Commentaire de citation sur La Genèse 5:1

ברא, “He created;” the term ברא is used on occasion as applying to something which is not of physical substance such as in Numbers 16,30 when Moses predicts that G’d will “create, יברא” a gaping hole in the ground wherever members of Korach’s clan and supporters stood, into which they would disappear. Clearly, the earth’s crust opening into a fissure is not something tangible, something of substance. The word ברא always means that no “matter” was involved in what G’d is described as “creating.” Job 23,13 makes such a point when referring to G’d: ונפשו אותה ויעש, “whatever He desired, He did.” [He does not have to operate within given parameters]. Similarly, Isaiah 43,7 describes G’d as saying: כל העולם הנקרא בשמי ולכבודי בראתיו, יצרתיו, אף עשיתיו, meaning that “the entire world which is called by My name in My honour, is so called in order that people will say that I have created it, I have formed it, I have completed it.” The message is that G’d created it out of “nothing,” not using existing materials. According to the great sage Maimonides, the word לכבודי, may mean “according to My will.” However, one can also understand the word in its literal sense, i.e. that the world and all that is in it represents G’d’s glory. This would conform to Isaiah 6,3 מלא כל הארץ כבודו, “the entire universe is full of His glory.” Seeing that G’d Himself is invisible, we can only recognise Him and His glory by means of His accomplishments, including His creatures.

Another meaning of the words זה ספר תולדות אדםmay be that these words are a direct reference to שת seeing he is mentioned by name in this paragraph. Inasmuch as the two first sons of Adam having been disappointments, one being killed, the other becoming a murderer, it is this son who truly represented the descendants of the first pair of human beings The very fact that the Torah had already enumerated a list of Kayin’s descendants makes this statement doubly important. Kayin’s descendants were not regarded as the תולדות אדם, at best they were regarded as תולדות קין, Kayin’s descendants. Actually, Kayin’s descendants could be perceived as partially Adam’s and partially the serpent’s, viz. Samael’s, Satan’s. (compare what we wrote on 3,15 as well as what the author wrote on Exodus 2,12). These descendants were Chanoch, Iyrad, and Lemech. Others bore names which trace them to angels such as Mechuyael, Metushael. The latter were what are called later in our portion (6,2) בני האלוקים, “the sons of G’d,” whereas the former are referred to here as בנות האדם, “daughters of man.” Concerning these descendants of Kayin the Torah says (6,2) “when the sons of G’d saw that the daughters of man were good, etc.” These “sons of G’d” were not children of Adam. Concerning this phenomenon our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 24,6 have said: “this is the book of the descendants of Adam, i.e. the ones which have been listed by the Torah up until this point were not true descendants of Adam.” What then is the meaning of the verse which appears to attribute some of the descendants of Kayin to a divine origin? They were called thus as they were descended from Chavah who had mated with כח אל נכר, with the life-giving potential of an alien deity. (the serpent, i.e. the potential of Satan having had intercourse with her.)

AND HE BEGOT A SON IN HIS OWN LIKENESS, AFTER HIS IMAGE. It is known that all who are born from the living are in the likeness and in the image of those who give birth to them, [so why was this verse necessary?] However, because Adam was elevated in his likeness and image in that Scripture said of him, In the likeness of G-d He made him,⁴⁷⁶Verse 1. Scripture explains that his offspring were also in this ennobled likeness. Scripture did not state this concerning Cain and Abel for it did not want to prolong the discussion of them. It explains it, however, in the case of Seth because the world was founded from him, [Noah being his direct descendant]. Or it may be that because Adam was created with absolutely perfect form, Scripture relates concerning Seth that he was like him [Adam] in strength and beauty.

and on Your book, they were all written The book of the generations of man, which You showed to Adam.