This Shabbat we are starting from the beginning – BERESHITH!!
The Torah tell us about the creation of mankind. “And God created man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul”.
According to the interpretation that comes from this verse, we are called to the man ‘Adam’ because he came from the earth – ‘Adama’. This explanation is puzzling: Don’t all animals come from earth? Why is only the man called after its origin?
To answer this question, we must refer to another verse from the parasha, in which man is described as being created in the image of G-d: “And G-d created man in his image, in the image G-d created him”.
This sublime description teaches us that man is not different from the rest of creatures in his physical structure or intelligence only, but in a much more fundamental way: while the rest of creation were created by the hands of God, man was created in the image of God. There is no doubt that this understanding sanctifies human life and creates a world of values, morals and mutual respect.
On the other hand, this exalted consciousness, that man is created in the image of God, that there is no goal to which he must strive, that we already achieved God’s perfection because it exists in us from the beginning. Something that is built in.
Rabbi Yehuda Liva – the ‘Maharal’, was a Kabbalist rabbi in Prague in the 16th century, very famous because the ‘Golem’ he created. (google it). The Maharal claims that the meaning of man’s existence is fundamentally different from that of animals or even of angels. Animals or angels are not looking to strive for any goal. They live their period of life in their own existential perfection, each of them in their own way: the angels in their exalted existence, and the animals in their terrain materialistic existence. Both of them independently of achievement of any goal.
The purpose of man creature its totally different. The divine core is inherent in him, but he must work towards the realization of this core before it comes to light and shines out. A person who does not strive towards the realization of the divine light in him, his existence is empty of purpose; Whereas man striving towards the realization of the divine light in him, reveals the sublime layer of his existence, a being that was created in the image of God.
With this idea, it is easy to explain why, of all creatures, only man is named after the earth, “Adama.” The soil is endowed with a special feature: It is itself empty of content, but in it lies the power of growth and flowering. A person can sow a single seed in it, which will later turn into a flower, a vegetable or a fruit tree.
Man reflects this wonderful property of the earth: When he does not strive toward the fulfillment of the divine light in him, he is emptied of meaning. On other hand, it is in his power to grow the divine nucleus that lies within him and bring it out into the light. Due to this feature that man shares with the earth, he is named after her.
A special transcendental meaning for our existence as human beings, can accompany us in our common journey towards this lofty goal: to grow, raise and water the divine spark that lies within us, and bring it out into the light.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen