AND GOD SAID, "LET THERE BE LIGHT," AND THERE WAS LIGHT. AND GOD SAW THE LIGHT THAT IT WAS GOOD, AND GOD SEPARATED BETWEEN THE LIGHT AND BETWEEN THE DARKNESS.

(Bereishit 1:3-4)

 

Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: One could see the entire history of the world through the light that was created on the first day. When the Holy One blessed be He saw the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersal [which was punished for building the Tower of Babel], He hid it [the light] away for the righteous in the [Messianic] future, as it is written: But the way of the righteous is like the light of dawn; it shines ever brighter until the day is perfect (Proverbs 4).

(Bereishit Rabba 42:3)

 

The Sages said that the Holy One blessed be He hid away this light because the world was not worthy to use it, because He feared that we are incapable of containing such an infinite light. After all, we misuse the small bit of limited light that is granted us, using it, for instance, to illuminate prison fences or to spy on our neighbors. As long as we do not use that light to illuminate that which is within us, it is better for it to remain hidden and protected until the End of Days. The Ba'al Shem Tov would say: "Where did the Holy One blessed be He hide that light? He hid it in the Torah." One who studies the Torah properly opens the book and can see the light of the Seven Days of Creation shining from within it. If you would ask where that light is hidden, I would say that some of it is hidden in Jerusalem... Jerusalem has a special light; it is not plain white light, but rather colorful light, light with character. It has a personality and it creates things.

(From Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael Steinsaltz's article "Ha'Or Ke'Veriya Rishona" in Urim, published by Am Oved and Keren Adi)

 

The Pure Sin of the Tree of Knowledge

Moshe Meir

And the Lord God commanded man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die."... Now the serpent was cunning, more than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made, and it said to the woman, "Did God indeed say, 'You shall not eat of any of the trees of the garden?'" And the woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, "You shall not eat of it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.'" And the serpent said to the woman, "You will surely not die. For God knows that on the day that you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like angels, knowing good and evil." And the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise; so she took of its fruit, and she ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles.

As is its custom, and in contrast to other narrative forms, the Torah gives us a partial description that leaves the reader room for interpretation. Exactly what kind of tree was the Tree of Knowledge? Since the Torah does not tell us, permission is granted for derashot to be produced:

What was that tree from which Adam and Eve ate? R. Meir says: it was wheat. When a person has no knowledge, they say [in a folk saying]: "That man has never eaten wheat bread in his life." R. Shemuel bar Yitzhak presented a contradiction to R. Zeira: Could it have been wheat? He said to him: Yes. He said to him: But it written tree!! He told him: They [the stalks of wheat] were as tall as the cedars of Lebanon... R. Yehuda bar Ila'i said: It was grapes, for it is said, their grapes are grapes of rosh, and they have bitter clusters. Those were the clusters that brought bitterness to the world. Rabbi Abba from Akko said: It was a citron. That is why Scripture says, and the woman saw that the tree was good - Say: Go and learn; which tree has wood that is eaten as are its fruits? You find none other than the citron. R. Yossi said: It was figs. We learn this from its context. It is like a parable of the prince who disgraced himself with one of the maidservants. When the king heard, he caused him grief and ejected him from the palace. He [the prince] would beg at the doors of the maidservants and none would receive him. However, the one with whom he had disgraced himself opened her door and received him. Similarly, when Adam at from that tree, the Holy One blessed be He caused him grief and ejected him from the Garden of Eden. He wandered among all the trees and none received him. What did they say to him? "Here is the thief, who stole his Creator's knowledge [i.e., deceived his Creator]." However, the fig [tree], from whose fruit he had eaten, opened its door and accepted him. That is why it says: They sewed fig leaves. (Bereishit Rabba 15)

Every attempt at identifying the Tree of Knowledge clings to some allusion, either from popular sayings or from the language of Scripture. The last identification views the fact that Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves an indication that they had also sinned with the fig tree. The interesting question is: why did eating from the Tree of Knowledge constitute a sin? It is possible to claim that the very fact that God prohibited them from eating its fruit made it a sin. However, the tree's connection with knowledge does not allow us to be content with this answer. Why did God consider a turn towards knowledge to be sinful and punish it with expulsion from the Garden of Eden? RaMBaM gives this question a powerful formulation:

"It would at first sight," said the objector, "appear from Scripture that man was originally intended to be perfectly equal to the rest of the animal creation, which is not endowed with intellect, reason, or power of distinguishing between good and evil: but that Adam's disobedience to the command of God procured him that great perfection which is the peculiarity of man... It thus appears strange that the punishment for rebelliousness should be the means of elevating man to a pinnacle of perfection to which he had not attained previously. (Guide for the Perplexed 1:2, Friedländer translation)

The RaMBaM explains that Adam had lacked moral understanding, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He already had the ability to discern truth from error from the start, and if he had not sinned that would have remained his pure and single faculty of reason. However, the plain meaning of the text implies that had it not been for the sin Adam would have lacked reason altogether.

Of their very essence, reason and knowledge involve breaking through limits and transgressing against rules. Reason is the mother of skepticism and the critical sense which challenge everything - including the utterances of the Highest Authority. It is impossible to employ reason without sinning, without breaking the rules of the game and questioning accepted ideas. The creation of a reasoning human entails the creation of a being who will surely sin; otherwise, he would not realize his essence.

Adam's expulsion from Eden is a corollary of his being a rational creature. A rational creature cannot remain in the Paradise of innocence. The story was placed at the beginning of the Torah to teach us that God wants there to be a creature that is different from the animals in that he questions, doubts, and rebels. Humans who imitate God follow suit. The parent or teacher who truly loves his child or student will want them to think independently. When the child or student disagrees with him - he will rejoice in his heart.

 

Man is Required to Respect Life

However, meat was not permitted to them until the time of the "sons of Noah," as is the opinion of our Rabbis. And this is the plain meaning of the verse. The reason for this [prohibition of eating meat] was that creatures possessing a moving soul have a certain superiority as regards their soul, resembling in a way those who possess the rational soul: they have the power of choice affecting their welfare and their food, and they flee from pain and death. And Scripture says: Who knows the spirit of man whether it goes upwards, and the spirit of the beast whether it goes downward to the earth? (Kohelet 3:21) But when they sinned and all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth (Bereishit 6:12), and it was decreed that they die in the flood, and for the sake of Noah He saved some of them to preserve the species, He gave the sons of Noah permission to slaughter and eat them since their existence was for his sake. Yet with all this, He did not give them permission regarding the soul thereof, and He prohibited them from eating a limb cut off from a living animal, and in addition He gave us [the children of Israel] the commandment prohibiting the eating of all blood because it is the basis of the soul... Thus He has permitted the eating of the body of dumb animals after death, but not the soul itself.

(RaMBaN on Bereishit 1:29, Chavel translation)

 

This is the record of Adam's descendants

Rabbi Nahmani says: How is it known that one human is equal in value to all creation? Since it says, this is the record of Adam's descendants [toldot], and there it says, this is the story [toldot] of heaven and earth when they were created (2:4). Before there was creation and doing, here too there is creation and doing.

(Avot De'Rabbi Natan 31:3)

 

And love your neighbor as yourself (Vayikra 19:18) Rabbi Akiva says: That is the great principle of the Torah.

Ben Azzai says: This is the record of Adam's descendants [- When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God] is a greater principle.

(J Nedarim 9:4, and in the Sifra)

 

But Ben Azai is of the opinion that our sentence, This is the record of Adam's descendents (Bereishit 5:1) is a still greater, more comprehensive principle. Here a much greater, much higher union of all men is given. This verse looks on the greatest criminal, the greatest degeneration, the greatest bestiality, all as Adam's descendents, as all developing out of the one Adam the one creation in the likeness of God... So ALL men are human beings, the divine likeness is never completely lost, that is the first Truth which stands at the head of the history of Man.

(R. S. R. Hirsch on Bereishit 5:1, Levy translation)

 

Everyone is Created in God's Image

Man is beloved, having been created in the Divine Image (Avot 3:14)... this refers to every man, says Rabbi Akiva. This is the proof he brought that that it speaks of the sons of Noah, and not only the Israelites. Rabbi Akiva wanted to include all men, including the Noahides. The RaMBaM made a full statement about this in chapter eight (halakhot 10-11) of Hilkhot Melakhim: "Moses our Teacher was commanded by God to compel all human beings to accept the commandments enjoined upon the descendents of Noah. Anyone who does not accept them is put to death. He who accepts them is invariably styled a resident alien... A gentile who accepts the seven commandments and observes them scrupulously is a ‘righteous gentile,' and will have a portion in the world to come."...and so, I am puzzled why this became so distant to the commentators, who did not want to understand that Rabbi Akiva meant to speak regarding all humanity, and who think he was referring to Israel alone. They supported their ideas with the statement [of the Sages] of blessed memory, "you [Israel] are called adam, etc." - but this is building one derasha on top of another! Thus they forced their interpretation of the divine image, and of the verse they had brought as a proof text. I think that this is the broad and paved road which Rabbi Akiva wanted to smooth out for everyone in the world, as the RaMBaM says we were commanded by Moses of blessed memory to include everyone in the world. And if we were commanded to force them by the sword and destruction, we are certainly required to draw their hearts to the will of their Creator and to the desire of their Rock through words... And they are beloved, having been created in the Divine Image, their hearts readied for study. For this is the law of man - to follow the laws and statutes of God in recognition of His having commanded them, as the RaMBaM says, since they were beloved of their Creator, in His image.

(Tosafot Yom Tov on Avot 3:14)

 

... There we tried to make it clear that both grammatical and logical analogy speak against the assumption that the word adam is derived from adama [earth], which would make "earth-born" the characteristic of Man, whereas clearly adama is derived from the word adam. The characteristic of being "earth-born" is one which is common to all animals, and the special characteristic of Man would be just that he is not entirely originated from the earth, but that the breath of God, breathed into his earth-made body made him into a Man. The manner in which a preliminary announcement is made here already tells us that in adam the creation of a being of a higher nature and a higher calling is about to be made. In sentences like And you are My flocks, the flocks of My pasture, you are adam the word adam cannot possible have referred to origin from a block of earth. In the article referred to above we traced the etymology of the word adam to come from the meaning adom - "red", as the least broken ray of the spectrum, of the pure ray of light, i.e., the nearest revelation of the divine on earth; from the phonetic relation to hadom, "foot-stool," as the footstool of the feet of the Divine presence on earth and bearer of the glory of God on earth... [adam is similar to] hatam - "seal" (which relation is also indicated by the root atam - "to close"), as God's seal on the creation which brings home to the world its unseen Lord and Master; and finally it is related to dama with the individualizing alef prefixed; a being whose whole mission consists in his being "a likeness of God," but who is to effect this likeness through his free-willed, independent energy, thereby the representative, the deputy, the alter-ego of the Supreme Being - all these ideas at rock bottom come to the same thing, just as the derivations o the word adam: adom, hadom, hatam, a-dam have substantially the same conception, they could all be summed up in the idea of representative, and designate adam as "representative", "deputy."

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Bereishit 1:26)

 

...it first recounts that He, may He be blessed, created Adam in His form and image so that he might choose to resemble his Creator as far as possible for in that he will be perfected and his actions will be perfected and more honored than any other actions, as is worthy of Him, may His name be blessed, Who is exalted over all others. And He in his merciful compassion granted man enough to satisfy his needs without trouble, and placed him in the Garden of Eden until his deeds became wicked and ruined his livelihood when Blessed God expelled him from there to work the land, and to undertake several tasks until he could eat his bread.

(From the introduction to R. Ovadia Seforno's commentary on the Torah)

 

Readers Respond

Pinchas Leiser did well to warn us (in the Ki Tetze issue of Shabbat Shalom) of the dangers of initiating wars, especially when that happens merely in order to "increase... [the king's] greatness and fame," and, therefore, how important it is that the decision to wage such wars should be approved by "an independent judicial authority."

One of the ironies of contemporary Zionism is that a leader can enter into peace negotiations - and not wage war - in order to increase his greatness and fame.

Of course, we will accept a just and stable peace with open arms regardless of its motivations, but negotiations that are mainly motivated by personal political interests are likely to produce genuine damage. Unfortunately, it is not clear which independent judicial authority has the ability to oversee such cases.

David Reznik - Jerusalem

 

Pinchas Leiser, author of the article and editor of Shabbat Shalom, comments:

I thank Dr. David Reznik for his response and his important comment. Indeed, every political decision requires good judgment and it is certainly proper that peace negotiations be undertaken not out of ambitions for political survival or media "spin" but rather from an honest desire to consider an option for ending bloodshed and bringing peace to our land. Alongside this, I emphasized in my article the danger of waging an optional war as this is made clear by considering the moral consequences of such wars for individuals and societies via a reading of the words of the Sages and of the commentators on the first passages of Ki Tetze.

According to this reading, parashat Ki Tetze describes what can happen when a decision is made to wage an optional war. I pointed out the existence of an urge to conquer found in every individual and in every society, and the need to rein it in.

This urge finds its satisfaction in war and violence - and not in negotiations aimed at achieving peace.

 

 

 

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