The opening line of the Torah, In the beginning Gd created the heavens and the earth, is accompanied by a famous commentary: The tannaic teacher Rabbi Yitzhak explains that the Torah should have started with the law regarding the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh) for the Torah is a book of law and the laws of the New Moon are the first given to the Children of Israel. He then explains that the Torah begins with the story of Creation so that if the nations of the world accuse Bnai Yisrael of stealing land we can respond that the earth belongs to its Creator to give to whoever is worthy, and Gd chooses Israel as worthy of this land. This commentary has justifiably been hailed as having great insight into modern reality. However, the Torah may open the way it does because of the curiosity of all people to want to understand the genesis of life. The opening chapters of the Torah speak to the shared desire of humanity to have answers to the deepest questions of meaning. It is not surprising that Jewish tradition wants to understand Creation through a Jewish lens, however, not to recognize the universality of human needs that the Torah addresses is to diminish the potential power of Torah in the lives of all nations.