For the week of October 10, 2026 / 29 Tishri 5787

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B’reshit
Torah: B’reshit/Genesis 1:1 – 6:8
Haftarah: 1 Shmuel/1 Samuel 20:18–42

And the man named his wife, “Chavah,” for she was the mother of all living (B’reshit/Genesis 3:20; translation: mine)

The Hebrew title, B’reshit, is the very first word of all Scripture, meaning “in the beginning,” before which was nothing; then God speaks, and it isn’t long before we have everything. But this is not just about God creating the universe. That he did is foundational, but we are told much more than that. As I am entering my 29th year of providing TorahBytes, let’s look at something I have never explored before.

The story of creation is crowned by the introduction of creatures unique among the rest, as human beings were alone made in God’s image. As God’s image, we were created as his representatives on Planet Earth, called to bring the creation under his authority. First, we learn that man and woman together reflect God’s image. Later we learn in more detail the process of our creation and our distinctive roles.

That’s before things went wrong, when the woman gave in to the serpent’s deception, followed by her husband’s acquiescence, resulting in the painful, frustrating, death-filled world that you and I have inherited. And yet, despite the man’s irresponsible, short-sighted, destructive action, he could look at his God-given intimate companion and speak hope. It’s too bad, however, that many, if not most, non-Hebrew readers have been oblivious to this remarkable pronouncement. Oblivious, that is, until now. Welcome to “The Adventures of Mudman and LifeGiver”!

A problem with translation is that, while it can bridge gaps between languages, cultures, and time periods, it struggles to fully draw listeners (or readers) into the original language’s complex layers and nuances. One example is wordplay, which Hebrew Scripture regularly uses. A challenge in representing Hebrew wordplay in English is that English wordplay often sounds humorous or cute. Perhaps the most common wordplay in English is puns or the “dad joke,” which I love, but not everybody does. Hebrew Scripture, however, often uses wordplay to make a serious point. Such is the case in the verse I quoted at the beginning.

To truly explore the impact of Adam’s naming of Eve (as we call them in English), we need to remember what just happened. Their rebellion undermined God’s intention for humanity. Yet when Adam (whose name we’ll get to in a second) named his wife, he pronounced what we might call a prophetic statement. He spoke a powerful truth from God’s perspective. Despite the inevitability of pain, frustration, and death, he called out a core blessing of not only his wife, but of all women forever. The same person who went down in history as the first to succumb to the serpent’s deceit would be henceforth known as “Chavah,” derived from the word “chai” (life), setting her apart as “LifeGiver.” This idea may have come from Adam’s hearing God’s earlier words of judgment upon the serpent.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (B’reshit/Genesis 3:15).

God declared that the woman, despite her seriously misguided decision, would be the source of the Evil One’s eventual destruction. Despite precipitating innumerable struggles ahead, women would still have a redemptive role to play as the channel through which human beings come into the world. Designed by God to nurture us from birth, she who brought death would nevertheless be known as LifeGiver!

LifeGiver’s husband’s name was also a wordplay. Adam (pronounced a-DAHM) comes from the Hebrew word adamah (pronounced a-dahm-ah’), meaning earth, soil, dust, or ground. Trying to find the counterpart to LifeGiver, I settled on “Mudman,” partly because it sounded better than the others. Earthman is too close to earthling, which is too sci-fi for our purposes. Soilman and Dustman both sound like cleaning products. Groundman is like a gardener or a landscaper, which actually fits pretty well. But it’s not as good as Mudman! That’s because Mudman powerfully conveys humanity’s basic lifelessness and futility. God didn’t just form man from the ground (or the mud!). He then “…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (B’reshit/Genesis 2:7).

Both the man and the woman have a royal calling as stewards of Earth. Yet, our sense of royalty must be informed by our humble origins as mudmen and mudwomen, companions in bringing the life of God to the world, but who are nothing without his breath in us.

All Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.