Origins of Different Human Races

If Adam and Eve were the first people in the world created by God then can we have people who are Asian Indian black etc. if they were only two people initially created and everyone came from those two people.

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

There are a number of answers to this question to be found in rabbinic literature.

Take this passage from the Talmud (Sanhedrin 108b):

“The Sages taught: There were three who violated the instruction and engaged in intercourse while in the ark. Each one was punished for doing so. They are: The dog, the raven, and Ham, the son of Noah. The dog was punished in that it is bound (in that it is an animal that is associated with the need for a leash to control it) the raven was punished in that it spits (a comment on how it reproduces), and Ham was afflicted in his skin (that it turned black.)”

From here it can be suggested that black people descend from Ham.

There is also this passage from the Talmud (Shabbat 31a)

“...a man asked: Who here is Hillel, who here is Hillel? ...Hillel, wrapped himself and went out to greet him. He said to him: My son, what do you seek? He said to him: I have a question to ask. He said to him: Ask, my son, ask. The man asked: Why do Africans have wide feet? Hillel said to him: You have asked a significant question. The reason is because they live in marshlands and their feet widened to enable them to walk through those swampy areas.”

From here we see that perhaps G-d changed people bodies and features over the centuries based on their needs to better survive in the parts of the world they lived in.

The Book of Genesis, in Chapter 6, when read along with the Rashi commentary, suggests that angels mated with human women which can also be a source for different physical features among people.

While these teachings might help us understand the origins for the many human races in the world, it is impossible to know with accuracy how and when each bodily feature that is associated with each race came about.