fundamentally Jewish

To begin with, God created heaven and earth.

Now the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep;

and a great wind stirred up the waters.

And God said, Let there be light. And there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good.

And God separated the light from the darkness.

And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.

This is the 1st statement of principle (Gen1,5).

 

And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,

and that divides waters from waters.

And God made that firmament,

and separated the waters that are under the firmament,

and among the waters that are above the firmament; and it was so.

And God called the firmament heaven.

This is the second statement of principle (Gen1,8).

 

And God said, The waters under heaven

be gathered together into one place, and let dry land be seen;

and it was so. And God called the dry earth

and the gathering of the waters he called seas;

and God saw that it was good.

And God said, Let the earth put forth shoots of grass,

seed-bearing herb, fruitful tree,

yielding fruit according to his kind, whose seed is therein upon the earth.

And it was so.

And the earth brought forth shoots of grass,

herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree yielding fruit,

whose seed was therein according to his kind;

and God saw that it was good.

This is the 3rd declaration of principle (Gen1,13).

 

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven,

to separate the day and the night;

and that they are for signs, and for times, and for days, and for years;

and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven,

to give light to the earth. And it was so.

Then God made those two great lights,

that great light to rule the day,

and that little light to rule over the night, even the stars.

And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth,

and to rule day and night,

and to separate between the light and between the darkness;

and God saw that it was good.

This is the 4th declaration of principle (Gen1,19).

 

And God said:

Let the waters bring forth in abundance a multitude of living souls;

and let the fowl fly above the earth in the firmament of the heaven.

And God created the great sea creatures and all living wriggling souls

which the waters brought forth in abundance according to their kind;

and every winged fowl according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying:

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas;

and the fowl shall multiply upon the earth.

This is the 5th declaration of principle (Gen1,23).

 

And God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after its kind;

cattle, and creeping things, and wild things of the earth after their kind.

And it was so.

And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind,

and the cattle after their kind,

and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind;

and God saw that it was good.

And God said:

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the birds of the air,

and upon the cattle, and upon all the earth,

and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

 

And God created man in his own image;

in the image of God created He him;

male and female He created them.

And God blessed them; and God said unto them,

Be fruitful and multiply,

and fill the earth and subdue it,

and have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the birds of the air,

and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.

 

And God said:

Behold, I have given you men every herb that yields seed, which is upon the face of all the earth,

and every tree in which there is fruit yielding seed; let it be your food.

But to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,

and to every creeping thing on the earth in which there is a living soul,

I have given every green herb for food.

And it was so.

And God saw all that He had made; and behold it was very good.

This is the 6th declaration of principle (Gen1,31).

 

Thus are finished the heavens and the earth and all their host.

Now when God had finished on the seventh day his work which he had made,

He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.

And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,

because on this He rested from all His labors

which God had created to complete.

This is the 7th principle - also the final statement (Gen2,1-4a).

 

The creation story is a priestly story. It was spoken to priests; hence the use of the name 'God'. For Jews, however, 'God' cannot be given a name. They use an interpretation ('YHWH') that involves silence and deep bowing in reverence, because in their religion Jews limit themselves to earthly existence (Gen 2:4b-7). For Jews, religions are like trees, deep-rooted and high-reaching traditions. The only thing one must reject in it is the judgment about what is good or what would be evil. That judgment has not been given to us humans; it is fatal to all our free enterprise (Gen2:8-17). Man is not bound by traditions and birthplace; nor alone. Together with his fellow man, he names and determines the life around him. Nor does all this happen rationally. But the associated feeling of shame in the face of the fertility of the earth seems to be over after this (Gen2:18-25). She is attributed an independent omnipresent existence, with which people think they can transcend and control the problem of good and evil. But the only thing it achieves is that one becomes aware of one's own shortcomings, which one then wants to conceal (Gen 3:1-7).

For priests, “revelation” means that we must continually be “obedient to God.” We consider ourselves religious with them; listen to the voice of God in the issues of the day. But in fact we hide within a religious environment instead of being sincere in the life given to us. In our responsibility towards YHWH God we stand in the 'fear of God' that has been taught to us; We hide as we have no wealth (Gen3:8-10). When a man is asked what makes him tick, the woman is blamed. For priestly authority is like a curse that exalts itself above the animal things of the earth and thereby condemns itself to a corrupt existence. It does not benefit the woman at all. Moralism makes life a difficult and joyless existence, which offers little uplift (Gen 3:11-19). The woman, however, makes us men experience life. With her we give our lives a decoration that suits us; we decide for ourselves what is good for us; we take life as it is given to us, aware that it is not eternal. And together we learn to realize and accept that it is solely connected to the future of the earth (Gen3:20-24).