Purpose?

Rashi

In the beginning of God’s creation of: Heb. בְּרֵאשִית בָּרָא. This verse calls for a midrashic interpretation [because according to its simple interpretation, the vowelization of the word בָּרָא, should be different, as Rashi explains further]. It teaches us that the sequence of the Creation as written is impossible, as is written immediately below] as our Rabbis stated (Letters of R. Akiva , letter “beth” ; Gen. Rabbah 1:6; Lev. Rabbah 36:4): [God created the world] for the sake of the Torah, which is called (Prov. 8:22): “the beginning of His way,” and for the sake of Israel, who are called (Jer. 2:3) “the first of His grain.” But if you wish to explain it according to its simple meaning, explain it thus: “At the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, the earth was astonishing with emptiness, and darkness…and God said, ‘Let there be light.’” But Scripture did not come to teach the sequence of the Creation, to say that these came first, for if it came to teach this, it should have written:“At first (בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה) He created the heavens and the earth,” for there is no רֵאשִׁית in Scripture that is not connected to the following word, [i.e., in the construct state] like (ibid. 27:1):“In the beginning of (בְּרֵאשִית) the reign of Jehoiakim” ; (below 10:10)“the beginning of (רֵאשִׁית) his reign” ; (Deut. 18:4)“the first (רֵאשִׁית) of your corn.” Here too, you say בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אלֹהִים, like בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּרֹא, in the beginning of creating. And similar to this is,“At the beginning of the Lord’s speaking (דִּבֶּר) to Hosea,” (Hos. 1:2), i.e., at the beginning of the speaking (דִּבּוּרוֹ) of the Holy One, Blessed be He, to Hosea, “the Lord said to Hosea, etc.” Now if you say that it came to teach that these (i.e., heaven and earth) were created first, and that its meaning is: In the beginning of all, He created these-and that there are elliptical verses that omit one word, like (Job 3:10): “For [He] did not shut the doors of my [mother’s] womb,” and it does not explain who it was who shut [the womb]; and like (Isa. 8:4): “he will carry off the wealth of Damascus,” and it does not explain who will carry it off; and like (Amos 6:12): “or will one plow with cattle,” and it does not explain: “if a man will plow with cattle” ; and like (Isa. 46: 10): “telling the end from the beginning,” and it does not explain that [it means] telling the end of a matter from the beginning of a matter-if so, [if you say that Scripture indicates the order of creation] be astounded at yourself, for the water preceded, as it is written: “and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water,” and Scripture did not yet disclose when the creation of water took place! From this you learn that the water preceded the earth. Moreover, the heavens were created from fire and water. Perforce, you must admit that Scripture did not teach us anything about the sequence of the earlier and the later [acts of creation].

Chapter 2: 5-9

5. Now no tree of the field was yet on the earth, neither did any herb of the field yet grow, because the Lord God had not brought rain upon the earth, and there was no man to work the soil.		ה. וְכֹל | שִׂיחַ הַשָּׂדֶה טֶרֶם יִהְיֶה בָאָרֶץ וְכָל עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה טֶרֶם יִצְמָח כִּי לֹא הִמְטִיר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים עַל הָאָרֶץ וְאָדָם אַיִן לַעֲבֹד אֶת הָאֲדָמָה:
6. And a mist ascended from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.		ו. וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה אֶת כָּל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה:
7. And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul.		ז. וַיִּיצֶר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה:
8. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden from the east, and He placed there the man whom He had formed.		ח. וַיִּטַּע יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים גַּן בְּעֵדֶן מִקֶּדֶם וַיָּשֶׂם שָׁם אֶת הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר יָצָר:
9. And the Lord God caused to sprout from the ground every tree pleasant to see and good to eat, and the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.		ט. וַיַּצְמַח יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים מִן הָאֲדָמָה כָּל עֵץ נֶחְמָד לְמַרְאֶה וְטוֹב לְמַאֲכָל וְעֵץ הַחַיִּים בְּתוֹךְ הַגָּן וְעֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע:

THE MAKING OF TWO ADAMS

Explaining why the Torah narrates two creations of Adam in the first two 1

chapters of Genesis, J. B. Soloveitchik postulates two Adams. Adam in Chapter ,1is Adam Natura, Natural Man, living out his days and nights as the chief creation of the animal world. But there is one characteristic that sepa- rates him from his companions in the garden of Eden: He had been endowed with tzelem Elohim (Gen. ,)1:27or, as Soloveitchik puts it, Imago Dei, the Image of God. Thus Adam is gifted with the ability to fill the earth and mas- ter it .)1:28(As the first scientist, his initial task is taxonomic; to name and classify the fauna of Eden. But this is not mastery of nature. The very idea gives Adam Natura "labor pains," in Soleveitchik's graphic analogy,

. . .about to give birth to himself as a humanus, to an I [a self] who secedes from his surrounding, meditates upon the things of his immediate [physical] environment, and sees the environment as something separate and foreign confronting him. (FR,8)1

In Chapter ,2Adam ascends intellectually to become Adam Humanus. An additional set of commands is laid upon him by the Creator: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat. But as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it . . '. .)2:16-17(The JPS translation of verse 16leaves the impression that Adam had a choice to eat or not to eat of all the trees of the garden, but Sole-

veitchik takes the phrase And the Lord commanded as a command to Adam to 2

eat of all the trees in the garden (FR, )5This is a stage of Imago Dei, in the form of an allegory, setting forth the necessity for Mankind to venture up out of his physical environment in the Garden of Eden, into the task of intel- lectual endeavor.