Overview – Sefer Bereshit/0
Overview – Sefer Bereshit
Structure of the Book
Sefer Bereshit divides into two main sections, Chapters 1-11 which speak of universal history: the creation, destruction and recreation of the world at large, and Chapters 12-50 which focus on the selection of the individuals and family who were to father Hashem's chosen nation. For full discussion of the book's structure, see Structure – Sefer Bereshit
Purpose of the Book
In contrast to the rest of Torah which contains both narrative and legal material, and focuses much of its attention on Israel's relationship with Hashem, Sefer Bereshit is almost exclusively narrative in nature, discussing events on both the universal level and on the smaller family plane, but not on the national level. Why are these events important to share? Could not the Torah have begun with the description of the formation of the nation and its accompanying legal codes in Sefer Shemot?
Themes
I. Selection and Rejection – Much of Sefer Bereshit revolves around the selection and rejection of both nations and individuals. It is not always so clear from the text, however, what was so objectionable about the characters who are rejected. In fact, commentators often vary widely in their evaluation of the various protagonists of the sefer:
- Rejection of Kayin's line – Kayin's murder of Hevel appears to be a fairly obvious explanation for his rejection, but see Kayin – Intentional or Unintentional Murderer, that not all agree regarding the severity of his crime. See also Lemekh's Monologue for different takes on whether or not Kayin's violent streak continued in his descendants.
- Destruction of the world – What led to Hashem's decision to despair of the world and destroy it via the flood? See Reasons for the Flood and בני הא־להים and בנות .האדם
- Canaan cursed – What did Canaan do that was so terrible that it resulted in his being cursed? See Cursing Canaan.
- Generation of the Dispersal – Were the builders of the tower of Bavel embarking on a malicious project that called for punishment, or, might their actions be viewed as an error in judgement and Hashem's intervention as a protective rather than punitive measure? See Deconstructing Migdal Bavel.
- Lot – See A Portrait of Lot for differing evaluations of his character.
- Yishmael rejected – For conflicting portraits of Yishmael, from neutral to extremely negative, see A Portrait of Yishmael.
- Esav rejected – Though Torah is unequivocal in endorsing Yaakov as the third patriarch, its evaluation of Esav is less clear. Was he really a wicked character? See A Portrait of Esav.
II. Religiosity of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs – To what degree did the Patriarchs and Matriarchs observe the laws later set forth in Torah? To what extent did they share its value system? Is it possible that not all our ancestors began as pure monotheistic believers, and that for some, belief in one God was rather the result of a religious journey? These questions are raised by several stories:
