The first sins in the Torah are not about man sinning against G-d: usages of the word for “sin” are, for all of Genesis, about man harming other people, not sinning against G-d. Which prompts a question: why does G-d care what we do to each other? How can the actions of individual people possibly rise to the level of attracting G-d’s attention, let alone His ire?
After all, isn’t looking after ourselves (even at a cost to others) a biological imperative, merely looking out for Number One?
I think I found an answer to this in the text, but it has been consistently buried under a mistranslation, so it has been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years.
Here is the verse, Numbers 5:6.
Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty
The above is the King James translation, but just about every translation gives us the same text, with very little variation. You can see for yourself – Jewish translations and Christian translations alike.
But the universal understanding does not accurately reflect the Hebrew!
Here is the key (bolded):
דַּבֵּר֮ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ אִ֣ישׁ אֽוֹ־אִשָּׁ֗ה כִּ֤י יַעֲשׂוּ֙ מִכׇּל־חַטֹּ֣את הָֽאָדָ֔ם לִמְעֹ֥ל מַ֖עַל בַּי-ֹו-֑ה וְאָֽשְׁמָ֖ה הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ הַהִֽוא׃
Speak to the Children of Israel: When a man or woman does any wrong toward a fellow man, putting himself higher than G-d, and that person realizes his guilt.
See the differences? There are two: the first is that the sin is, at least at the surface, against man and not G-d. The verse is apparently about sins against other people, not sins against G-d.
But the second difference unlocks a wealth of meaning: instead of being about sinning against G-d, or trespassing or something of the sort, the Hebrew is very simple – the Torah is telling us that harming someone else is elevating ourselves above G-d Himself.
Why is this important? Because it goes right back to the creation of man: man is created with a soul on loan from G-d. Our very essences contain a spark of the divine. And so harming someone else is abusing their souls, the divine element within every other person. It is deciding that our own desires are more important than someone else’s soul.
The Torah insists that there is a divine presence in each person. That is why human life must be valued (by us, not by G-d). When we harm others, we are acting as if we are better than someone else, better than their own divine spark.
The first named sin in the Torah is Cain giving in to his anger and jealousy. This is the same word used in this verse for sin/wrongdoing. We must always keep in mind that while sin crouches at the door, we can – and should – master it and the baser instincts that would turn us from a holy people into a mere collection of high-functioning animals.
Sin is that voice inside our heads urging us to do what we want to do. It is about giving in to animalistic desires to murder in the service of selfishness and greed, pride and lust. It is what leads us to harm others.
And this same verse could even be read a little differently: if we act to satisfy our own human desires, then we elevate those desires into the level of divinity. In other words: If my desires are more important than G-d, then I have made my desires the center of my world. I have made my weaknesses into a higher deity than G-d Himself.
Which means we have offered two answers to the initial question: “why does G-d care what we do to each other?”
First: when we harm others, then we are damaging the spark of the divine that constitutes each person’s soul. By sinning against other people, they we are denying their own connections to G-d.
And second: If we put our human desires on a pedestal, then we are actually worshipping an idol, our animalistic lusts and rages and appetites, instead of our divine calling for a connection to our Creator.