The rabbis of the Talmudic era asked themselves: Why did God create only one Adam? Why not several? Some said it was to highlight the value of the individual. Others to emphasize that all men are equal, since they all come from the same ancestor, Adam, the father of humanity.

One man was created to teach us that if someone takes the life of a single person, say our sages, it is as if he were destroying the entire world, but if one person saves the life of another, it is as if he were saving the entire world. Also the creation of one man is intended for peaceful coexistence among men, since none can say: “my father is greater or better than yours.”

A man can die-cut many coins using the same mold and all the coins will be identical. But God conceives each human being using the first man as a “mold” and yet they are all different from each other. As if the entire universe was created for him.

The rabbis conclude that the creation of the human being is the true purpose of creation itself. There is no other being, other than man himself, who can perfect or destroy the world. Human beings must be aware that we have dominion over the earth and of the consequences that this fact implies. There is no one else who can clean up what man messes up. The Midrash tells us: When God created Adam, He took him and showed him the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him: “How beautiful and splendid is my work. Everything I have created, I have created for you. Take care of it and do not corrupt yourself and destroy my world. Because if you corrupt yourself, there will be no one else who can repair it.”

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: “What do Jews Believe? by David S. Ariel.