“God says, ‘Let there be,’ and there is… the key word of the narrative, appearing seven times, …is the word tov, good.

Tov is a moral word. The Torah…is telling us something radical. The reality to which Torah is a guide (the word ‘Torah’ itself means guide, instruction, law) is moral and ethical.

The question Genesis seeks to answer is not ‘How did the universe come into being?’ but ‘How then shall we live?’

This is the Torah’s most significant paradigm-shift. The universe that God made and we inhabit is not about power or dominance but about tov and ra, good and evil.

For the first time, religion was ethicised. God cares about justice, compassion, faithfulness, loving-kindness, the dignity of the individual and the sanctity of life.”