This is making me think that creation also requires courage. #ParshaChat

Oooh, I love this #ParshaChat

That said, I am very much *not* enjoying the process of teaching my children about the existence of evil.

I can understand God wanting to keep people in a walled garden where nothing was evil and they didn't need to understand evil.

But... people need to learn and to make choices. #ParshaChat

The bat mitzvah student this morning suggested that to be able to create anything, to be able to imagine something differently, requires Hope, and Yah had to first create Hope before they could create Light or Life. #ParshaChat

I would rather have knowledge of good and evil than not have it. #ParshaChat

I like the idea that snakes are no more innately bad than people, and people can choose to do harmful things (and often believe that they are good things). What if the snake believes it’s helping? #ParshaChat

(Also, I'm very much open to requests! If you let me know earlier in the week that there's a part you're particularly interested in looking at, I can consider that!) #ParshaChat

And that's making me wonder at what point in the Torah God discovered that some unintended consequences can be good and that sometimes people surprise you in good ways. #ParshaChat

And it makes me think that in the first version of the story, God had not yet discovered the existence unintended consequences. God's extreme reaction to unintended consequences in the second version makes a lot of sense to me if it was literally the first time God had experienced any! #ParshaChat

I like that! It makes me think of God being *absolutely delighted* to learn that it's possible to create things and to see that they are good.
#ParshaChat

Agree! My brain is always looking for ways to make the story and science fit together. #ParshaChat

A2: I don't know if any plants are shown as *bad* in the second version of the creation story, but some of them are definitely shown to be *dangerous*, or as painful to work with. #ParshaChat

A2: One thing I'm noticing that's different is that in the first version of the story, all plants and animals are good.

In the second version, snakes are devious tricksters and are bad.
#ParshaChat

Groggily waking up here. Had laryngitis all week. But made it to #ParshaChat and the kid’s d’var this morning was great! What if God didn’t know ahead of time that they could create, and discovered it by trying to? What if Yah created Hope as part of discovering Creation?

Q2: Looking at the second creation story in 2:4-3:24, what do you notice about plants and animals? What's similar to or different from how plants and animals in the first version of the story? What do you make of this?
#ParshaChat

A1: I don't *need* the Torah to be strictly compatible with science, because I think it's best to read the Torah with the assumption that it's sacred mythos rather than a factual guide to science/history/etc.

But it's *nice* when it's compatible!
#ParshaChat

A1: It's interesting to me how much the plants are coming out of the earth here. God isn't making plants and putting them on the earth, God is telling the earth to make plants.

This feels pleasingly compatible with evolution.
#ParshaChat

A1 The sequence of Creation is different in the two stories. In Chapter 1, God creates the entire universe including plants and animals before the humans. In 2, the human comes before rain, let alone plants and animals. #ParshaChat

A1: I'm also noticing that some types of animals that are often *not* regarded as good are explicitly mentioned here! #ParshaChat

A1: I'm noticing a couple of things this time around: The level of enthusiasm for all of the plants and animals of creation, and also the idea of humans ruling over plants and animals. #ParshaChat