Be a "Mentch"

The Parasha in our everyday life, Parashat Bereshit 5783

Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - Head of the Hesder Yeshiva 'Meir Harel' Modiin

The world is subject to a constant struggle between opposing worldviews on faith, morality, and culture. Social questions, economic views, gender, and family. If we examine in depth, we find that the disagreement between them starts from the root, from the divisions in life's fundamental questions: What is man, his uniqueness, his destiny? What is human life on earth? And what is וּמוֹתַ֨ר הָאָדָ֤ם מִן־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ 'man has no superiority over beast'. Is he just a 'sophisticated creature' and has no special purpose in the world, or a separate species in Creation? Are his uniqueness and advantages summed up in his excessive intelligence compared to other animals, which allows him to use the world for his physical and spiritual needs, and to satisfy his desires? In his wisdom he develops the world and shapes it according to his needs and wills in order to improve the quality of his life and thus preserve his survival. Life is what man makes from it for himself. In his wisdom he develops the world and shapes it according to his needs and desires in order to improve the successes, experiences and pleasures accumulated over time. 'Culture' becomes a means of making a person's life pleasant. The establishment of a family and the costs associated with it are part of the effort to survive in the world.

Or is man "The paragon of animals" created in the image of G-d, as a miraculous assembly of body and soul? Man's uniqueness lies in his values and morality. The only being who has a free choice to live his life according to high values. Only he can choose to control his urges and delay his gratifications. Sometimes he is even willing to pay a price in order not to alienate himself from his values and morality. That every person's life has a purpose, which is much greater and higher than the physical life itself, and it is realized through actions and values that he takes in. He also gives of his own to others and not only takes for himself. Culture is one of the ways to express the greatness of the human spirit and the wonders of its existence. Starting a family is part of the great purpose of life by bringing new life into the world, and the opportunity to give of oneself to others.

However, as great as the expectation is in humanity from being created in 'the image of G-d', so may be the disappointment when he does not live up to it, and corrupts his ways.

After the Holocaust, the Italian-Jewish Writer Primo Levi wrote a book called 'If This is a Man?' It describes the hardships he went through in Auschwitz. This is one of the most famous books about the Holocaust. The book's title puts a question mark on the possibility of calling the Nazis 'human beings' after the atrocities they perpetrated with their cruelty. And also, the situation of the camp's prisoners where their humiliation even degrades their humanity. There he writes: "Man believes with his whole being that life has a purpose; this belief is his human essence, etc". "I continue to be amazed at the effect of one person's inhumanity on another." etc. "It is almost as difficult to lose the human image as it is to create it". "He who killed was a 'man'. He who had to suffer injustice and who forced it on others was also a 'man'" (ibid).

This Shabbat we go back and start reading from Bereshit. The description of the world Creation is considered one of the "Torah Secrets", (Mishna Haggiga 2a) and contains many visible and hidden layers. The main point of the visible side of it is to teach us values and morals: "For everyone knows that the act of Creation is all the secrets of the Torah, and if all the things were just simple, there would not be any secrets, and they already said in the Midrash:

להגיד כח מעשה בראשית לבשר ודם אי אפשר לפיכך סתם לך הכתוב בראשית ברא אלקים

"Our Sages have said (Yemen Midrash on Bereshit 1:1), “It is impossible to give a full account of the Creation to man. Therefore, the Scripture simply tells us, 'In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth” And the main thing is the knowledge that everything comes from Hashem, and the life of true morality" (Igrot Ha-Re'aya).

This is mainly about understanding the uniqueness of man and the purpose of his Creation in the world. In the chapter that concludes the act of Creation – 'Creation of man' it is written:

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ

“Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness". (Bereshit 1:26).

עַנְוְתָנוּתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה לָמַדְנוּ מִכָּאן, לְפִי שֶׁאָדָם הוּא בִּדְמוּת הַמַּלְאָכִים וְיִתְקַנְּאוּ בוֹ, לְפִיכָךְ נִמְלַךְ בָּהֶם... בצלמנו. בִּדְפוּס שֶׁלָּנוּ: כדמותנו. לְהָבִין וּלְהַשְׂכִּיל:

"Let us make humankind — The meekness of the Holy One, blessed be He, they (the Rabbis) learned from here: because the man is in the likeness of the angels and they might envy him, therefore He took counsel with them… In our image — in our type. After our likeness — with the power to comprehend and to discern." (Rashi ibid)

This is how his uniqueness is expressed:

"נתייחד בעשיית האדם מאמר בעבור גודל מעלתו כי אין טבעו כטבע החיה והבהמה אשר ברא במאמר הקודם לו וכו'. שתוציא הארץ הגוף מיסודיה כאשר עשתה בבהמה ובחיה כדכתיב (להלן ב ז) וַיִּיצֶר ה' אֱלֹקים אֶת הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה ויתן הוא יתברך הרוח מפי עליון כדכתיב (שם) וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים ואמר "בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ" כי ידמה לשניהם במתכונת גופו לארץ אשר לוקח ממנה וידמה ברוח לעליונים שאינה גוף ולא תמות ואמר בכתוב השני בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹקים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ (פסוק כז) לספר הפלא אשר נפלא בו משאר הנבראים וכו'"

"And G-d said: ‘Let us make man’. There was a special command dedicated to the making of man because of his great superiority since his nature is unlike that of beasts and cattle which were created with the preceding command…in the case of man He said, Let us make, that is, I and the aforementioned earth, let us make man, the earth to bring forth the body from its elements as it did with cattle and beasts, as it is written, And the Eternal G-d formed man of the dust of the ground, and He, blessed be He, to give the spirit from His mouth, the Supreme One, as it is written, And He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And He said, 'In our image, and after our likeness', as man will then be similar to both. In the capacity of his body, he will be similar to the earth from which he was taken, and in spirit he will be similar to the higher beings, because it [the spirit] is not a body and will not die. In the second verse, He says, 'In the image of G-d He created him', in order to relate the distinction by which man is distinguished from the rest of created beings". (Ramban ibid)

Therefore "his name is actually Adam from the word 'earth'" (Shnei Luchot HaBrit Toldot Adam Introduction).

Man, as the crown of creation, has a soul and a body, and the essence of his life and his moral destiny are derived from these. 

Be a "Mentch".