Evidently Moses mistrusted the close relationship that had existed between God and Adam. Rabbinical tradition reduces this danger to a minimum, striving to link Adam to man—to all men.

A Midrash: Why did God create one man and not more? To give us a lesson in equality and teach us that no man is superior to another; we all have the same forebear. That is also why the clay from which he was fashioned was gathered from every corner of the universe; thus no one can claim that the world or Adam belongs to him alone. Adam belongs to all men and to each to the same degree.

Also, so that a just man could not say: I am the son of a just man. And a non-believer: I am the son of a non-believer. And so that one man could not taunt another, saying: My father was greater than yours. And so that every man would feel responsible for the entire world. Since the world was created for one human being, whoever kills one human being, kills all mankind; and whoever saves one human being, saves all mankind. One text offers this cynical explanation: God created one single individual in order to prevent quarrels. And the text continues: Nonetheless, in spite of this precaution, men go on quarreling and killing one another. Imagine what would have happened to the world if God, in the beginning, had created more than one man?

Another question: Why did the Creator wait until the sixth day to give life to Adam—why didn’t he do it at the very start? Answer: When a king invites a guest, he first prepares a palace for him and only then asks him to come. Man is creation’s guest of honor. Another answer: To keep man from taking himself too seriously, from growing vain or arrogant, he could be asked: What are you boasting about—even mosquitoes preceded you in the order of creation?

And yet the Midrash attributes so many talents and virtues to Adam that it is difficult to understand how he did not fall victim to pride. In this respect, Jewish legend differs from most secular concepts, which consider the human being a function of progress. Never mind Darwin and his theory of evolution. Never mind Schopenhauer, who called man a “crazy wild beast restrained only by civilisation.” According to him, the further back one goes, the deeper one delves into the past, the more man emerges as a primitive creature dominated by obscure, irrational and deadly instincts.

In Jewish tradition it is just the opposite: man’s past is linked to history’s sacred origins. A divine reflection, the first man was more righteous, more accomplished than the most “evolved” of his descendants would ever be.

What has not been said about Adam? He was so tall that his body spanned the earth from one end to the other. And so beautiful that the splendor of his heel outshone that of the sun. And so powerful that the wild beasts trembled in his presence.