With the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for you were taken therefrom, for dust you are, and to dust you will return. (Bereishit 3:19)

 

 

And in the midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 20 [here based on Soncino translation]) it is further stated: "And it will cause thorns and thistles to grow for you - Had you merited it, you would have taken herbs from the Garden of Eden and tasted in them all the delights of the world; now that you have not merited it, you shall eat the herbs of the field. [R. Yitzhak said:] This was said with reference to the present-day generations, when a man repeatedly plucks his field and eats it while it is still herbage. When Adam heard this, his face broke out into a perspiration [of anguish] and he exclaimed, 'What! shall I be tied to the feeding-trough like a beast!' [The Holy One, blessed be] He said to him, 'Since your face has sweated, you shall eat bread.' R. Issi said: It had been better for him to remain with the first curse."

This midrash shows us that man, being of greater intelligence than all the [other] creatures below, wept tears when the blessed Lord gave him and the other animals all the herbs of the field, for it is unbefitting that man join all other living things in something vital to his life. But then the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, With the sweat of your face you shall eat bread - with the sweat of your face - that man will have to apply his mind to this activity and all intellectual activity involves toil and work, because it does not occur of its own accord and requires intelligent effort. All of this comes to distinguish man as intelligent in that he will gain his sustenance through human activity, which is intelligent, and this befits him. The statement, "It had been better for him to remain with the first curse" does not mean that he would have been better off if he had the herbs of the field [as his food], for that is certainly untrue, since the this matter granted him his superiority as an intelligent man, and it is fitting that his food also be such [i.e., requiring the application of intelligence]. Rather, by saying, "It would have been better for him to remain with the first curse" he means that if it were easy for man to acquire his sustenance he would avoid several sins, since when someone cannot find food he robs and steals and commits several sins. It was with reference to this that he said, "It would have been better for him to remain with the first curse." However, considering his superior status as an intelligent man it was befitting that his sustenance be produced through the efforts of intelligent humans. That is why you should not ask why the food of humans is not natural. In any event, as we have said, the proper blessing is "Who brings forth bread from the earth," for the blessed Lord gave it [grain] power to satisfy, but it requires preparation through human efforts.

(MaHaRal MiPrague, Netivot HaAvodah chapter 17)

 

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 usual - and in contradistinction from other literatures - the Torah gives us a partial description which leaves the reader much room for interpretation. What kind of tree was the tree of knowledge? Since the Torah does not tell us, the darshan is free to go to work:

What was the tree where of Adam and Eve ate? R. Meir said: It was wheat, for when a person lacks knowledge people say, "That man has never eaten bread of wheat." R. Shmuel ben Yitzhak asked R. Ze'ira: "Is it possible that it was wheat?" "Yes," replied he. "But surely tree is written?" he argued. "It grew lofty like the cedars of the Lebanon" replied he. R. Yehudah ben R. Ila'i said: It was grapes, for it says, Their grapes are grapes of gall, they have clusters of bitterness (Devarim 32:32): those clusters brought bitterness [i.e. sorrow] into the world. R. Abba of Akko said: It was the etrog (citron), as it is written, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (Bereishit 3: 6). Consider: go forth and see, what tree is it whose wood can be eaten just like its fruit? and you find none but the etrog. R. Yossi said: They were figs. He learns the obscure from the explicit, and [the meaning of] a statement from its context, thus: This may be compared to a royal prince who sinned with a slave girl, and the king on learning of it expelled him from court. He went from door to door of the slaves, but they would not receive him; but she who had sinned with him opened her door and received him. So when Adam ate of that tree, He expelled him and cast him out of the Garden of Eden; and he appealed to all the trees but they would not receive him. What did they say to him? R. Berekhiah said: "'Behold, a deceiver who deceived his Creator, who deceived his Master!' as it is written, Let not the foot of presumption come unto me (Psalms 36:12), which means, the foot that presumed against its Creator; And let not the hand of the wicked shake me (ib.): i.e. let it not take a leaf from me. But because he had eaten of its fruit, the fig-tree opened its doors and received him, as it is written, and they sewed fig-leaves, etc. (Gen. 3:7)." (Bereishit Rabbah 15, based on Soncino translation)

Each attempt at identifying the tree relies on some allusion, be it to a popular saying or to Scripture. The last identification sees Adam and Eve's embarrassed covering-up with fig leaves as suggesting that the sin had also involved a fig tree.

The interesting question here is: Why did eating from the Tree of Knowledge constitute a sin? One might say that it was a sin because God forbade it, but the tree's connection with knowledge makes this answer unsatisfying. Why did God consider desire for knowledge to be sinful and punish it with expulsion from the Garden of Eden? RaMBaM expresses this question forcefully:

It would at first sight... 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, viz., the power of distinguishing between good and evil-the noblest of all the faculties of our nature, the essential characteristic of the human race. 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 tr)

RaMBaM explains that it was moral reason that Adam lacked - the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. From the very start, man possessed the kind of reason which distinguishes truth from falsity. Were it not for the sin, that would have remained his one pure faculty of reason. However, the plain meaning of Scripture indicates that had he not sinned, man would lack reason altogether.

The breaking of rules and limits is essential to reason and knowledge. Reason is the mother of critical and skeptical attitudes towards all things - including the words of the highest authority. It is impossible to exercise reason without sinning, breaking the rules of the game, and questioning accepted ideas. The creation of man as a rational being implies the creation of a being who would necessarily sin. Without sin he would fail to realize his essence.

Adam's rationality led to his expulsion from the Garden of Eden. A rational being cannot remain in the Eden of naiveté. By beginning with this story the Torah tells us that God wanted to create a being who would be distinguished from the animals in that he would question, doubt, and rebel. Man must imitate God in this. Parents and teachers who love their children and students will want them to develop independent thought. When their children and students disagree with them - they will rejoice.

 

He gave it to them willingly - The earth and the fullness thereof are the Lord's

In the beginning: Said Rabbi Isaac: It was not necessary to begin the Torah except from this month is to you (Shemot 12:2), which is the first commandment that the Israelites were commanded, (for the main purpose of the Torah is its commandments, and although several commandments are found in Genesis, e.g., circumcision and the prohibition of eating the thigh sinew, they could have been included together with the other commandments). Now for what reason did He commence with In the beginning? Because of [the verse] The strength of His works He related to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations (Psalms 111:6). For if the nations of the world should say to Israel, “You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan],” they will reply, "The entire earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it (this we learn from the story of the Creation) and gave it to whomever He deemed proper When He wished, He gave it to them, and when He wished, He took it away from them and gave it to us.

Rashi does not offer a philosophical answer to this question, but rather a midrashic answer. One might say it is almost a folkloristic answer which he takes from the midrash: parashat Bereishit was not given to us in order to teach about the world and the fullness thereof; rather it is directed towards the historical future as a foundation for the right of the People Israel to the Land of Israel in the face of the counter-claim by the nations of the world that "You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations." The reply to this is: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth - no human group owns the earth, since the earth and the fullness thereof are the Lord's and He disposes of it as He wishes. First he decided to give it to the Canaanites and then he decided to take it from the Canaanites and give it to Israel. We know that believing Jews use something like this midrash as the basis for their positions on serious real-world problems when engaging in arguments between Israel and the nations of the world. However, one must be very careful of using categories drawn from the midrashic exegesis of Scripture as the basis for positions reflecting political needs and interests. Such use can become a double-edged sword. If we continue along the lines of ideas that Rashi derives from midrash, we will be forced to say: Indeed, the earth and the fullness thereof are the Lord's, and thus He took the land from the Canaanites and gave it to Israel, and when He wished He took it from Israel and gave it to the Romans, and when He wished He took it from the Romans and gave it to the Arabs, and when He wished He took it from the Arabs and gave it to the Crusaders, and when He wished He took it from the Crusaders and gave it to the Mamelukes, and when He wished He took it from the Mamelukes and gave it to the Turks, and when He wished He took it from the Turks and gave it to the British - and again we appear as a party to the dispute. The deeper meaning of the midrash is that no nation has any right to any land, since God is the owner of all the earth.

(Y. Leibowitz: He'arot LeParashat Hashavua, pg. 12)

 

And the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed be you more than all the cattle and more than all the beasts of the field on your belly shall you crawl and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life."

(Bereishit 3:14)

 

It would appear that the phrase, on your belly shall you crawl and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life may be understood as a blessing. It removes the need for toil, since food is always available - no need to search or even to raise one's head to fulfill one's basic needs!

The problem is that when there is no need to search or to make an effort or to even raise one's head - then you remain close to the ground, and do not rise above it. There is in this an abandonment of human purpose and of the searching that is necessary for any development.

(From the thought of Menahem Mendel of Kotzk)

 

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 called 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)

 

Readers respond

A response to Debbie Weissman (Nitzavim-Vayelekh issue)

It was indeed an especially difficult year for the Jewish People across the world... The list of events appearing in the article's conclusion includes "Operation Cast Lead and its consequences." I am surprised by this one-sided formulation (Debbie Weisman fails to mention those members of the Jewish People in Sderot and the area around Gaza who suffered from Kassam rockets, Grad missiles, and mortar fire - all deliberately aimed at civilian areas - during the four years that followed the disengagement from Gaza). Could this be forgotten so soon?

Sylvie and Gabi Weil, Kfar Maimon

 

Pinchas Leiser, editor of Shabbat Shalom, comments:

Since this was not the only response making this point, I think that it would proper for me as the editor to respond to these comments on a fundamental level.

God forbid we should think that Dr. Debbie Weissman - or any other of us - has forgotten, taken lightly, or lacked empathy with the plight of those living in the south who suffered gravely from the Kassam rockets that were aimed against the civilian population. In light of the responses we received, I see that sometimes it is necessary to mention the obvious; I do not think anyone could forget such events. That being said, I do not think it absolves us from having to relate to what happened on the other side of the border. Following the first War in Lebanon, a governmental committee of investigation was set up to deal with the events of Sabra and Shatilla. Would it not better if that same moral sensitivity brought us to objectively investigate the events of the last war ourselves - not because of international public opinion, but out of an honest concern for our moral image of ourselves? And even if the conclusion will be that the bombing of Gaza was the only effective response to the missiles, and even if the conclusion will be that the IDF took maximal care and all that happened was necessary, just, and effective - should that keep us from expressing our sorrow over the serious harm suffered by the civilian population? Have we forgotten the sensitivity shown by our father Jacob before encountering his brother Esau, when he was worried he might have to kill his brother, even if it be in self-defense? Jacob became very frightened and was distressed, and Rashi, following the Sages, explains: Jacob became... frightened, and... distressed: He was frightened lest he be killed, and he was distressed that he might kill others.

 

 

 

 

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