January/February 2025

An ancient mystery which seeks to explain the duality of Adam's creation asks: "when the Lord God said, let us make man in Our own image; after Our likeness..." To whom was God speaking?  The tradition solved this riddle by explaining that the Lord was addressing the animals which had just previously been created. Man will be in "Our image" - part animal and part divine.

The duality of human nature has long preoccupied our greatest thinkers. Talmud (Hagiga) conceives of the human being as a combination of angel and beast. Evidence for both propositions is easy to adduce. The body ties us to our corporeal dimension, imposing upon us the powerful, instinctual and biological forces of animal existence. The intellectual/spiritual aspect of our lives must grow, deepen and evolve. It remains always, intangible and eternal.

Two elements animate the first human being: Adam. God creates Adam from the dust/soil of the earth and then breathes into him the spirit of life; already indicating duality. Dirt is blended with the divine. The body impacts our spiritual life through compulsion and passion. Our spiritual aspect always seeks to motivate us toward more meaningful, higher pursuits. Adam will eventually be endowed with the gift of free will. Receiving only one solitary command in the garden (re: the forbidden fruit), he chooses to disobey. Likewise, every individual possesses the same freedom - to soar like an eagle reaching angelic heights or to live in bondage to the dictates of our physicality.

We also possess an awareness of our common shared fate: "unto the dust of the earth we all must ultimately return - our origin, source and genesis. It is written "the preeminence of the human over the beast is naught yet You set us apart from the beginning and considered us worthy to stand before You..." make us whole - body and soul.

AMEN