Two creation stories – B’reshit
In a now well-known essay in “The Lonely Man of Faith”, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik explains that the Torah begins with two accounts of Creation because the Adam who is the culmination of Creation is a different Adam each time.
The two stories illustrate the tension in the human condition. Paraphrasing Rav Soloveitchik’s view, one might say that Adam I is prosaic whilst Adam II is poetical.
Adam I sees the world as a challenge to be mastered; Adam II has a consciousness of God and himself.
Adam I is concerned with how the world works whilst Adam II is an existential being who is concerned with his spiritual dimension and loneliness.
Which is the authentic Adam?
Both of them. Each of us is Adam I; each is Adam II. There are two sides to our character.
