Parshat B’reishit: On the visible seams in the Torah

Many of us non-Orthodox Jews accept the theory that the Torah is a combination of four ancient traditions edited by scribes—most say under divine influence—into one text. What astounds me is that the scribes who did the redacting/editing seem to have made no effort whatsoever to cover their tracks. Instead, they appear to have treated the redaction process like a quilting bee, piecing together patches of text from the different traditions and leaving the seams between the patches just as visible as the seams in a Torah scroll.

One of the most obvious examples of this approach is the two stories of creation that appear in Parshat B’reishit. In the first, “ . . . G-d created the human in His image, in the image of G-d He created him, male and female He created them.” (Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27.) In the second, HaShem put Adam under anesthesia, performed a rib-ectomy on him, and used the rib to create Eve. (Genesis, chapter 2, verses 21-22.) Perhaps one should give the traditionalists credit for their creativity in trying to prove that there’s only one creation story despite the evidence to the contrary.