The Beast That Crouches At The Door

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by David Fohrman

What can we glean from the Torah's narratives? A snake that can walk and communicate. A mystical tree that possesses knowledge of Good and Evil. Cain's mark was visible to everybody. Although we are all familiar with the early episodes in the Book of Genesis from our youth, the significance of these stories can be frustratingly difficult. For example, did God truly not want humans to be able to tell right from wrong by banning Adam and Eve from eating from the Tree of Knowledge? This book investigates the early stories in the Book of Genesis, bringing to light the great problems that we all grapple with, as well as the textual and linguistic nuances that are often overlooked. Deeper levels of significance develop when hints and questions are brought together. Finally, the reader is exposed to the breadth and depth of Torah, as well as a profound confrontation with notions that characterize what it is to be a Jew.

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One of the axioms that most religions, Judaism included, accept about God is that God is good. But those are just words. What does it actually mean to be good? One of the things it means, Luzzatto says, is that one acts to benefit others. If there is no world, though, then there are no others that God can benefit; He exists alone in numinous solitude. God acted to create a world so that there would be other beings existing besides Himself, beings upon whom He could bestow goodness. In short, God created the world because goodness demanded it.

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One of the axioms that most religions, Judaism included, accept about God is that God is good. But those are just words. What does it actually mean to be good? One of the things it means, Luzzatto says, is that one acts to benefit others. If there is no world, though, then there are no others that God can benefit; He exists alone in numinous solitude. God acted to create a world so that there would be other beings existing besides Himself, beings upon whom He could bestow goodness. In short, God created the world because goodness demanded it.

— David Fohrman, The Beast That Crouches At The Door