Man became a speaking spirit?

[Dondi]

I happened to be flipping the channels and came upon one of those Christian TV stations (one that espouses Word of Faith) and a lady was quoting from an Aramiac translation of Genesis 2:7 which said, "and man became a speaking spirit". The implication was that man at that point acquired the ability to speak the spoken word, rather than grunt like an animal.

Now obviously, knowing what the Word of Faith movement entails, I knew they were using this to justify the idea of the 'power of speaking the Word' so prominent in their teachings. So my quetion isn't even pertaining to this.

But I was intrigued by this translation and wondered if it had any validity in Jewish circles. I found this website, which espouses a book on kabbalah, which talked about it a bit more.

The Beginning of Wisdom: Unabridged Translation of the Gate of Love

Has anyone heard of this?

[17th Angel]

I know that in some circles of Judaism they believe the woman is better at understanding and larger intuition drive because of Gen 2:7 Man being formed, woman being built and all.... The word Yitzer [formed - also inner drive.] is used in 2:7 and the word yiben [built - also insight, understanding and intution.] in 2:22.... lol sorry I have gone way off the radar right... *thinks of a way to redeem his post* It goes to show! That certain words can be seen as something different by others? lol...

[dauer]

Dondi,

I am not entirely certain what you are asking but there are aramaic translations of the Torah that paraphrase somewhat, are not direct translations but themselves are a type of interpretation. Targum onkelos is the most well known of these translations.

[Dondi]

I guess what I'm asking is if there is there a significant difference between interpreting it "living soul" and "speaking spirit". Why would it be interpreted so?

[Dream]

How about because of evolution? If we evolved, then we have to place a border between ourselves and animals. It makes sense in that case that when the story says life is breathed into man it must mean more than immediate animation, assuming there was evolution involved in the creation of humanity. Tons of people think evolution is how it all happened, so its worth thinking about. Apes are not very spiritual. What in the story could represent the beginnings of faith/intelligence/spirituality other than this inspiration? If there is evolution, then you could think of the breath as something that is still being put in. In a way it might mean that creation is still happening.