8 Michael Stroh Joseph Soloveichik, Orthodox theologian and Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University , in his book The Lonely Man of Faith, talked about Adam I and Adam II. Soloveichik was Orthodox . We would talk about Adam and Eve I and Adam and Eve II. The typologies of the two first couples are his interpretation of the two creation stories in Bereshit(Genesis). I quote Soloveichik:“Adam the first who was fashioned in the image of God was blessed with great drive for creative activity and immeasurable resources for the realization of this goal, the most outstanding of which is the intelligence, the human mind, capable of confronting the outside world and inquiring into its complex workings... God , in imparting the blessing to Adam the first and giving him the mandate to subdue nature, directed Adam’s attention to the functional and practical aspects of his intellect through which man is able to gain control of nature.”(Soloveitchik , p.12) Adam/Eve the first is technological humanity.

Again Soloveichik,“Adam the second is, like Adam the first, also intrigued by the cosmos. Intellectual curiosity drives them both to confront courageously the mysterium magnum of Being. However, while the cosmos provokes Adam the first to quest for power and control... Adam the second responds to the call of the cosmos by engaging in a different kind of cognitive gesture. He does not ask a single functional question. Instead his inquiry is of a metaphysical nature... He asks:‘What is the purpose of all this?” (Soloveitchik , p.21) Adam/Eve the second is spiritual humanity.

Both aspects of the human being are legitimate and Adam/Eve must fulfill both natures. If the pre-Enlightenment world made a great deal of room for the spiritual, the modern world becomes more and more technical and functional. In universities we see science, engineering and business departments expanding while philosophy, literature, art and music departments shrink and even close. Our world is in desperate need of the spiritual and people