Gathering #2
March 24-25, 2012
The Creation Stories/Lessons
There is a sound Rabbinic doctrine which states:
“Accept the true from whatever source it come.”
Besides drawing from our own training we have used the following sources that you may be able to access for further information:
1) Popularly known as the Hertz Chumash, this
classic Hebrew-English edition of the Five Books of Moses, with corresponding
Haftorahs, is used in synagogues and classrooms throughout the English-speaking
world. In this compact volume, the late
Chief Rabbi of England, Rabbi Dr. Joseph Hertz, provides readers with a lucid
exposition of the text and the spiritual and ethical teachings of the Torah,
culled from a wide range of scholarly literature. The Hertz Chumash contains
the full Hebrew text, line-by-line English translation, and the classic Hertz
commentary, complete with all the Haftorahs for holidays and special Sabbaths.
2) Hebrew text of the Book of Genesis based on the Codex Leningrad. 3) Ancient
Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible, Benner.
Judeo/Christian
Creation Story: Genesis 1:1-5
1 In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth.
A
note on the Hebrew use of the word translated into ‘In the beginning’:
the Hebrew word for ‘beginning’ and the word for ‘head’ is ראש (pronounced
‘rosh’). It is translated by Benner as ‘summit’ -the height, ‘head’ -top of the
body, the first of a succession. God/Elohim –that which
comprehends and unifies all the forces of eternity and infinity. ‘the heaven
and the earth’ –The visible world; that which is above (heaven), and that
which is below (earth).
2 Now the earth was formless
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God
hovered over the face of the waters.
‘the
earth’ –The material out of which the
universe is formed. ‘formless and void’ –disordered and empty of
purpose. ‘darkness’ –that which obscures the perception/ability ‘to see’
clearly. ‘face’ –rendered in the
plural in Hebrew, better: surfaces or appearances. ‘deep’ –rendered ‘deep-sea’ in Hebrew,
expression: 'the unknown' sometimes ‘the abyss’ or ‘an expanse that is filled with
darkness’. ‘spirit’ –in theology
understood as ‘the intellect and will’ of a being. ‘hovered’ -as an eagle hovers over its
young to protect. ‘the waters’ -in
the below: the life-force itself/which is always life in essence, but can take
many forms…in the above: thought which is always thought but can organize into
many ideas.
3 And God said: “Let there be
light.” And there was light.
‘And
God said’ –a figurative equivalent of
“God willed.” ‘light’ –not
‘sunlight’ here, instead ‘that which dispels the darkness.’ Here ‘light’ can be
better understood as comprehension, more as comprehension which leads to
ordered action that reduces confusion and chaos.
4 And God saw the light, that
it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
‘that
it was good’ –expression: ‘fulfills
the will of the Creator.’
5 And God called the light
Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was
morning, one day.
‘one
day’ –Not an ordinary day but a Day of
God, an age. With Him a thousand years,
nay a thousand thousand ages, are but a
day that is past…human measurement of time, by a clock of human manufacture,
cannot apply…the beginning of each period of creation is called morning, it’s
close evening; in the same way, we speak of the morning and evening of
life.
Now
Let’s look at a translation of the first five verses of the Genesis in light of
the commentary of Hertz, et al:
In the summit of mind, that
which we call God (that which is inexhaustible Wisdom and unlimited Power to order material and intellectual chaos) created all that is perceivable. Now the material out of which the Universe is
formed existed as unorganized molecules (and the intellect of the people as confusion) without innate
ability or desire to order themselves towards a higher purpose. Disorder and confusion obscured the vast potential of the
material Universe and the human mind. And
the Power of God (comprehension and order) protected the manifestations of the life and thought that had not fully matured and developed. And that which we call God willed that
matter have purpose and mind have intelligence.
And it is Truth that purpose and intelligence fulfills the aim of creation. And it is Truth that comprehension and order are
separated from confusion and disorder by a primordial divide. It is Truth that desire to understand and organize marks the beginning of a new age and that confusion, disorder
and the lack of desire to understand and organize leads to the ending of life.
