Pemikiran Yahudi Kejadian 5:1: Derush Chiddushei HaLevanah & Sefer HaIkkarim

David is described with the term בן אדם (ben adam), [which we have translated as “mortal”. A more literal translation of ben adam is “son of man.”] Adam is the most superlative term for man, as the Zohar, Parshas Tazria,³⁸Zohar, Vol. III, Parshas Tazria, p. 48a. states. Therefore, it is appropriate to use [this term] with regard to David, for he reigned over Israel and the monarchy was given to him for eternity. [However,] David is referred to as ben Adam, “son of man,” and not Adam, “man,” because [in a way,] David was “the son of Adam,” as it were. As our Sages taught,³⁹Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishis, sec. 41. David was destined to be stillborn and Adam, the first man, granted him 70 years of his life. Do not be surprised that David himself authored this psalm [even though it explicitly alludes to him. We see an even more surprising expression of this quality with regard to] Shmuel, who declared,⁴⁰I Shmuel 12:11. “And He sent Yerubaal, Yiftach… and Shmuel,” referring to himself by name. Here, although David spoke about himself, he did not refer to himself by name, [but instead,] used a different term. [Thus, this verse is less surprising.]

Every author in the beginning of his book gives its contents, so here the words just mentioned tell us that the book of Genesis deals with the generations of Adam and the descent of mankind from him. These words indicate that all that comes before is not part of the book, but expresses the principles of the book, in the same way as the principles of a science are laid down in the beginning of the science. Thus the verse, This is the book of the generations of Adam, is the beginning of the Torah, and it tells us that the book of Genesis is the account of the generations of Adam. The author continues, In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them … Now it would have been sufficient if he had said, In the day that God created man, male and female created He them. The reason he adds, in the likeness of God made He him, is in order to allude to an important matter which is essential for the existence of the Torah. The point is that individual reward and punishment, which we said is one of the principles of the Torah, can be attained by man by reason of his rational soul which is in the image of God. For it is by virtue of the rational soul that man attains to a permanent life as an individual and is thought worthy of reward and punishment as an individual, but not by virtue of the permanence he enjoys as a member of the species, an attribute which he has in common with the other animals. Thus the verse in question, which is the beginning of the Torah, makes reference to the two kinds of continuity which man has. The expression, in the likeness of God made He him, alludes to the fact that man has an individual continuity like the celestial beings, because he is in the likeness of Elohim, i. e. the angels, who have individual continuity. The expression, male and female created He them, alludes to the continuity man enjoys in the species, which he shares with the lower animals.

Chapter eleven explains that by a study of the law of Moses we can find out what are the essential bases of divine law, seeing that all agree that it is divine. Accordingly we infer that the three things mentioned are principles of divine law, seeing that they are laid down in the book of Genesis at the beginning, as the principles of every science are laid down at the beginning of that science. It is pointed out that the real beginning of the Torah is the first verse of chapter five. It explains also the meaning of the expression, Let us make man in our image (Gen. 1, 26).