Parshas Bereishis, in the beginning… so many times our Divrei Torah start in the beginning of the parsha. For this reason, I decided to base the parsha this week on the last perek of the parsha, Perek Vav (6), of which only 8 pasukim (verses) are included.
Parshas Bereishis is the outline of the creation of the world and the history of the origins of humanity. Adam and Chava begat their sons, and their sons begat other children, and the population of the world increased, just as Hashem had commanded and blessed when He said peru u’revu – be fruitful and multiply.
The sixth chapter of Bereishis begins with statement of time: “And it was when man began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them” (Bereishis 6:1). This pasuk has two very interesting dimensions to explore. The first question is the use of the word rov, multiply, which has the implication not just of increasing numbers but also of strength or greatness. It was not just that there were now so many people, but rather that they began to delineate greatness among themselves. Thus it makes sense when the commentators explain that the bnei eh’lohim described in the next verse in contrast to bnei ha’adam refers to the sons of princes or men of power rather than to a more literal “sons of god.”
Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsh explains the opinion that these b’nei eh’lohim were the descendants of Seth, Adam’s son born after the death of Hevel at Kayin’s hands. In Seth’s line, “the godly, even if not strong enough to effect the complete salvation of the generation, did always recur.” When the Torah describes those who had grown mighty, it is relating to an elite that had a greater affinity to connecting to the Divine, as opposed to the descendants of Kayin who worked toward invention and industry but without looking for Divine purpose.
The second half of the first verse is more perplexing. Why is the time frame defined by the time when daughters were born to them? After all, throughout the list of begettings (Chapter 5), it frequently states “and he begot sons and daughters.” Not to mention that if there hadn’t been daughters, there would not be begettings…
Perhaps the daughters mentioned here are the daughters of those who were growing in greatness, the daughters of the line Seth specifically. This would give us an interesting perspective on verse 6:2, which states: “And the sons of the mighty saw the daughters of men, that they were good and pleasing, and they took them for wives from whomsoever they chose.” As all the commentators seem to agree, the sons of the mighty put beauty and pleasing ways at the forefront of their decision making, and they found that in the line of Kayin rather than in those who were more spiritually focused. Perhaps there is an inference in these two verses together that not only were the sons of the elite choosing wives from those who were less focused on spirituality, but that they were ignoring women of caliber from their own extensive line.
This may sound elitist, but that is not the intention. A girl from b’nei ha’adam could be one who strove to connect with the Divine and thus would be a good match. The intention of this severe demarcation is noting that the priority was on their being good and pleasing, but not on their background, not on the possibility of having absorbed negative traits. Rav Hirsch explains further, when discussing the verse’s statement that they took from whomsoever they chose, that “They married girls without considering where they were taking them from.”
Family matters. Thus Rav Hirsh continues to explain that it was not an impossibility for such a union to produce a line that was spiritually forward thinking, but that it held great risk. That risk came to fruition, for corruption increased upon the earth. The Midrashim describe that the violence referred to in Parshas Noah included men grabbing women they desired to marry, even women who were already married. The value system skewed, and it ended in the near destruction of the world.
Jewish tradition teaches us that all humans are b’tzelem E-lokim, created in the image of God. The people of the world are divided into 70 nations, and each of these nations has a derech, a path, and a tafkid, a purpose. Bnei Yisrael is distinct among the nations in that our purpose is spiritual connection, and here in Bereishis is a lesson to help us remember to focus on our values and not the values of others.
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