by
Rabbi David Fohrman
What are we to learn from the narratives in the Torah?
A walking, talking snake.
A tree that bears mysterious knowledge of Good and Evil.
A mark upon Cain for all to see.
The early narratives in the Book of Genesis are familiar to us from
childhood, yet the meaning of these stories often seem maddeningly
elusive. For example:
By forbidding Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, did
God really not want mankind to be able to distinguish right from
wrong?
This book examines the early stories in the Book of Genesis, calling
attention to the big questions that bother us all, as well as to
the hidden subtleties of text and language. As clues and questions
are pieced together, deeper layers of meaning begin to emerge. In
the end, the reader gains an experience in the richness and depth
of Torah, and a profound confrontation with concepts that define
the core of what it means to be a Jew.
David Fohrman received his
rabbinical and biblical training at Ner Israel Rabbinical College
in Baltimore, Maryland. He is Resident Scholar in the Hoffberger
Foundation for Torah Studies and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins
University. Rabbi Fohrman has dedicated his life to teaching Bible
classes and is an editor of ArtScroll’s Schottenstein Edition
of the Talmud.
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