BEGINNINGS (8): GENESIS 2
And He called
From our discussion of Genesis 1, we know that God’s word was the central part of the whole creative process – and the verb VaYikra (and He called) reflects that. God gave names to what He created, and by doing that He called them into existence.God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night[1].And God called the firmament Heaven[2].And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas[3].In light of this, it is significant that the very first thing that we see Adam doing (not just commanded to do, but actually doing), is giving names – VaYikra – to all the animals:
And the man gave names (VaYikra ) to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field[4].Why is that so important? Because&nbs...