Chazal make what seems to be a most peculiar statement: "You [Israel] are called adam [man], and the non-Jews are not called adam." (Yevamot 61a, Bava Metzi'a 114b, Keritot 6b, et al). This cannot be taken at face value: after all, the Talmud itself (Sanhedrin 38a) states that "Adam [man] was created alone... for the sake of the tzaddikim and the wicked - so the tzaddikim cannot claim, 'We are descended from a tzaddik [and we therefore do not need to keep distant from sin, because we are invulnerable to its temptation - Rashi],' and the wicked cannot claim, 'We are descended from a wicked man [and we therefore have no need to repent, because it won't help us anyway - Rashi].' Another reason [that Adam was created alone] was so that different families should not quarrel with each other [with one family boasting to another, 'Our ancestor was greater than yours.' - Rashi]."


More than this: the Ramban (novellae on Tractate Yevamot 61a) points out an obvious difficulty here. The Torah speaks of the commandments, "which a man [adam] shall do and live in them" (Leviticus 18:5), on which the Talmud (Bava Kamma 38a, Sanhedrin 59a, Avodah Zarah 3a) comments: "From where do we learn that even a non-Jew who occupies himself with the Torah is like a High Priest? From the verse, 'which a man [adam] shall do and live in them'; [the Torah] does not specify priests, or Levites or Israelites, but simply 'a man' [adam]. This teaches that even a non-Jew who occupies himself with the Torah is likened to a High Priest."


The implication is clear: adam [man] refers to a non-Jew as much as to a Jew. And so, we have to try to understand what Chazal mean by claiming that the term adam refers specifically to Israel.


The Vilna Ga'on points out that Hebrew has several synonyms for "man" - ish, enosh, gever, ben-adam, adam. Each of these terms has a plural form: ish pluralizes as ishim; enosh pluralizes as anashim; gever as g'varim; ben-adam as b'nei-adam. Adam is unique in having no plural form. Like the nation of Israel, adam stands alone and can not be pluralized.


With this as an introduction, we can now look at the chronology of the original Adam's first day: "In the first hour, the dust [from which he was created] was gathered together; in the second hour, he became an unformed mass; in the third, his limbs were stretched forth; in the fourth, his soul was infused into him; in the fifth, he stood on his feet." (Sanhedrin 38b, Yalkut Shimoni on Genesis 15)


Each of the six days of Creation corresponds to 1,000 years of this world, and the seventh day - the first-ever Shabbat - corresponds to the days of Mashiach, scheduled to begin no later than the year 6000 (see Sanhedrin 97b). According to a simple calculation, if each day of Creation corresponds to 1,000 years of history, then each hour of Creation corresponds to 41 years and 8 months.


The end of the fifth day of Creation, then, corresponds to the year 5000 (1240 CE); the twelve hours of the sixth night correspond to another 500 years; and the beginning of the sixth day of Creation corresponds to the year 5500 (1740 CE). The subsequent five hours correspond to a further 208 years and 4 months. Hence, the fifth hour of the sixth day of Creation - the time when Adam, representing Israel, stood up on his own two feet - corresponds to the year 5708 (1948 CE).


5708 (1948) was the year that Israel stood up on its own two feet. This is the independence that we celebrate on Yom Ha'atzmaut.


Chag Atzmaut same'ach.