The Summary of the Portion

• The Lord creates the world in six days and rests on the seventh day.

• Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

• The sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge.

• Cain and Abel bring their offerings, and the first murder is committed.

• The ten generations from Adam to Noah.

• The giants, the sons of the Lord, and the rise of man's wickedness and Noah finds favor in the eyes of G-d.

 

Topics for Discussion in Class and in Groups

• Creation and evolution.

• Amiable is man who was created in the image of G-d.

• The significance of Shabbat as a day of rest.

• Shabbat as the gift of the Jewish nation to humanity.

• The tree of knowledge and the tree of life.

• Differences between man and the other creatures.

• The relationship between Adam and Eve then and nowadays.

• In wake of the first murder: Were people born with violence?

• In wake of the story of Garden of Eden: Is a man wicked from birth? Is there a primal sin?

 

A Passage from the Portion  - Genesis 1, 26-28

And G-d said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.  And G-d created man in his own image, in the image of G-d created he him; male and female created he them.  And G-d blessed them, and G-d said to them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

 

Words of the Sages

A person mints coins with a single coin die, and they are all identical;

And the King of kings the Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He coined every human being in the image of the primal human being, and not one of them is identical to another;

Thereupon each and every one must say:

The world was created for me.

(Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5)

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Rabbi Simcha Bunim told his students:

Every person must have two pockets,

And he could use them as needed;

In one he must place the saying:

"The world was created for me".

In the other one: "And I am dust and ashes"

(of the Chassidut Anthology)

 

Points for thought and for Discussion

When the Holy-One-Blessed-be-He was about to create the primal human being

the angels diversified in groups and factions. Some said: He ought not to be created;

Others said: He ought to be created.

Kindness said: He ought to be created since he(man) does deeds of kindness.

Truth said: He ought not to be created since he is full of falsehood.

Justice said: He ought to be created since he gives charity.

Peace said: He ought not to be created, since his is quarrelsome.

What did the Holy-One-Blessed-be-He do: He took truth and threw it on the ground.

(Medrash 'Bereishit Raba' Chapter 8)

 

Explanation: In order to reach an equality of two promoters and two opposers, the Holy-One-Blessed-be-He particularly took 'truth' thereby leaving two sanctioning man's creation and only one opposing it.

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And why did He take truth, he could have alternatively removed peace from the arena?

You can hold a class discussion in attempt to arrive at an answer to this question.

And if you have difficulties in doing this, the following are several attempts at offering solutions throughout the generations, and we shall present only four of them, while each one warrants a separate discussion:

*** Had He cast down peace and truth would have remained, the other two, kindness and justice, would not have the power to resolve the problem since truth cannot be verified by a majority.

*** Had He cast down the peace and peace would be annihilated, there would be no more peace. Whereas regarding truth: any particle remaining from truth is still truth.

*** It is impossible to exist without peace; if there is no peace in the world – there is nothing; In regard to truth, if there is peace, eventually truth will also ensue.

*** The Holy-One-Blessed-be-He wished to illustrate that it is impossible to arrive at truth with an upright stance, with a head filled with conceit, with firmness and stubbornness; In order to arrive at the truth, one must be humble.

 

• Try to explain each suggested solution above.

• Which of them do you identify with most?

• Which preference is more commonly widespread in our society? In the world at large?

• Do you have other solutions to offer?

 

From the General Poetry – Janusz Korczak

You have lived – how much have you ploughed?

How many loaves of bread have you baked?

How much have you sown?

How many trees have you planted?

How many bricks have you laid for a building

before you are 'collected to your people'?

To whom have you bestowed your warmth?

Which stumbling man have you supported?

To whom have you shown a path without demanding

gratitude and a prize in return?

What contribution have you have given?

Whom did you serve?