Bereshith: Why

What is the purpose of this story? Every writing is created to influence the reader. Where is this Genesis story taking us?

First, it tells us that there is a beginning.  It is an affront to the service of Chronos, the totem of time. Scientific Orthodoxy sanctifies time as the basis for the variety and order seen in the world. Given enough time...everything comes into, and passes out of, existence.  Time allows evolution: biological, geological, cosmological.  Our limited lifespan and memory make the scale of time unimaginable, thus anything is possible, everything will happen. Bereshith does battle with this concept. Existence begins at some moment. Scientific dogma eventually comes around to this idea ( presaged by Aristotle, and hence, Maimonides), borrowing the plosive, calling it the Big Bang. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, belief in the Big Bang was a punishable offence. The acceptance of the Big Bang is a tribute to scientific integrity [note the One in integrity]

 Every strory starts in the middle. Yes, Bereshith means in the Beginning, but it is only the beginning for the reader; the origins of the Creator and the motivations are outside the explorable area. The  first letter , בְּ , is a bracket. Anything that happened before is off limits. 

 The parsha's story of creation invokes the Creator. This is the simplest explanation, the prime mover unmoved. Soon we are informed that Creator cares about the outcomes. Light is good, life is good. The Creator cares most about the humans. The transgression of the Human brings a curse on the Earth. 

 אֲרוּרָ֤ה הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּֽעֲבוּרֶ֔ךָ

cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

As the parsha ends, Gd will destroy all non-aquatic life because of Human error: 

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְ  אֶמְחֶ֨ה אֶת־הָאָדָ֤ם אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֙אתִי֙ מֵעַל֙ פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה מֵֽאָדָם֙ עַד־בְּהֵמָ֔ה עַד־רֶ֖מֶשׂ וְעַד־ע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם כִּ֥י נִחַ֖מְתִּי כִּ֥י עֲשִׂיתִֽם׃

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth: both man, and beast, and creeping things, and the birds of the air; for I repent that I have made them.

Human centrality in this story is emphasized in the  early events in chapter 2.  Humanity was the purpose in this creation story

 וְאָדָ֣ם אַ֔יִן לַֽעֲבֹ֖ד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה

And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet grown: for the Lrd Gd had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

The story of the Tree of Knowledge, the first human blunder is central. The decision to ingest this mind altering drug , despite the warning that it is a lethal poison, determines the trajectory of humanity and ( according to the story) the world  that was created for it. 

The first human death, Abel at the hand of Cain, may have been caused by the judgmental facility introduced into the human epigenome by ingestion of the fruit.  Perhaps, absent this new, acquired, human propensity to judge, the competition and self loathing that led to the murder would not have occurred. Thus, Gd's warning that eating of the fruit brought death was a true prophecy; it caused a murder. And the manslaughter begot retribution and more homocide.  Welcome to the world as we have it.

Does an understanding of the dangers of opinion help us navigate our lives?   Perhaps it can. Knowing it is there, that we are all intoxicated by our opinions and will be envenomated by their consequences opens the possibility of question. The alternative is stated. 

לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ וְאֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָת֔וֹ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּמְשׇׁל־בּֽוֹ׃

 sin crouches at the door, and to thee shall be his desire. Yet thou mayst rule over him.