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D'var: Parashat Bereshit 5785 Commentary by Michael Goldstein Friday, October 25, 2024 |
| Bereshit Genesis 1:1 — 6:8 |
| Tonight is Shemini Atzeret. It celebrates completion of our
annual reading of the Torah, and is immediately followed by Simchat Torah, which
begins the reading anew. Actually, they are usually celebrated on the same day in Israel and by Reform Jews.
The first Parashat in the Torah is appropriately named Bereshit – "in the beginning." In it, God creates the world, including plants and animals and, even, though I will never understand why, mosquitos. Then came man and woman. After Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, they are banished from the Garden of Eden. Later Cain kills his brother, Abel. Even later, God considers destroying humanity. F. Y. I., Rashi, the 11th Century French rabbi who is regarded as the foremost commentator on the Torah, believed that God consulted with the angels when He said Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Gen. 1:26). Then, in the next verse, And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. The final verses of Bereshit are: And the Lord saw that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of his heart was only evil all the time. And the Lord regretted that He had made man upon the earth, and He became grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, "I will blot out man, whom I created, from upon the face of the earth, from man to cattle to creeping thing, to the fowl of the heavens, for I regret that I made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Gen. 6:5-8) For a moment, let’s jump ahead to the next Parashat, Noach, and assume the flood happened. There are, of course, many good people who believe it did. Genesis 8:23 says: And the Flood blotted out all beings that were upon the face of the earth, from man to animal to creeping thing and to the fowl of the heavens, and they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark survived. Even, I guess, those mosquitos. If Noah and his family were the only humans on earth after the flood, then all humans today are descended from them, meaning we all are related, some, certainly, more distantly than others. We are all brothers and "brothers" as used in the Torah, is basically an all-embracing word that includes women. With that in mind, consider the importance of the conversation between God and Cain in Genesis 4:9-11: And the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" And God said, "What have you done? Hark! Your brother's blood cries out to Me from the earth. And now, you are cursed even more than the ground, which opened its mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand. So the first lesson of our Torah may very well be tikkun olam… repair the world. We are all, indeed, our brothers’ … and sisters’ keepers. Each of us is to care for and about, not only the Earth, but all humanity, individually and collectively. Let’s back up a tiny bit to Genesis chapter 2. Verse 18 says, And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man is alone; I shall make him a helpmate opposite him." Then, in verses 21 and 22; And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon man, and he slept, and He took one of his sides, and He closed the flesh in its place. And the Lord God built the side that He had taken from man into a woman, and He brought her to man. Each time I read that, I am reminded of something by the 17th century British Calvinist, Matthew Henry in his Commentary. "Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him." That egalitarian concept has been neglected all too often throughout history, even in the Torah, the authors and translators of which, almost without exception, were unquestionably misogynists. That’s the case whether you believe the Torah is history, or, as I believe, allegorical. It extends even to our own day and nation. Yes, men and women are different biologically, accounting for physical differences. Women have always had to struggle to be treated equally… politically, economically, socially… in every area of endeavor except, perhaps, as kindergarten teachers, since men didn’t want those jobs. Consider … The biggest sports story of this year was the effect Caitlin Clark had on women’s basketball. Given, the WNBA season is 40 games, while the NBA’s is 82. Given the WNBA lost about 40 million dollars this year. However, as the number one WNBA draft pick, Clark’s salary was $76,535, while the salary of the top NBA draft pick, Zaccharie Risacher, someone I’ve never heard of, is $12,569,040. True, women soccer players made some modest pay gains over the last few years, but it required legal action and they still get paid less than men. We’ve now had two major-party women candidates for president… both in the last eight years. There are two dozen women CEOs of major corporations. Of the 620 generals and admirals in the U.S. military, 179 are women. So, yes, there’s been some progress, but only 8.2 percent of U S kindergarten teachers are men. It must have been a man who came up with the 1968 ad copy for Virginia Slims Cigarettes, "You’ve come a long way, baby." Well, it ain’t near far enough. Things are broken. So, as the Torah teaches us, tikkun olam… We must repair the world. Michael Goldstein |
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