Beresheet

From the Four Corners of the Earth

By: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger

This Shabbat we begin at the beginning in Sefer Beresheet, Genesis, with the formation of the world and its inhabitants, leading up to the pinnacle of creation: humankind. As we start the annual cycle of Torah readings again this Sabbath, we ask, “What is the essence of this creature called man? From whence has he sprung, and where does he belong in the scheme of things?” To this, the Torah answers: he has a home both in the place from whence he comes, and across the world. He is both a creature of the particular and the universal. Although Adam was not a Jew himself, this defines the Jew.

Rashi explains this duality of man’s existence more fully. In Genesis 2:7, the verse describing Adam having been created from the dust, Rashi comments that when the Torah references “the dust of the ground”, it means that Adam was formed “from the four directions.” Rabbi Marc Angel writes that this implies “One must recognize an innate kinship with all humanity in the four corners of the earth, and also recognize one’s particular rootedness in a family/tradition/society…We should fully develop our uniqueness, while at the same time fostering our universality.” Sound familiar?

To be a Jew means to live out that model of being human. We are grounded in our Mesorah/tradition, yet we try our best to play a meaningful role in the unfolding universal human story. We are driven to make a contribution – that is the reason Rabbi Dr. Joseph Soloveitchik articulated that Adam’s purpose was to engage the world and help develop it. Subscribing to Modern Orthodoxy means an unwavering commitment to Jewish law and its intrinsic values, while using these foundational structures as wellsprings of creativity for the world in which we live.