After a
whole month of endings and beginnings, this is our last beginning, as we
finally begin the cycle of Torah reading in this new year of 5775!
The
beginning of the Torah is a real puzzle. It starts, not with “alef,” the first
letter of the Hebrew alphabet, but with “bet,” the second letter. It has at
least two if not more accounts woven together about how things started. In one,
human beings seem to be the pinnacle of creation, being created last. In the
second, a male human is created before any other animals, and then the female
human is created out of his rib. One gives us a heavenly, harmonious view of
creation while the other is more earthly and conflicted. God comes across differently, and has
different names, in the two different accounts.
We also seem
to have two conflicting genealogies that lead from the first human being, Adam,
to Noah, whose story we read next week. Did he descend from Cain ,the first
murderer, or from Seth, who is born to replace the murdered brother Abel? Not clear…
So, “The
Beginning” is not at all clear. Rather, it is quite murky and challenging. And
by the end of the first parasha, God already regrets having created us in the
first place, with the exception of Noah. Not so optimistic!!
As we begin
again, I want us to wrestle with the question of why the redactors gave us THIS
beginning? Why start with such poetic harmony and leave us with God being
heartbroken over how corrupt humanity has become, to the point that God is
ready to erase all of the work God had done? Why have us devolve so quickly
into murder? And what does it say about God, and God’s relationship with humanity,
that there is this tiny shred of hope in Noah?
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