The story of the life desiring human created in his image: Thoughts on Parashat “Bereshit” - Rabbi Doron Rosenblum

Many Gods said: let us create a man. So that we shall have presence in the world.

Do all Gods have the same figure, the same image? The same natural essence and inner form? These are the questions the narrator asks himself.

And perhaps the meaning is that human beings have many faces, different essences, different inner forms, which are all made of the same materials and the same components, but their compositions are different, and their doses are different, and they are all his sons, to their characters, and none of them will be similar to their fellows even though they were all stamped with the same seal?

And if so, then they are all equal in value, each of them has a unique intrinsic value, which leads to their diversity, their versatility.

It looks like the gods find comfort in this answer.

Man takes his stance on the stage of history. Any man and every man or woman.

God takes a good look at him and says to himself: Behold, this is true of every human being, of every human being created, every son of mankind, every daughter of every nation. Behold, they are all my sons, they are all brothers.

And he is really satisfied with the product.

And he is so happy, our God, that he blesses them to fill the earth with themselves, an all of the, will be blessed. The main point is that there will be a next generation and there will be a legacy and the children of man will fill the earth with the fruits of their love

And immediately he reflects about the reality into which he created man. On the one hand, the beauty of the world I created, he sings to himself and hums "What a wonderful world" and on the other hand, something bothers him. The huge absence of the two primeval elements who have within them, as he well knows, the striving potential to materialize into evil: power and control.

And he places this many-faced man in a place full of goodness, in order to protect him from this evil, the evil in the world that is outside and the evil in the inner world of the one who was created in the image of God, because God knows himself as well, and he knows that he has within himself good and evil, and in that to, the man created in his image is like him.

And yet, while keeping him inside this bubble, God is tormented by the question: Why deny man his very essence, hers - to experience the good and the bad, to forever live the challenge of choosing. The challenge of being the man who desires life, who avoids evil and does good.

This is how God decides to take man to the path of the tree of life, to expose him to the experience of the good and evil that are in him and the path he or she are walking, and he says to them:

You know that sin and evil are always couching in front of you. That man longs for what is forbidden. That the mission of life that I have entrusted to you is to take responsibility and govern it, the will of evil, and not to submit to it, and to go control the animal within you, and to choose the good. To be a creator who also creates, does good, creates goodness.

God says: With all these questions I grant you the right of freedom, the ability to choose.

But man does not succeed in thinking only good, in only doing good. And he plays with the evil that dwells within him, evil dwells in every organ and in every cell of his body.

And the narrator does not even hint to us, are all humans like this? Wasn't there one righteous man who refused? Who didn't stand by? Who rebelled against evil? Who saw the black flag? Who did good And if so, will we judged rightly? Will we be Subjected to grace?

And God, he does not answer our inquiry, and he regrets his creation, regrets this creation of his and brings onto it the Flood, a flood to flood the whole world, without distinction, on all his creations. But still, there is one that pleased him, one person who comforted him, a piece of land, an olive leaf and a rainbow for a new blessing. But that is already another Parasha.

What can we learn?

There is good and evil in us, light and shadow. Even outside of us the evil exists.

That man was given the right and duty to choose.

That man, a rational being with emotions and a conscience can choose between good and bad, the good deed and the bad deed. The thing is in his hand.

That choosing the good is in the hands of the person who desires life.

That even in our lives here on our earth, we can choose between joining the right action and sitting idly on the fence.

That I am proud to be a member of an organization that weaves on its banner the worthy choice to do good.

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