Origins & warnings – B’reshit
The beginning of Sefer B’reshit not only introduces the drama of the human story and the inception of the universe, but the origins of the various aspects of human civilisation – night and day, food and drink, nakedness and clothing, fertility and gender, work and leisure, technology and time-keeping.
Not only material things but moral.
How did man and woman (and their children) develop a relationship? How did families deal with each other? Everything, including rivalry and conflict, traces back to Genesis.
A stage in moral development is the eating of forbidden fruit, which is the origin of temptation and defiance.
Humans have tested the waters, so to speak, throughout history, experimenting with every aspect of life.
What originations do we see in the forbidden-fruit story? The options of building up and pulling down, of laughter and tears.
