Bereshit: the Book of Science and Technology

By מרדכי איש ימיני and Shmuli Phillips

The notion that humans are created Betzelem Elokim – in God’s image – is a central feature of the Creation passage, and often viewed as a fundamental teaching of the Torah. As Judaism Reclaimed notes, the concept of all people bearing God’s image is used to emphasise the inherent value of all human life. Various commentaries also seek to identify the Divine image with particularly important features that humans share with God, such as the rational intellect (Rambam) or free will (Meshech Chochma).

There is an additional dimension to “the image of God”, however, the dynamics of which play themselves out across the primary narratives of the book of Bereshit. The verses state:

“And God created man in His image…and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and over all the beasts that tread upon the earth." [1:27-28]

As Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik points out in The Lonely Man of Faith, the command to “subdue” the natural world indicates that it is God’s will for mankind to employ its creative faculties in order to master its environment. Read in context of the previous verse, this implies that the ability that humanity has been granted to conquer and master the world through advancement in science and technology is an aspect of its being created in God’s image. To partner God in ruling the world, and governing it in accordance with His Will. According to this understanding, it is not simply reflecting upon the wonders and wisdom of the natural world that leads us to love of God – as Rambam writes (Hil. Yesodei HaTorah 2:2). But this must be taken further, fulfilling the Divine mandate to utilise our God-given intellect and skills to develop and sophisticate human existence. Through this process, humanity can improve its standard of living and, with it, its ability to focus on more elevated goals.

The religious importance of advancing human civilisation is a theme which appears to be emphasised through the book of Bereshit. Bereshit’s early heroes – the forefathers – are all shepherds, while its villains – such as Nimrod, Eisav and Yishmael – are characterised as wild hunters. With humanity gradually shifting from groups of hunter-gatherers to herders of flock, and eventually other forms of agriculture, the Torah subtly makes its stance on the matter clear.

Parashat Lech Lecha identifies Yishmael as a “wild-ass of a man”. The story continues in the following parasha to see him as a desert archer who is considered unqualified to be part of the foundations of the Chosen People who will bear God’s teachings to the humanity.

The message is presented in a particularly stark manner when the hunter, Eisav, returns exhausted from the field demanding to be fed. Ya’akov, by contrast, is patiently cooking lentil soup. The contrast between the wild, impatient Eisav and the calm “tent dweller” is evident. Hunter-gatherers’ existence is characterised by living for the here and now. Their food lasts for 48 hours before another hunt must be conducted. It is a lifestyle which led people to be impulsive, violent and living for the moment. Certainly “of what value for me is the firstborn?”. The forefathers’ shepherding and lentil-growing marked a level of increased civilisation and sophistication – a shift towards mastery of the world that the Torah strongly approves of.

The episode of Yosef and his brothers represents a further stage of progress, demonstrating that the Torah does not place inherent value on the occupation of shepherding. Instead Yosef dreams of wheat – a more sophisticated agricultural process which facilitates more stable cities and civilisations. As Viceroy in Egypt he takes this yet further, devising schemes for effective of storage of crops and thus teaching his subjects how to stave of famine.

Previous posts have described the profound meaning of Ya’akov’s dream – the angels going up and then down the ladder signify that they must, having perfected themselves, descend back down the ladder to bring the benefits of their knowledge to improve the societies around them. While this certainly includes religious and moral teachings, a Gemara (Shabbat 33b-34a) teaches that this also refers to human and technological advancement. It describes how Ya’akov, fresh from overcoming the angel of Eisav and reconciling with his brother, sought to enhance the living standard of the nearest civilisation. Different opinions suggest that he established a monetary system for them, a market system or public baths and hygiene. The common denominator being that the role of the prophet – and the role of religion – is to advance and develop the living standard of its society helping them to realise more fully the image of God with which they were created.

In today’s context this dimension of the image of God may lend particular importance to those who work, for example, in improving humanity’s lot by exploring genes and atoms. It is important for we who live in the modern era to remember that scientific and technological advancement can and must be viewed through the Torah’s lens of being partners in God’s Creation and further perceiving His wisdom and wonders. This can also prevent us from falling into the trap of those who built the Tower of Babel, whose technological advancements led to arrogance and a perception that they could transcend and overcome God and the mission which he entrusted to humanity.

For more on the Tower of Babel as a technological advancement see this superb analysis from R Alex Israel.

For more on the ladder in Ya’akov’s dream and its implication for prophets and Jewish leaders click here.

First posted on Facebook 14 October 2021, here.

Chinese evil and Maimonidean demons

Can humans ever sink to such depths of depravity that they effectively lose their humanity? Or worse?

Last week’s UN report published last week once again directed world attention to the mass incarceration and horrific abuses being carried out in the Xinjiang region of Northwest China. The indescribable horrors which are being inflicted on an entire population as well as the highly advanced technology that makes this oppression possible prompted me to recall a passage that I wrote in Judaism Reclaimed.

The Torah describes Adam’s son Shet as being in the image of Adam — a term which Rambam (Moreh 1:7) links to the earlier description of Adam as having been created "betzelem Elokim" (in the image of God). Rambam then cites a Gemara which states that, from the moment of his sin until the birth of Shet, Adam bore offspring which were not in his image but rather were "ruchot" or demons.

Tzelem Elokim — the element of humanity that can be said to be Godly — is identified with the intellect. It is through this uniquely human intelligence that people can make moral judgments to distinguish right from wrong, subdue their negative impulses and thereby direct their sophisticated intellectual capabilities so as to benefit the world around them.

In Rambam’s understanding, those who ignore their human calling to use their intellect to refine and control the animalistic aspects of their personality are considered behema betzurat adam (an animal in human form) rather than betzelem Elokim. Membership of this unesteemed group therefore can cause people to forfeit their human privileges such as divine providence and a share in the World to Come.

Far worse than this, however, are those who take this divine gift to humanity of a powerful intellect and use it to subdue and oppress others. As history repeatedly demonstrates, the greatest misery and hardship experienced by mankind is caused by people who have used their intellect to devise ways of furthering human suffering. These are the sorts of “demons” that, in Rambam’s understanding of the Gemara, were said to have been sired by Adam prior to Shet. It can be presumed that Rambam would offer a similar interpretation of Talmudic accounts of demons who dwell in uninhabited areas, damage unguarded buildings, and attack those who travel unaccompanied at night.

Tragically, the powerful Chinese government embodies this latter category of people, using their human intelligence to devise ever more effective methods for spying on their citizens and then seeking to control not only their behaviour but even their thoughts. Instead of utilising the gift of a divinely-granted intellect to improve the world by refining and elevating humanity – instead of channelling their science to the cause of alleviating hunger and disease – the atheist state implements a hideous mass-experiment in “re-education” to manipulate and subdue the tzelem Elokim of its religious citizens.

At the other end of the scale, world governments using their tzelem Elokim to build and improve the state of humanity is considered a key requirement for the onset of the Messianic era. Rambam writes later in the Moreh Nevuchim (3:11):

For through awareness of the truth, enmity and hatred are removed and the inflicting of harm by people on one another is abolished. It [Tanach] holds out this promise, saying “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb…”. Then it gives the reason for this, saying that the cause of the abolition of these enmities, these discords and these tyrannies, will be humanity’s knowledge of God…

The primary and perhaps exclusive causes of warfare and misery are obsession with and competition over material possessions, power and pride. Once humanity is taught or becomes aware of this folly, its energies and capabilities will be channelled towards achieving universal happiness and spiritual fulfilment, thus “they will beat their swords into ploughshares…” and “your sons and daughters will prophesy”.

First posted to Facebook 4 September 2022, here.

The true lesson of the hanging corpse

A teaching cited by Rashi on yesterday’s Torah reading has proven a firm favourite among those who seek to prove ancient rabbinic belief in a physical deity (a subject addressed at length in Judaism Reclaimed).

While the verse intriguingly informs us that the corpse of a condemned criminal should not be left overnight on a tree because this is an affront to God, Rashi’s rabbinic parable has raised many an eyebrow through the years:

“This is comparable to two identical twin brothers. One [of them] became king, while the other was arrested for robbery and hanged. Whoever saw him [the second brother, suspended on the gallows], would say, “The king is hanging!” Therefore, the king ordered, and they removed him.”

Attention is commonly concentrated on analysing the implications of this story for how God was perceived in ancient Israel. Could the same God who revealed Himself to Israel at Sinai to a nation who “saw no image” (Devarim 4:15), now be mistaken for the hanging body of an executed criminal?

As the Sforno and Maharal to this verse both argue, the only commonality and point of comparison between humanity and God is the intellect – the human ability to examine ideas, develop concepts of good and evil and then choose freely between them. It is in this capacity alone that mankind is described as having been created in God’s image.

But to my mind this whole discussion misses the primary point and real significance of the rabbinic parable.

Rather than focusing on what this comparison means for how we perceive God, we should instead recognise its far-reaching message for how we are to view our fellow humans.

To place this teaching in its correct context we must bear in mind how condemned criminals were typically treated until fairly recently – paraded through the streets to be humiliated, spat upon, cursed and pelted with all sorts of degrading objects. The message of this verse – as taught in the rabbinic parable – is that even a person who has committed an appalling crime which warrants a death penalty must still be treated with the dignity befitting a tselem Elokim.

Societies need a criminal system. Law and order must be maintained and serious offences must of course be punished. What the Torah appears to be rejecting here is the smug triumphalism of those who celebrate the destruction of another human being whether through execution or calling to “lock them up and throw away the key”.

Even at a person’s lowest possible moment – being executed for a serious criminal offence – his special human attribute and Godly image is recognised and respected. To leave him strung up on a tree overnight would be to degrade a creature which was endowed with this special potential to develop and connect with the divine. Rather than rejoicing and looking to make an example of a criminal who has got his come-uppance we should be soberly mourning the abject failure of a fellow tselem Elokim. The tragedy of a capital sentence is reflected in a teaching of Rabbi Akiva (Sanhedrin 63b) that judges handing down a death penalty must fast for the entire day.

A further manifestation of this principle is the somewhat comical application of “loving one’s fellow as oneself” to mean “select for him a pleasant form of death” (Sanhedrin 45a). Though not the most intuitive way of fulfilling brotherly love, this law reflects the idea that has been discussed in this post: that even a condemned criminal retains his humanity and therefore must be treated with all possible respect and dignity as one created in the image of God.

As I explore in greater detail in Judaism Reclaimed, the commandment to love one’s fellow is not fulfilled simply by providing for the needs of another. That may be a simple act of anticipated reciprocity which every functioning society requires to a certain extent. Rather the religious command requires us to radically change our perspective – until we identify fully with the other as a fellow human – until their needs and feelings are as our own.

Yesterday’s parasha shows how broadly this requirement applies. Every human we come across – never mind how pathetic or wretched they may appear to us – must be identified with and dignified to the greatest extent possible. Rather than the hanging corpse prompting us to imagine God as a physical form, it instead is supposed to evoke genuine pity and tragedy that a free-choosing human, created in God’s image, has used this potential so poorly.

This message from yesterday’s reading is also a timely reminder for Elul as we examine our deeds and look to improve our religious standing ahead of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In just a month from now we will be sat in shul listening to the Yom Kippur Haftarah – how the process of repentance and fasting requires us to “break your bread with the hungry and bring the moaning poor to your home” and “offer your soul to the hungry”. Commenting on the latter phrase, Radak highlights the fact that it is not sufficient merely to throw a few coins at the unfortunate and feel that we have fulfilled our obligation – rather we must take a genuine interest in the recipient’s plight so that he sees that the gift is being presented wholeheartedly.

The prophet’s demands are not easy to fulfil. They require us to develop a sensitivity and perspective through which we regard every human being we come across – even the condemned criminal – not as a physical body but as a mind and soul endowed with the tselem Elokim.

First posted to Facebook 27 August 2023, here.