The Ashkenazi Revolution

123From where does this relationship, between the People of Israel and time,spring? From where does its desire for eternal life spring? The answer tothis question is given in the first chapters of the book of Genesis. Withinthem is revealed a depressing picture of the gradual descent of man fromhis status of quasi-god to his status as first and foremost among the variouscreations that are fruitful and multiply and swarm over the Earth. Betweenthese two categories there is a very large distance. The creation of man iswith great celebration and amidst the sounding of something of a hymn ofpartnership between God and man:God said, “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness and let himrule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the beastsof all the Earth and those that crawl on the Earth.” So God created manin His image. In the image of God did He create him, male and female Hecreated them.Man, however, was created as a quasi-god, like a faithful vassal of God onEarth, similar to those who dwell in the lofty heavens. It was his duty toconquer the Earth and to rule over all that was in it. But already, thesecond chapter of the book of Genesis reveals, before our eyes, the tragicevil of the condition of man:None of the bushes of the field had yet existed upon the Earth and none ofthe grasses of the field had yet sprouted. For the Lord had not yet made itrain upon the Earth, and there was no man to work the land. A mist arosefrom the Earth and watered the land, and God created man of clay fromthe Earth and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. So that man becamea living being.What a shocking descent! The man who was created as a quasi-god, as themaster fisherman and master hunter, who was destined to rule over all thecreatures of the Earth, lost his character as a quasi-god and turned into a