Creation!

Chumash class Monday, November 3

Differences between Perek (chapter) 1 and 2


Chapter 1
G-d/cosmos centered
Creation by fiat
Generic characters
Chronological-
Literally and in reality (connected to theme)
G-d is “outside” (distant)
Structured procreation
Anthropomorphic G-d
Man has domination in Eden
Creating life

Chapter 2
Man/Earth centered
Hands-on creation
Characters particularized
Jumps around (more chaotic world)
G-d is responsive
Gender!
Interaction is more dynamic
Man has responsibilities and limitations
Death (contrast to life creation)


Eden מקדם
-Eden in the east? East in the garden of Eden?
-עדנה- used in context of Sarah having Yitzchak at 90 years old: she will become
refreshed (also related to word for enjoyment)
-Related to waters in Eden: source of water and life


Water plays an important role in this perek. Water existed before "Creation" and plays an integral role in the creation of everything else to come after it. According to Rashi, everything was created on the first day in potential. The seeds and potential of everything existed, but the world lacked rain. The cycle of life and nature as we know it could not start without rain, and the rain would not come until Man was created. Man is necessary for the tilling and caring of the soil: to start the cycle without man would be dangerous.
There are two types of water in this perek. There is the water that wells up from the ground אד and the water that falls from the sky מטיר. According to Rashi, the water in the ground came up to water the dust of the earth so that G-d could mold man from the clay.* After this creation, Man could pray for rain, and it would fall, nourishing the soil. According to Ramban, the water under the ground existed to sustain the potential plants until man could be created because until Man was created, no rain would fall.
Before the rain and Man, land was called aretz ארץ; after these two catalysts, the land becomes adama אדמה, which comes from the same root as the name for man, adam אדם. (Interestingly, once woman is created, Man becomes איש, as there is now an אישה.) In the same way that the land changes name, the water that sustains it changes its name/essence, going from אד to מטיר.
Water catalyzes and determines the essence of all things.

I wish I could go into everything we discuss, but putting a 3.25 hour course into a blog is tough.

*This is one example of the extensive anthropomorphizing that happens in this chapter. The word that is used for G-d's "forming" is יצר, which is the word for sculpting. צור, meaning "rock," is a name for G-d: "צור העולמים'', Rock of the Worlds.