GENESIS IN THE CONTEXT OF JEWISH THOUGHT

Marvin A. Sweeney

Introduction

Genesis, or Bˇer¯e"ˇsît, “in (the) beginning of,” as it is known in Hebrew, is the foundational text of the (“Instruction”), the Bible, and Jewish tradition as a whole.1 Although Genesis does not encompass the entirety of Jewish thought, its preoccupation with G-d, creation, human beings, Israel’s ancestors, and the covenant between G-d and Israel makes Genesis a quintessentially important text that informs much of Jewish life, tradition, and thinking. Genesis is not presented as a systematic account of Jewish phi- losophy or theology. Instead, it appears as a narrative account of Judaism’s understanding of creation and the origins of the Jewish people. Genesis takes up G-d’s creation of the world at large (Gen 1:1–2:3); the origins and early history of human beings (Gen 2:4–11:9); and the history of the ancestors of Israel (Gen 11:10–50:26), including Abraham and Sarah (Gen 11:27–25:11); Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 21–22; 24; 26; 27); Jacob, his wives, Leah and Rachel, and their handmaidens, Bilhah and Zilpah (Gen 25:19–35:29); and the twelve sons of Jacob whose descendants formed the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen 37:2–50:26). Genesis also takes up  gures such as Ishmael (Gen 25:12–18) and Esau (Gen 36:1–37:1), but these  gures receive only minimal notice as their descendants branch of from the people of Israel to form foreign nations. Genesis thereby stands as the introduction to the Torah narrative which continues in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy with Israel’s exodus from Egyptian slavery (Exod 1–15), the revelation of YHWH’s Torah at Mt. Sinai (Exod 19–Num 10), the years of

1 For Jewish commentary on Genesis, see esp. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss, eds., The Torah: A Women’s Commentary (: Union of Press, 2008); Jon D. Levenson, “Genesis,” in The Jewish Study Bible (ed. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 8–101; W. Gunther Plaut and David E.S. Stein, The Torah: A Modern Commentary (New York: Union of Reform Judaism Press, 2005); Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis (Philadelphia: Jewish Publi- cation Society, 1989/5749); Nossom Scherman, The : The Stone Edition (: Mesorah, 1993); and Meir Zlotowitz, Bereishis (2 vols.; Brooklyn: Mesorah, 1986). 658 marvin a. sweeney wandering through the wilderness on the way to the promised land of Israel (Exod 16–18; Num 11–36), and Moses’ last speeches to the people as they prepare to take possession of the land (Deuteronomy). Because of the central role that the Torah plays in Jewish life and thought, portions of the Torah are read as the central feature of Shabbat, week- day, and holiday worship service.2 The current annual cycle for reading the Torah originated in the Babylonia Diaspora at some point following the composition of the Mishnah, and it has been in use for well over a mil- lennium and a half. As the  rst book of the Torah, Genesis is divided into twelve Parashiyot or weekly Shabbat portions of roughly equal length. Each Parashah is accompanied by a Prophetic or Haftarah (“Completion”) por- tion that aids in interpreting the Torah text. The liturgical reading of the Torah thereby serves as a means of divine revelation insofar as every Jew has the opportunity to encounter and study the text of the Torah in the context of Jewish worship. As an expression of the revelation of divine instruction to Judaism, the liturgical reading of the Torah becomes the basis for applying the divine teachings to daily Jewish life. The discussion that follows proceeds  rst with consideration of the lit- erary structure of Genesis within the context of the Torah as a whole, and then continues with consideration of creation, human origins, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob, Rachel, and Leah, and Joseph and his brothers. Each seg- ment indicates important concerns that become the subjects of reection in Jewish thought.

The Literary Structure and Worldview of Genesis

Modern literary critical research has identi ed the formula, "¯ellehtôlˇed¯ot, “these are the generations of,” as a key organizing feature that points to the literary structure and theological worldview of Genesis in particular and the Torah at large.3 The term, tôlˇedâ, “generation,” plural, tôlˇed¯ot, “generations,” is derived from the Hebrew verb root, yld, “to give birth,” and therefore refers to the successive generations of human beings that were born during the course of early human history.

2 Ismar Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History (trans. Raymond P. Scheindlin; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1993). 3 Frank M. Cross, Jr., “The Priestly Work,” in Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cam- bridge: Harvard University Press, 1973), 293–325; cf. Marvin A. Sweeney, Tanak: A Theological and Critical Introduction to the Jewish Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress, forthcoming).