Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/59

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41

The Story of Creation And

honor

shalt

not doing thy wonted ways,

it,

Nor pursuing thy business, nor speaking thereof Then shaU thou dehght thyself in the Lord, And I will make thee to ride upon the high places

And

will feed thee with the heritage of

I

For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken

it.

of the earth,

Jacob thy father; (Isaiah LVIII, 13f.)

NOTES In presenting this story of creation, the teacher should not insist

upon the children's memorizing

all the petty details, but should endeavor constantly to bring out the basic Jewish ideas of the goodness of God and of all His creation, and of the divinely appointed purpose of good of human existence, and of the beauty and blessing of the Sabbath, and of the proper manner of observing it. Inasmuch as very many people have regarded this story as absolute history, various interpretations of the seven days of creation have been given, all seeking to harmonize the story with the fact, established by science, that the earth and life thereon are the results of slow, evolutionary processes, extending probably over millions of years. Often it is claimed that in this chapter the word "day" means, not just twenty-four hours, but a very long and indefi-

period of

nite

rationalization,

chapter that

told

God his

This explanation, and

purposely

that

creation

all

similar

into this

fit

that

point,

the

attempts at

The Jewish author required

only

rested on the seventh day, and arranged

the story to lish

time.

are altogether valueless.

all

six

of this

days,

and

the details of

scheme in order, as has been said, to estabSabbath must have been instituted already

at creation.

The to

teacher,

convey

the

therefore,

impression

should never attempt to rationalize, nor that these details must be accepted as

hand still less should she endeavor to make from the beginning that this is only a story or a myth, and not history, by proceeding to expound the teachings This last has no place at all in the lower of science about creation. She should seek only to bring out classes of the religious school. the essential Jewish truths and principles which the story records, but to bring them out so clearly and convincingly that the children historical.

the

On

children

the other

realize

In this way she will be giving to the can not but feel and beheve. children not only our old, traditional story of creation, but even more, she will be laying the foundation in the children's minds for

a positive, systematic knowledge of

God and

of

the universe,

and