Parshas Bereishis
The Nature of Human Behavior
There are many moral lessons that are derived from the story of creation as
related to us in this parsha and also in next week’s parsha of Noach. One of
the insights that I find most relevant and instructive has to do with the
relationship of humankind to the animal kingdom and the rest of the natural
world.
According to Jewish tradition Adam and Chava and their immediate descendants
were herbivorous, subsisting on the fruit, plants and the bounty of the
earth. According to rabbinic tradition the animal kingdom imitated the human
species and also refrained from killing other creatures to satisfy their own
daily need for food. The lion ate as did the elephant, the leopard as did
the giraffe. In short, the animal kingdom followed the lead of the human
species.
It was only after the Great Flood and the new lower level of human existence
that the Lord allowed humankind – Noach and his descendants – to become
flesh eaters and to kill animals for human purposes and gain. The rabbis
again taught us that this change in human behavior precipitated a change in
animal behavior as well. Now deadly predators and killers stalked other
creatures in the animal world.
Judaism sees humans as the primary creature in the process of creation. It
is human behavior that influences animal behavior. Those who deny a Divine
Creator have it the other way round - it is animal behavior that influences
human behavior and civilization. To them, humans are not exceptional and
unique creatures. A humans is just a more dangerous lion or leopard or
crocodile.
The prophet Yeshayahu, in his majestic and soaring description of the
utopian era – the end of days – states that the lion will lie down with the
lamb and that war between nations will no longer be possible. Maimonides
chooses to view this prophesy in an allegorical sense rather than in a
literal sense. He interprets it as stating that large and powerful nations
will no longer impose their will and wring unfair concessions from poorer
and weaker countries.
This is in line with his statement that nature will not change in any given
way even when the messianic era of the end of days arrives. However there
are many great scholars and commentators who reject this idea of a rather
bland messianic era as foretold by Maimonides. Instead, they state
categorically that nature will change and that predators such as the lion
and the bear will now revert back to their original state at the time of
creation and become wholly herbivorous.
Again that seems to presuppose that humans, when giving up war and violence
in the messianic era will no longer eat the flesh of animals, and
herbivorous humans will influence the animal world to do the same. There
remains the problem of what to do then with animal sacrifices in the
Jerusalem Temple.
Answers are advanced but as is easily understood, the topic is esoteric and
no one really knows what that world of the messiah will look like. But it
is clear that Judaism preaches that the animal kingdom follows the behavior
of the human race and certainly not vice versa.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
