with God? What I take from this is, without relationship there is no humanity – only creatureliness. Relationship with spouse or partner; relationship with parent or child; relationship with friends and co-workers; relationship with community. The Torah is telling us that, as much as we think of ourselves as individuals, and as much as our society is based on our separate identities as individuals, we need to be in relationship – real relationship, deep relationship - in order to become fully human.

Shabbat shalom.