The Book of Genesis gives us not only the story of creation, but the basis for the entire world of values that characterizes human society.
We all use the expression that man is "created in his image," but what is that "image" that requires us to respect every person and not harm him? This is the complete verse: "In the image of God he created him.".
It is doubtful whether the public understands the ethical implications of the theory that life was created randomly, evolved gradually, and that man is nothing more than a higher stage of development of lower animals.
If this is indeed the case, what is permissible for a human being from an animal? Mammals also stand at a higher level than insects, but no different laws apply to them.
A lion is a robber, a crow is a thief
In the living world, one law governs: the strong survive. The weak, the sick, and the disabled are doomed to extinction.
Killing in the animal world is a completely normative behavior. Many animals also kill their own kind, in struggles for control and power. There is nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, it is positive behavior, which pushes aside the weak and ensures the supremacy of the strong.
Robbery and theft are very common behaviors in the animal kingdom. The cheetah works hard to catch its prey, and then the lion or tiger comes along and steals its meal.
Crows of one species toil to gather nuts and bury them in the ground for times of scarcity, but crows of another species follow them and steal their treasures. There is nothing wrong with that. It is the way animals survive and exist.
Why then are these behaviors considered negative and inappropriate among humans?
If man is nothing more than a higher stage of development of an animal, how is it possible that we apply to him a set of rules and laws that contradict everything that is accepted in the animal world?
And most importantly – by what authority do we determine other norms for him? Who exactly determines what is permitted and what is prohibited?
Ability to choose
The story of creation told in the Torah is the only one that provides an answer to these basic questions.
Man is not like all other creatures. Special attention is given to the story of man's creation, and he was also created in a different way than the other creatures were created.
Here the phrase 'image of God' appears, and in this man is distinguished from the beast.
Man is the only creature endowed with the ability to choose. All other creatures are programmed to act according to their nature, and in this sense there is no difference between the simplest worm and the most developed monkey – both act according to instincts and traits embedded in them.
The exception is man, who was given the ability to choose between good and evil, to overcome instincts and natural traits, and to make moral decisions.
This is the foundation of the moral principles that bind humans. Upon his creation, man received special commandments from the Creator of the universe, including prohibitions against idolatry, murder, theft, incest, and more. This is the authority that obliges us to behave differently from animals, and by which we know how to distinguish between good and evil. This is the profound meaning of the story of creation.
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