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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Beraishis
Human DNA and the First Mutation
By: Daniel Listhaus
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹקים אֶת
הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹקים
בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם
“And G-d created man
in his image, in the image of G-d He created him....”
-Beraishis 1:27
Where did we
come from? What is our purpose? Is our universe even real? Do we have free
will? These are questions which mankind has debated for thousands of years. Philosophers
wrote books, religions were started, and tens of billions of dollars spent toward
research. Indeed these questions are quite intriguing to intellectuals; however
as many truths and derivatives of facts that could be gleaned from numbers and
science, the most basic place to start one’s research would be in Beraishis.
The early parshiyos of sefer Beraishis, and in particular parshas
Beraishis, discuss a time period before the Jews receiving the Torah[1],
a time before Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, a time which man, for a little
while, lived in a slightly different world. Of course, one could only look to Bereishis
for such answers if one accepts the fact that the Torah is from G-d.
We have proofs that the Torah is indeed from Hashem, but more importantly – we
have a mesorah that this is the case going back to our millions of
forefathers who stood at Har Sinai receiving it.
The nations of
the world rejected the mitzvos of the Torah and the responsibility of
being the “chosen nation”, however there was no reason to objectively reject
the notion that G-d created the world. In fact, a majority of the world
believes that G-d created the world. We do not impose the 613 mitzvos on
the nations and they are not only not expected to keep them, but interestingly
not allowed to keep them. The Torah as the blueprint of the world is not biased
or pointing toward a religion but rather relates the will of Hashem and the
systems and rules with which He chose to run the world. Therefore, the Torah,
and particularly parshas Beraishis should speak to the world at large
objectively and give insight to the world we live in and man’s purpose.
The first Rashi[2]
on chumash points out from Rebbe Yitzchak that as rich and
fundamental as the Torah is with regards to relating Jewish history and the
history of mankind, that is not its primary purpose. Therefore, we would think
that really the Torah should have begun with the first commandment given to B’nei
Yisroel.[3]
However, instead the Torah begins with creation in order to make clear to the
nations of the world that Hashem is the Creator of the world and, by definition,
has the “right” to decide what to do with it. The example Rashi gives is
one we could certainly relate to especially during our times, that if the
nations of the world stand up and say “You are bandits, for you (Jews) conquered
the lands of the seven nations (i.e- Israel)”, the response to the nations is
simple, “The whole world belongs to G-d. He created it and He gave it to the
one found proper in His eyes. By His wish He gave it to them and by His wish He
took it from them and gave it to us.” Indeed from the first time we entered Eretz
Yisroel until today our own existence and the existence of Jews in Eretz
Yisroel has prevailed and thrived despite having constantly been threatened.
The statistics are stacked against us but Hashem wills us to be here and
therefore we are here. This is the lesson of the Torah opening with Beraishis
– that there is a Creator with an agenda and a will and no matter what
others may think, that ratson will always prevail.
This concept is
one that obviously includes more than merely a response to our enemies who
think they could go against the will of G-d. It extends to all matters of
philosophy, reason, and understanding. No matter how illogical or unfair as
things might appear, we as human beings cannot trust our own perspective of how
things should work or what should be. All questions and theories that people
come up with must initiate with a sense of humility that the Creator has the
answers to all and that when things begin to not make sense that it is a limit
within human understanding. Man was created by G-d with specific functions,
abilities, and limits. It would be a huge error for even the smartest to think
that he or she has a level of intelligence comparable to G-d; for being the
smartest by definition means that there is a scale, and if there is a scale
there are limits. G-d’s wisdom is not confined by levels or bound by descriptions,
rather G-d’s wisdom is a limitless, infinite wisdom which the human brain was never
programmed to comprehend.
The Derech Hashem[4]
writes that man was created in order to cleave to Hashem. Despite what animal
rights activists may believe, it is fundamental that man is the only creature
in the history of the world to have been created exactly situated between
perfection and deficiency with the power to earn perfection. This is what G-d’s
desire was and therefore He gave mankind free will in order to be able to
choose. The bechira given to man was a gift of being able to choose
either side knowingly and willingly. Bechira was necessarily given to
mankind because G-d’s will was that man be balanced between good and evil and
not be compelled to either in order for him to incline himself in whichever
direction he chooses. For this reason man was created with a yetzer tov and
a yetzer ra (good and evil inclinations). Any attempt to understand bechira
in more detail must therefore be guided by two firm principles. One, that Hashem’s
will was to give us bechira and therefore despite our questions or the
effort one would have to put into researching the subject, what we do in fact
have must be bechira. Second, that our understanding is limited and that
we must be comfortable with the fact that we may not be programmed to comprehend
the full concept of bechira.
In order for
this balance between good and evil within man to be best achieved, Hashem
created man to simultaneously consist of these two opposing forces as represented
by man’s physical self and spiritual self. Man’s physical self made from earth
is naturally drawn towards the material; while man’s spiritual self – the soul –
is naturally attracted to the spiritual. When one side is victorious it has the
ability not just to pull itself toward it side, but to pull its opponent with
it as well.
Man
was created in this way on the sixth day of creation – the pinnacle of the
creation itself. However, man was also radically changed that day just hours
later. The perfectly balanced man and environment was indeed how Adom was
created and placed in the world. Adom should have chosen good and allowed his
spiritual side to overcome his physical forever. However, when Adom and Chava
ate from the Eitz Ha’da’as, a great change took place which transformed
both man and the world.[5]
Man himself along with the environment became infused with a weighted side of
evil. This caused the initial system to change to an alternative – but also
built in – one which requires man to die and the world to come to an end before
the world of achieving pure closeness and cleaving to Hashem.
We must leave
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succos with the good feeling that the world was
created for us and that we are not only zocheh b’din, but zocheh l’din
- the fact itself that we are judged
comes with the privilege of being the only species on Earth with the ability to
have free choice and bear responsibility for our decision and actions. This was
Hashem’s will whether we are able to understand the details or not. What we
must understand is that He only wants us to cling to Him by our own choice and
allows for our mistakes and teshuva in order to do good for us and allow
us to connect to Him. The worst decision in history happened that day when Adom
chose to disobey the command of Hashem and eat from the Eitz Ha’da’as
and we are forced to live in a temporary body and world because of that
mistake. However, our general role remains the same – to use our ko’ach ha’bechira
to choose the side of our yetzer tov and give power to our neshama
to elevate our guf to the highest degree it can. There is much work
to be done and our task became harder on our first day of existence, but we are
still here and capable of doing what Hashem expects of us – each accomplishing
our own missions as well as being a part of the bigger picture to make sure
that others could accomplish theirs.
May Hashem help
all of K’lal Yisroel to follow in His ways with the humility that His
will supersedes our understanding of His will. With this in mind may we help
each other accomplish what we are here to accomplish which and to try to choose
the side of our neshama and yetzer tov.
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