was

Torahhiton

The Noble Beginning
Of The Family Of Man

Shabbat Bereshit:
Genesis 1:1-6:8;
Isaiah 42:5-43:10.

T

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his week's Torah portion
essentially begins the story
of the Jewish people and its
relationship with God.
Rather than begin the story with
the Jewish people itself, the Torah
starts at the creation of existence to
reveal to us the relationship between
all that exists and God, the creator.
Likewise, through the first few
chapters of the
Torah, we are
taught about the
very nature of
man himself and
his special rela-
tionship with
God. We also gain
insight into man's
relationship to the
rest of creation in
general and the
RABBI ELIEZER
relationship of
COHEN
each individual to
Special to
every other indi-
The Jewish News
vidual.
The great rab-
bis of the Talmud used the story of the
creation of man as a source for a most
beautiful and, as yet, unfulfilled les-
son. The Mishnah in Tractate
Sanhedrin discusses the awesome
responsibility of witnesses in a capital
case and brings a number of
Midrashic interpretations as to why
"man was created initially as one sin-
gle individual." (Sanhedrin 37A)
Among a number of other interpre-
tations, the Mishnah offers the opin-
ion that man was created as one single
individual "in order to create peace
between men — that no one could say
to his fellow, 'My father was greater
than your father.'" What a wonderful

Conversations

What can we learn from the sto-
ries of creation in general and
man in particular? What does the
story of Cain and Abel teach us
about mankind? What does the
story of the Garden of Eden teach
us about human nature and our
relationship with God? Why the
genealogies at the end of the
sedrah?

lesson: All human beings ultimately
have the same "father" and no one can
claim superiority over any other.
With but one small line, racial and
national prejudice, discrimination and
hatred are revealed as the evil false-
hoods that they are. Furthermore, this
brief Midrash makes each of us -- all
human beings — brothers and sisters
with all the concomitant responsibili-
ties such a relationship implies. The
love and concern, sensitivity and
responsibility that we demonstrate for
our own families now become incum-
bent upon each of us as we relate to
all our fellow human beings.
Let the racists or those who feel
that they are innately superior to any
other come and refute the beauty,
logic and truth of the rabbis in this
interpretation of the story in the
Torah. Let us, especially as Jews whose
tradition includes this gem, remember
the lesson in our dealings with all oth-
ers: All of mankind are brothers creat-
ed by God as members together in the
family of man. ❑

Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of
Congregation Or Chadash.

SZ Productions
October Show

The October program of Shaarey
Zedek Productions is a combination
of events and personalities.
In the first of three segments, Geri
Levit, host and producer of the tele-
cast, interviews Leonard Baruch, with
his daughter, Miriam Baruch
Goldberg as co-interviewer.
In the second segment, Mindy
Soble and Phyllis Mir discuss the
upcoming concert for and about the
children of Chernoble who are being
saved by Israeli doctors.
The third part of the program fea-
tures an interview with Ms. Andy
Wolfe, chairperson of the annual
Jewish Book Fair. Following is the
schedule for the Shaarey Zedek televi-
sion program.
Shaarey Zedek Productions is pre-
sented on: MediaOne Channel 18 and
Cable Ready Channel 22, 10:35 p.m.
Oct. 22, 29; MediaOne Channel 11,
6 p.m. Oct. 20, 27 and 9:30 a.m.
Oct. 22, 29; Time Warner Cable,
Channel 12, 5 p.m. Oct. 22 and 29;
TCI Cable/East Oakland County,
Channel 52, 3:30 p.m. Oct. 23 and
30; and TCI Cable/West Oakland
County, Channel 14, 8 p.m. Oct. 22
and 29.

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1998

Detroit Jewish News

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