Parsha Bereishit

Are There Two Versions of Creation?

The first Chapter of the Torah is the familiar Creation narrative in which the physical Heavens and the Earth are created in six “days.” In it human beings, male and female are created simultaneously. The seventh day adds a spiritual dimension to complement the physical. It’s the holistic combination of mind and body. The second chapter of Bereishit is very…

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Parsha Bereishit

Original Sin

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is really a parable about why we make the wrong decisions. One theory, proposed originally by Greek philosophy and then Christianity, is Original Sin. Humans are simply bad people more inclined to make the wrong choices in life rather than good ones. We are selfish and self-centered. Freud argued…

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Parsha Bereishit

Do we take the Torah literally?

Are we supposed to take the Creation narrative literally or not? On the face of it, it contradicts everything we know about how the world developed. The process took millions of years, not seven days. Was a “day” the sort of 24 hour days we mean now? What was day then if the Sun and Moon were not in position…

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