Bereishis 5775: Now I Know

By Rabbi Joshua (cognitively known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

The Torah begins with its majestic description of God’s creation of the entire universe in six days, followed by His creation of the Shabbos.  Later in the parsha, the Torah seems to begin all over again, beginning with the verse, “This is the book of the story of mankind (Adam), on the day that God created man he was created in God’s likeness” (Bereishis 5:1). There is a midrash, mentioned by the Malbim, which says that this verse constitutes the beginning of a new book, as is implied by the use of the word sefer, or book. This point is elaborated upon by Rav Yosef Albo in his Sefer HaIkkarim, in which he says that the preceding chapters served as an introduction to this new book, setting forth what in his view are the three basic doctrines of the Jewish religion: the existence of God, divine revelation, and reward and punishment. Our verse is the real beginning of the Torah telling us the story of man. As pointed out by Rabbi Eli Munk, in his “The Call of the Torah,” this approach helps us understand why Ben Azai viewed this verse as presenting the major principle on which the Torah stands, that man was made in the likeness of God.  

Given the great importance of this verse, it is a bit puzzling to see that the following verses are basically a simple genealogy of generations without an elaboration on what happened during that time. What message is being conveyed by this sequence of verses that characterize the story of mankind.

Perhaps the idea being conveyed here is included in the observations of the Meshech Chochmah, to the verses describing the act of creation accomplished on the first day, as set forth earlier in the Torah.  After the animals were created, the Torah tells us that God saw that it was good, just as we are told in regard to the acts of creation on the previous days. However, after the creation of man, we are not told that God saw that it was good. This is because, unlike, all the other created beings, man is given free choice, and it is up to him to determine whether or not his creation was for the good. The Torah then says that God saw all that He had created, and it was very good, meaning, as the Meshech Chochmah explains, that the situation of man being the only part of creation with free will was very good. Thus, the story of man is really a kind of blank page, waiting to be filled in by man’s free-willed choices. Perhaps, it is in this sense that the Mishnah in Sanhedrin (4:5) says that a person is obligated to say each day, “It was for me the world was created.”

With this teaching in mind, we can better appreciate a well-known story concerning the Hasidic leader known as the Maggid of Mezeritch when he was a little boy. A fire broke out in the house, and as the structure burned down his mother cried uncontrollably. The little boy asked his mother why she was crying so much, since she never showed any great concern for material possessions. She answered that it wasn’t the house she was crying over, but the family’s kesav yichus (family tree) that was inside and that contained a list of all their illustrious ancestors, “Don’t worry, mother,” he told her, “I’ll start a new kesav yichus.” The Torah, by leaving out the details of the story of man, is presenting us with this challenge.