5766

Know You From Adam? ___________ (Rosh Hashana 5766 / 2005) (Rabbi Seinfeld's blog - The Art of Amazement)

Every Jewish holiday commemorates something, right?

Passover - going out of Egypt
Shavuot - Mount Sinai
Hannukah - the Maccabean War

Rosh Hashana - ??

What seminal event marked the first Rosh Hashana?  According to a popular misconception, Hebrew tradition claims that Rosh Hashana marks the origin of the cosmos 5,766 years ago. Based on this answer, it's easy to dismiss the entire Torah (which is the foundation of all of Judaism), because it claims that only 5766 years have passed since the first Rosh Hashana. In fact, Jewish tradition states categorically that our 5,766-year-old calendar begins not with the cosmos but with primordial "Adam" and "Eve".

OK, so who were Adam and Eve? Not necessarily the first homo sapiens. Evidently, according to Medieval rabbinic sources (who claim to be transmitting ancient tradition), upon the advent of Adam and Eve there were other human-like creatures running around. It is entirely consistent with Jewish tradition to understand Adam and Eve not as the first people but the first people with a certain kind of awareness or mental capacity - we might call it "Divine" or "transcendental" awareness: that is, an ability to conceptualize and relate to an Infinite Creator.

Sounds OK, but so what? Well, please see this New York Times article. It seems that there is new scientific evidence that a human genetic change occurred in the middle-East about 5,800 years ago which enhanced higher brain functions.

What makes the dating coincidence even more interesting is recent research upholding the veracity of oral traditions in oral cultures. It's easy for a modern literate society to dismiss such legends as mythological, but it seems that ancient minds were far more adept than we at retaining information accurately via oral transmission. If so, then it should not at all surprise us that the descendents of the genetically enhanced humans would have retained an accurate tradition about the historicity of their genetic line.

It would be interesting to see a psychological or cultural study done of individuals who bear the gene within a low-frequency society, to determine whether or not there is any self-perception of cognitive differences.