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Sermon for Sidra Bereshit
October 2008
by Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman

As we start Bereshit with a new year, a new cycle of Torah reading and now that the Yom Tovim have concluded – may we only enjoy the regular Shabbatot in good health and see good attendance at our services and enjoy our Yiddishkeit , Amen.

Bereshit is about the creation of the universe, but where does the human fit in? Is he merely an incident or a by product of creation, as evolutionists claim – or is he something more?

The Torah is clear, G-d creates earth and space and then out of Tohu Vavohu, out of chaos he creates an order all summarised in text form in our Chumash. The terminology is “Vayomer H’ yehi or” - G-d says let there be light and there was light. Similarly by a command He creates everything upon the earth, the sun the moon and the galaxies.

But note that when the human is about to be created on the 6th day – the terminology changes He doesn’t say “let there be man”, but “Naaseh Odom” – “Let us make man ... and they shall rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and over the animals, and indeed over the earth.” And then it says: “Vayivro Elokim” – “And G-d created him, male and female. He created them. In other words, G-d made the humans to rule over earth and to continue to develop G-d’s creation.

That is what develops from the creation story. But there’s more to it than that – look further! Yes man plants and starts to develops the world, he creates, he invents, as described in the Sidra, he makes tools of metal for work and instruments to make music, (the industrial and artistic aspects of human creativity - technology and art), but at the same time something else is happening. We are shown that the human being has been created as a free spirit, he possesses a soul and can choose to do good or evil. And then what happens? The story of the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve sin by eating the forbidden fruit, then Cain sins by killing Abel and then later a descendant Lemech sins and kills again. It’s a disaster! To the extent that the Torah then states: “And G-d sees that the human with his creative spirit has exercised his freedom of choice for evil, so G-d decides to wipe out man from the face of the earth.” But one single person upon the face of the earth finds grace in the eyes of G-d, that is Noah and he is spared.

So what went wrong? It is the desire for evil – the Yetzer Hora that grips the human and so he fails.

The Torah is neither a science book nor a history book; it’s Torat H’. It is the teachings of G-d, the blue-print of a moral guide. That is what we are being really told here in this Sidra. Yes, G-d created the world, he created the humans and He gave them freedom to choose. But still there is something else that one can overlook! And that too is well illustrated in the Sidra. Yes, Adam and Eve sin, Cain sins, Lemech sins, but look at the sequence of events that go with it – note the wording.

When Adam eats the forbidden fruit, G-d confronts him and asks him: “What’s happened?” Adam then blames the wife! He says the woman that you gave me to be with – “she” gave it to me – it isn’t my fault! G-d then asks the woman and she answers it’s the serpent’s fault, he seduced me to eat the fruit. So G-d punishes Adam, Eve and even the serpent.

Now look at Cain. He sins and kills his brother. How does he respond? When confronted by G-d, he asks G-d: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” G-d punishes him until he realises the extent of his sin.

The human had been given the opportunity to share in G-d’s creation and to be able to choose what to do! But there was one vital lesson the human had to learn and that was to take “RESPONSIBILITY” for his actions. And that is the decisive difference between the human being and the rest of creation. The Sidra is not just about the creation story – its a central lesson is that G-d created the human with freedom of will in order to learn that ultimately he must take responsibility for his actions!

In this modern age that we live in – the human has mastered invention after invention and discovered more about the universe than in all the earlier generations - but however great our discoveries we still continue to fail to be masters over ourselves. Evil still pervades human existence across the globe. Man still kills his brother and deprives others from freedom; man still follows the evil designs of his heart and is led by desire. And so the challenge given to the first human goes on! That we learn to be masters over ourselves.

This is the fundamental basis of our existence which challenges us to spiritually uplift ourselves beyond our base instincts. That was the creative task given to the first human and that is the same task given to us.

However, from the days of Noah and Abraham help was granted through moral guidance. But then G-d gave us the Torah and from that Torah we can find inspiration to aspire to G-d's higher plan for humanity, to truly share in His Divine Light.