maybe hashkafically probllematic, what is the meaning of the Breishis creation & gan eden accounts in relation to "what actualy happened". not re big bang or evo etc
We cannot possibly imagine what was "going through God's mind" during creation. Even if go told us we could not possibly understand. The purpose of the creation account therefore cannot be to convey what wGod was 'thinking'. In the rest of the chumash, God conveys via moshe rabenu a shadow of what God thought eg in the story of Sdom, God "says to himself" such and such, but this is what God chose to tell M"R to write down to convey to us, it is as chazal say "written in the language of humans".
What "actually happened" during creation? Well, we are not intellectually equipped to really understand the process of bringing physicality into existence from non-existence, the creation of time, the creation of the concept of a concept as exists in human minds, etc. And as chazal point out, the purpose of the creation account is not to tell us chronology, what was created first and then second etc. So it is not meant to tell us "what actually happened". There are other purposes - as pointed out by chazal for example it is to tell us why the universe was created, or why WE were created, or what OUR purpose is.
Dvorim is God's direct dictation to MR, but it is ostensibly words that MR himself uttered. But maybe he uttered them with ruach hakodesh at the time or even nevuah, but it is written down in the Torah because God dicatated those words to MR, not because MR said them be'nevuah.Of course it is MR's highest level of nevuh which enabled the words (ostensiby words he himself had previously uttered) to be transmitted directly without being transformed by the intermediariship.
When the Torah tells us what Avimelech said, it is his words, but they are in the Torah only because God dictated them to MR, and the words were encoded with deep secrets by God at tha tpoint, secrets not meant by or known to Avimelech.
Indeed it is not obvious that Avimelech said exactly those words, maybe God is wording it as Avimelech meant inside his head or as God understood his deepest psychological intent rather the words he actually spoke, or the words as formulate din order to be able to encode the deep secrets God wanted to implant. It depends on what God is trying to convey to us.
But surely also Avrham had formulated an account of the encounter and transmitted it orally to Yitzcahk et,c and it would be known to M"R. So maybe just as God told MR to write "Ve eleh hadvorim asher diber Moshe.." so to God told him to write "vayomer Avimelekh.." but the words were those of the prophetic account transmitted by Avraham and known to MR, and of course maybe with additions or deletions or other changes. In fact, maybe Avraham be nevuah formulated the story of what had happened , and trasnmitted it as a nevuah to his descendants, or as an account complied be ruach hkodesh, and so when God dictated the story we have in the chumash to MR, God was using the words from the account God had instiled inAvraham be nevuah hundreds of years earlier.
Similarly: Noah presumaby was asked by descendants who were born long after the flood to tell them what had transpired, and as a Navi it is not unlikely that he had an account of the entire process, even the thinking of God that led to the flood, and he would transmit that acount to his descendants, and Shem taught it to Avraham and it reached the bnei yisrael (megilos..) and then God dicrttated some versio of that account - perhaps with divine input added during that dictation - so that the story we have in the chumash of the flood is a prophetic account of Noah, with some divine editing, and was not meant by God to be interpreted as "how God perceived the events of the flood".
What about creation? There are several layers:
1. the story itself (6 days, gan eden etc), a
2. the intention of why God told MR to write down this story and teach it to us and why we should immerse ourselves in it,
3. where the story first originated
4."what actually happened" as God understood it;
5. "what a human would have seen if they had been watching creation".
6. How God intended that we understand the story
7. the hidden meanings encoded by God as it was dictated to MR, eg as revealed by kabbalah etc;
8. The relation of the maaseh breishis and gan eden as written in Breishis to whatever account Adam and Chava had related to their descendants, long before Breishis was dictated by God to MR.
For example perhaps Adam and Chava, who communicated with God, and were therefore at the level of nevuah, formulated be nevuah an account of what had happened to them and transmitted it to their great grandchildren, so it was a story that was meant to be understood by all ages, at different levels (like bugs bunny, with the plot, dialogue, puns, classical music, and inner meaning of strong persecuting the weak, but the weak is more clever and survives on its wits).
However the words in Breishis are those which much later were dictated by God word for word to M"R. At that point they could be edited, and encoded with hidden meanings.
This week's Haftorah and this week's New York Times
A leader who built his nation lies old and dying next to his young
woman companion. Anticipating his imminent demise, a power struggle
rages between those close to him; he is seemingly powerless to
intervene. The outcome may have historic consequences for the Land of
Israel.
……………………
Daddy’s Torah:
• Rebbe mechabed ashirim: ??!!: gave everyone what they need, ie
to ashirim he gave kovod!
• Ayin Hara: People are given be’chesed, more than what they
deserve, However, if a person is unhappy at what you have, the Court
reviews to see if you’re worthy of it; if not, it can be taken away.
……..…..