Why are there two stories of Creation at the beginning of The Beginning (בראשית)?
I have given this curiosity only glancing attention in the past. Everyone is familiar with the way the Torah begins - six days of the Creation of Heaven and Earth, and the sequential development of life, culminating in Adam, Eve, and the Sabbath Day.
Fewer of us get around to looking carefully at Chapter 2, “HaShem made Earth and Heaven”. In this chapter, there has been no vegetation created, because there is no man as yet to request rain. Then “a mist” ascends from the Earth to get the soil wet, so HaShem can form the now damp clay into the first Human.
If I were to make a movie from one of these, it would be number two. I can see the mist rising mysteriously from a grey and treeless desert - no sound, no life, just matter. What an opportunity for computer graphics and special effects.
While searching for an answer that would satisfy my curiosity, after looking at some of the famous resources - Rashi and others - I resorted to an internet search. I came up with this article by Yitzchak Etshalom, on
torah.org:
http://www.torah.org/advanced/mikra/5757/br/dt.58.1.01.html entitled
The Story of the Heavens, The Story of the Earth.
The first story tells us of the creation of Heaven and Earth. The second relates the creation of Earth and Heaven.
Here I quote a few excerpts. The underlining is mine.
“Version #1: The Story of the World”
“The first version is, indeed, the story of the creation of the heaven and the earth - in other words, it is the story of the creation of the world from the Divine perspective. It begins with the Heavens, presenting an orderly world structured in an hierarchical manner in which every manner of life has its place….an orderly world created by God in which Man can be His partner, His agent - but not his ‘servant’.”
“Version 2: The Story of Man”
“There is another side of the story - the story of ‘the earth and the heavens’ - the story from the perspective of Man….From the human perspective, everything created serves a human purpose….but Man is not nearly as complete as the ‘detached’ view would have it. Man is lonely, Man seeks out God as he seeks out meaning in this world of alienation and discord…Immediately the most crucial point in their relationship is realized - God commands Man!” **
(**The commandment being to eat of everything except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad.)
“Man is no longer lonely on one level because he is in relationship with God….however, he is lonely because there is no one with whom to share this new life…the first ‘non-good’ thing is introduced - loneliness.”
“The Torah is not telling us two conflicting versions about creation; rather, we are seeing two sides of the same coin. The world is, indeed, an orderly place of hierarchical systems, where Man is the ultimate creature; yet, the word is also a place where Man feels alien and distant, seeking out companionship and meaning in his relationships with fellow humans, with a mate, and with God.”
The first version of Creation is from the perspective of the Creator. First Heaven, then Earth. The second version is from the perspective of the Created. Focus on Earth, then Heaven. Of course, to the Creator, the whole of existence makes perfect sense. But from the view of the Creations, it’s a jumble. The only comfort is in relationship with the Creator, and with other Creations. Maybe together this world will eventually make sense.
And who would have thought that the first non-good thing would have been loneliness?
I was discussing this with a good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless since I haven’t asked his permission). He pointed out that we speak of the Five Books of Moses - Toras Moshe. In other words, the entire Torah, with the possible exclusion of the first version of Creation, is told from the point of view of Moshe Rabbenu. He is telling us how he sees it. It simply never occurred to me that when we say that Moshe gives over the Torah, that the implication is that we are hearing Moshe’s point of view. The view of Torah and the Jewish People from the perspective of our greatest teacher, here on Earth.
So, I’m wondering if the entire Five Books of Moses - from the second version of Creation on - could possibly be a commentary on the view of creation given first. God creates the world - but then it is entirely up to us to explain and understand.
I wonder at the fact that, in our loneliness and desire for relationship, we are separated ever further from the Creator by our mistakes in understanding and implementing that relationship. The very act of creating a mate for Adam is an act of separation. They err in Eden, and are separated out - distanced from HaShem. Kayin and Hevel (Cain and Abel), in what appears to be the first religious war in history, vie over who has the best relationship with God. In so doing, Kayin distances himself even further from God, and from Man.
And so it goes - Noah is separated out in order to restore the proper relationship of Man to God. That doesn’t work. Abraham finds his own way to that relationship, but from him must be separated Ishmael. And from Yitchok must be separated Esav. Finally, it would appear, that Yitzchak has 12 sons who all have a proper relationship with the Creator. So then, this entire people is separated out from the rest of humanity. And the Cohanim, and the Leviim are separated out from the Bnei Yisrael. It just keeps on going.
This process of smelting and refining seems endless, and possibly futile, since as we speak we still have not gotten it right.
But there is comfort - for me at least - in finally understanding that our lives are given to us in order to seek out a relationship with God, and with other people. It’s a comfort to know that even the most minute of commandments is there for me to use to get closer to my Creator. That has to be my intention. And the mitzvot are there so that my good intentions don’t take me in the opposite direction, as good intentions alone often do. It just seems, though, that the harder I try, the further away I get.
Or is it just me?
Addendum:
I'd like to elaborate a bit on my final statement about "good intentions" often taking us in the wrong direction, particularly in relation to Adam and Chava.
Whatever the serpent's intentions were, can we really assume that Chava's intention was to challenge God, and become "like God"? Was it Adam's?
Couldn't we just as easily assume, in light of what I have indicated above, that it was Chava's good, though misguided, intention to get closer to God by becoming more like Him?
She was misguided in rationalizing that she could get closer to God by eating the fruit which she had been forbidden to eat - closer to God through violation of the mitzva than by the keeping of the mitzvah.
Thus, "the mitzvot are there so that my good intentions don't take me in the opposite direction".
