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Parasha Bereshit/In The Beginning
by Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber
The Torah and Brit Chadesha readings for the Shabbat of October 5/29 Tishrei are: Bereshit/Genesis 1:1-6:8; Yeshiyahu/Isaiah 42:5-43:11; Yochanan/John 1:1-5. In this week's d'var Torah I am going to be speaking about the creation of man. I am not referring strictly to men alone, but rather to all mankind, which also includes women. Bereshit {1:26} G-D said, "Let us make ish (man) in our image, after our likeness: Man was made in the image of G-d, but G-d has no image, He is spirit, in fact we are commanded never to make an image of G-d. So seeing, as G-d is spirit, man being created in the image of G-d, was created with the spirit of G-d in him. Bereshit {2:7a} HaSHEM G-D formed ish from the dust of the ground.... G-d was in the process of creating a physical world. So G-d formed man from the dust of the earth. When we think of earth we think of the physical. Therefore G-d formed man as a physical being and as such he embodies some of the physical characteristics of the medium he was made from. However man is more then just dust he also is spirit, thus man is the sum of two components, the physical and the spiritual. Bereshit {2:7b}... and (G-d)breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and ish became a living nefesh (soul). In order for man to function with his two components it was necessary for him to have a third component which would operate as the intermediary between the two. This is his soul. Man's soul embodies his mind, his conciseness and his free will. The soul gives life to the body and the spirit. However the two main components of man have always been at odds with each other and seeing as G-d was creating a physical world here, the physical would always have dominance over the spiritual and such was the case with Adam and Eve. Bereshit {5:3} Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the 'ab (father) of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. What is interesting however about Parasha Bereshit is that although we are told that Adam and Eve were created in the image of G-d, all subsequent generations we are told, were in the image of Adam. What is the difference between G-d's image and Adam's image if Adam was created in the image of G-d? The difference is sin. G-d is sinless; when He created Adam He created Him in His sinless image. However because Adam unlike G-d was a physical being as well as a spiritual being he was given a soul to choose between the physical and spiritual. Bereshit {2:16} HaSHEM G-D commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: {2:17} but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die." G-d gave Adam and Eve a command, not to eat from the tree that was in the centre of the Garden of Eden. Commands are spiritual and they are only spiritually discerned. However Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was pleasing to her eyes and good for food, so her soul chose the physical over the spiritual, the tangible over the intangible. Thus the sinless image of Eve and subsequently Adam were compromised and their physical nature took prominence over their spiritual image. You are probably saying; "How elementary! Everyone who is a believer knows the concept of original sin." Yes that is true every believer does or at least should know this concept. However despite that fact, strangely enough the majority of believers still are deceived and tempted to choose the physical over the spiritual. That is why Rav Shual (Paul) tells us such things as: Romans {7:18} For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. {7:19} For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. {7:20} Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. {7:21} I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. {7:22} For I delight in the law of G-d after the inward man: {7:23} But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Sure the story of Adam and Eve and their fall is elementary, unless of course you make the right choices 100% of the time!Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber is the spiritual leader of Congregation Melech Yisrael in Toronto, Canada. Copyright 2002
- Romans 1:16, NIV |