Parshas Bereishis
One Man
The rabbis of the Talmud have taught us that all new beginnings are
fraught with difficulties. This week’s parsha in its details of the
beginning of human existence on this planet certainly confirms that
observation. Seemingly, everything goes wrong from the start. Adam and
Chava sin and are expelled from Paradise, Cain slays his brother Abel, and
in a short span of generations and time the world sinks into a state of
idolatry and moral depravity. The Torah even allows for a note of regret,
so to speak, emanating from God Himself regarding the fall of humankind.
It is hard to find a note of optimism until the last verse of the parsha.
There it states that Noach found favor in God’s eyes. The rabbis in the
Mishna stated that there were ten generations that passed between Adam
till Noach. The message here is clear. God somehow found it worthwhile to
outwait the ten generations until humankind would produce an individual
who would be worthy enough to start the world anew from him and his
progeny. The Torah here teaches us important lessons: The worth of a
single individual; the patience and fortitude of God with humankind; and
that in God’s scheme of things it is worthwhile to wait generations and
persevere for the sake of finally achieving a truly good role model for
human behavior. These lessons are the primary messages of the parsha and
provide for us the guidance in viewing the rest of the Torah narrative as
well as for viewpoints in our own personal and national lives.
The Talmud teaches us that Adam was created singly and alone so that no
one of the human race could claim to be of greater pedigree than others. A
second reason advanced by Jewish scholars is that this fact alone proves
the power and inherent worth of an individual. In a world that has barely
survived a century where hundreds of millions of individuals were deemed
to be worthless except to serve an almighty state or ideology, the Torah
comes to reaffirm the worth of an individual life. Every individual is a
potential Noach, someone who can find favor in God’s eyes so to speak and
give the world a new and fresh start. But to create such individuals
requires exquisite patience on our part. We are not allowed to be dismayed
by the daily disappointments and failures that plague society and its
leaders. Even if generations seemingly fail to achieve the desired
improvement of the human character, we are still bidden to strive to
achieve that goal. For that we also have the words of the rabbis of the
Mishna: “It is not necessarily incumbent upon you to complete the work [of
making a better world] but neither are you freed of the task of attempting
to do so.” This is the lesson of the first ten generations of humankind as
recorded in this week’s parsha. It remains the lesson for all later
generations, including our own.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
Text Copyright © 2005 by Rabbi Berel Wein and Torah.org
Visit www.rabbiwein.com for a complete selection of Rabbi Wein's books and tapes.
