6Reason, Torah, and God
140It Takes More Than One to Do Great Good; But a Single Person Can Do Immense Evil
7Why Read This Commentary?
141Chapter 19
8A Few Details
142There Weren’t Even Ten Righteous People in Sodom
9Preface
143The Men of Sodom Seek to Rape the Strangers
10Chapter 1
144What Was the Great Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?
11Essay: The First Verse—a First in Human History
145It Is the Sin That Causes the Suffering—Not the Punishment
12On the Question “Who Created God?”
146No Matter How Bad, Most People Don’t Leave Their Homelands
13Essay: God’s Existence
147Why Did God Save Lot?
14Essay: Do Science and Genesis Conflict?
148Why Did Lot’s Wife Stop Fleeing?
15Essay: Why God Is Depicted in Male Terms
149What Does God “Remembered” Mean?
16Boys Take Rules From Men
150Why Did Lot’s Daughters Sleep with Him?
17Males Need Male Role Models
151Once Again, the Perils of Alcohol
18The Male Is More Rule-Oriented
152Chapter 20: God-Fearing Is a Moral Label and Can Apply to People outside of One’s Own Faith
19God Is Not within Nature. God Created Nature.
153Chapter 21
20God’s Name
154We Choose When to Feel Hurt or Insulted
21The Bible Begins with the God of All the World, Not the Story of the Jews
155The Number Seven
22Disorder—the Natural State of the World without God
156Chapter 22
23God Speaks and His Will Is Done
157The Ultimate Test of Abraham
24Why Does God Declare His Creation “Good”?
158God Says “Please”
25Essay: What Does “Day” Mean in Genesis 1?
159Why Didn’t God Just Say, “Take Isaac”?
26Plants before the Sun?
160Why Did Abraham Awaken Early to Go and Sacrifice His Son?
27The Sun and the Moon Dethroned as Gods
161Why Didn’t Abraham Argue with God?
28Why “Sea Monsters” Are Mentioned
162Why God Tested Abraham This Way: The Universality of Human Sacrifice
29The Creation of “Man”
163Good People Must Be as Willing to Sacrifice as Bad People Are
30The Creation of “the Man”
164Essay: Faith Demands Sacrifice
31The Male-Female Distinction Is Part of God’s Order
165Chapter 23
32Either Man Will Rule over Nature, or Nature Will Rule over Man
166Chapter 24
33Chapter 2
167The Longest Chapter in Genesis Is about . . . a Marriage
34From Creating to Making
168Essay: Goodness Is More Important Than Anything Else
35Holy Time—Unique to the Torah
169Life’s Three Mirrors
36Two Words for “Work”
170Observe How a Person Treats Strangers
37A Second Description of Creation—Details about Man’s Creation
171Gratitude: The Root of Both Goodness and Happiness
38The Only Time (but One) the Torah Conjoins Both of God’s Names
172The Bible’s First Reference to Love
39The World Needs Both Mercy and Justice
173Chapter 25
40Essay: Does the Torah Advocate Vegetarianism?
174Essay: The Afterlife
41Essay: It Is Not Good for Man to Be Alone
175To Ishmael’s Credit
42Animals Cannot Replace Humans
176Once More, to Ishmael’s Credit
43Essay: Marry and Become a Man
177Isaac, the Unknown Patriarch
44Chapter 3
178Once Again, the Younger Outshines the Older
45Is the Garden of Eden Literally True?
179Is Hunting a Moral Issue?
46Misquoting God or Man Can Lead to Catastrophic Consequences
180Was Jacob Morally Wrong in Getting Esau to Sell the Birthright?
47The Unique Power of the Eye
181Chapter 26
48We Are All Adam and Eve
182What Does Belief in God Mean?
49The Woman’s Desire for a Man
183Humanity Will Be Blessed through the Jews
50Essay: Woman’s Desire for a Dominant Man
184On Trusting Strangers
51What Does It Mean When Man Becomes like God?
185To Envy or to Emulate the Successful? That Is the Question.
52Why Didn’t Adam and Eve Protest Their Expulsion from Eden?
186Chapter 27
53Chapter 4
187Human Intervention May Be Warranted to Bring about God’s Plans
54When Do Intentions Matter?
188The Woman in This Family Is the Strongest Person in It
55Do We Envy or Emulate Those Who Surpass Us?
189A Plausible Defense of Jacob’s Deceptive Behavior
56Goodness and Happiness
190Younger Brothers in the Torah
57Essay: The Most Empowering Idea in Life
191Chapter 28
58Chapter 5
192On Favoring One Child over Another
59Male and Female Are Equal—and Constitute a Divine Distinction
193Human-God Contact
60Essay: The Problem of the Long Lives
194God in Our Lives
61Chapter 6
195Essay: Can We Expect God to Protect Us?
62We Need Both the Good Urge and the Bad Urge
196Essay: On Making Deals with God
63People Are Guilty for Their Bad Actions, Not Their Bad Thoughts
197Chapter 29
64Does God Know the Future?
198The Unfair (but Undeniable) Importance of Female Beauty
65God: “The Most Tragic Figure in the Bible”
199Working for—and Sleeping with—an Illusion
66Essay: Why Would a Good God Destroy the World?
200Chapter 30
67Essay: Why Were Animals Destroyed in the Flood?
201Essay: Is Life Meaningful without Children?
68Essay: People Are to Be Judged by the Standards of Their Time, Not of Ours
202What Is a Man to Do When His Wife Lashes out in Pain?
69The Uniqueness of the Torah’s Flood Story
203Chapter 31
70Noah Was Not a Jew
204Belief in Idols and Belief in God
71Is There a Relationship between How People Treat Animals and How They Treat People?
205Essay: On Lying
72Why Didn’t Noah Argue with God?
206Chapter 32
73Chapter 7
207Everyone Has Crises of Faith
74Chapter 8
208Essay: The Meaning and Importance of the Name “Israel” (“Struggle with God”)
75God Made Nature for Man
209How to Preserve National Memory
76Unlike Pagan Gods, God Doesn’t Need Food
210Chapter 33
77God’s Three Attempts to Have Man Do Good
211Why Did the Brothers Weep?
78Essay: The Belief People Are Basically Good Is Foolish and Dangerous
212Jacob Owes Esau Amends
79Chapter 9
213Chapter 34: Rape Followed by Loving Words
80Essay: On Having Many Children
214Chapter 35
81Man May Eat Animals
215Physical Reminders to Be Grateful
82Humane Treatment of Animals Is Universally Binding
216Monotheism Was Not Adopted Overnight
83The Ban on Consuming Blood
217How Torah Monotheism Changed the World
84Essay: The Death Penalty for Murder Is a Moral Cornerstone of Society
218On Regarding God as Provider
85Essay: When Good People Have Bad Children
219God Directly Affirms Jacob’s Name-Change to Israel
86Chapter 10
220Why Does Reuben Sleep with His Father’s Concubine?
87The God of the Torah Is the God of All Nations
221Esau Was Not a Bad Man
88Seven Sons of Japheth
222Chapter 36
89Seven Grandsons of Japheth
223God and the Torah Care about All Nations (and Individuals)
90Four Sons of Ham
224The Torah and Later Judaism’s Attitudes toward Conversion
91Seven Grandsons of Ham
225Chapter 37
92And the Mighty Nimrod
226If People Learned from Others’ Mistakes . . . the World Would Be a Beautiful Place
93Seven Sons of Mizraim (Egypt)
227When Family Communications Break Down
94Eleven Descendants of Canaan and Their Land
228The Brothers’ Resentment of Joseph
95Descendants of Shem
229Is Jacob’s Apparent Reference to Joseph’s Dead Mother a Torah Inconsistency?
96Chapter 11
230Envy and Festering Anger Lead to Bad Outcomes
97Essay: The Self-Destructive Pursuit of Fame
231Jacob Tries to Have His Sons Get along
98Essay: Is World Unity a Good Idea?
232God or Coincidence: Faith Is a Choice
99The Torah Mistrusts Cities
233Chapter 38
100Chapter 12
234“Brother-in-law” (Levirate) Marriage
101Why Did God Choose Abram?
235What Was Onan’s Sin?
102Abram’s First Test
236Deceptions in Genesis
103All Nations Will Be Blessed through One Nation
237Tamar’s Acting like a Prostitute
104Those Who Bless and Those Who Curse the Jews . . .
238Chapter 39
105The Torah’s View of Wealth
239Joseph as a Paradigm of the Jewish People
106It Is OK for Believers to Have Doubts—Even Abram Did
240Essay: Why Was Joseph Considered Particularly Righteous?
107Essay: Abram Tells Sarai to Lie: Was That Moral?
241Why Joseph Refused Mrs. Potiphar
108Chapter 13
242Did Potiphar Believe His Wife?
109Abram Was a Man of Peace, Not a Pacifist
243Chapter 40
110God Gives the Land of Israel to the Jews Forever
244Seeing One’s Talents as Gifts from God
111The Torah Is Earth-Bound (as Well as Heaven-Bound)
245We Cannot Rely on Miracles
112Chapter 14
246Memory Must Be Deliberately Kept Alive
113The Term “Hebrew”
247Chapter 41: Essay: In Our Personal Life It Is Good to Forget
114A Man Who Loves Peace Goes to War
248Chapter 42
115Chapter 15
249Chapter 43: Essay: Does “Chosen” Mean Superior?
116The Only Antidote to Fear
250Chapter 44
117Essay: The Importance of Both Faith and Works
251Another Pre-Torah Practice
118A Torah Inconsistency?
252“Love the Stranger” and “Love Your Neighbor”—Both Begin with Family
119The Torah Implies an Afterlife
253Chapter 45: Essay: God and Free Will
120Only Abraham Dies in Peace
254Chapter 46
121The Moral Basis for the Expulsion of the Canaanites
255Essay: How Not to Be Afraid
122Chapter 16
256Why Few Women Are Listed
123Sarai’s Well-Intentioned, but Bad, Idea
257Chapter 47
124The Torah Does Not Hide the Flaws of Its Heroes
258The Moral Power of Empathy
125God Cares about Everyone—Non-Jew as Well as Jew
259Life Is a Journey—to Where?
126Hagar, an Egyptian, Receives a Unique Gift from God
260Jacob Describes His Life as Brief and Hard. He Speaks for Most of Us.
127Chapter 17
261Lifespans in Genesis Mean Much More Than the Number of Years Lived
128The Covenant: Jews Are to Keep God Alive in the World and God Is to Keep the Jews Alive
262Chapter 48
129Essay: The Case for—and Meaning of—Jewish Circumcision
263Chapter 49
130What Is a Miracle?
264The Importance of Jacob’s Condemnation of Simeon and Levi
131Chapter 18
265On Controlling Anger
132Abraham’s Character
266Chapter 50
133The Patriarchs and Later Jewish Law
267About the Author
134The Divine Messengers Hint Who They Are
268Notes
