Torah Exam 5766- Gan Eden

The story of Gan Eden takes place over the course of perek bet and gimmel- it is one parshiya with not petuchot or stumot so we understand that it is one continuing story

1. Hakdama- Gan Eden as a place

Perek 2/8: Hashem plants a garden called Eden and puts Adam in it- Adam was not created in Gan Eden!

Where is Gan Eden?

**We need to differentiate between Gan Eden in the Torah which is an actual place and Gan Eden that is used in Lashon Chazal, which is used to describe Olam Habah

Da’at Mikrah: Somewhere around Lebanon of today

· We know that Gan Eden has to be a real place- the Torah goes into detail explaining where it is, using geographic locations that must have made sense to Bnei Yisrael when they got the Torah
- There is a machloket: how was the Torah given?
a) Perek by perek- given as it was written à to Bnei Yisrael who went out of Mitzrayim
b) As a whole Torah in Arvot Moav before Moshe died à to Bnei Yisrael who entered Eretz Yisrael
à Whichever generation received the Torah must have understood where these places were

2. “L’avdah”

What is this Avodah? It can’t be actually work, because after the chet, Adam’s punishment is that he needs to work.

· Adam has to work on himself in order to be shomer mitzvot and do avodat Hashem- right after this, we see Hashem give Adam 2 mitzvot

Rabbi Ibn Ezra: Adam has to do simple work- watering the plants and keeping the animals away- he is to act as a scarecrow

4. “Mot Tamut”

Before eating form Etz HaDa’at, are Adam and the isha mortal or immortal?

- It says “mot tamut”, so they must have been immortal- the fact that they didn’t die shows that death must have been introduced

YET:

- They can’t be immortal because Hashem blocks off Etz HaChayim in order that they will not live forever

à Before the chet, Adam and the isha were in “limbo”- they were neither mortal nor immortal. However, the choice of what tree to eat from determined how they would end up- once they ate from the Etz HaDa’at, they became mortals and had to die

The choice that Hashem gave Adam is repeated in the Torah in sefer Devarim- Bnei Yisrael has the choice between Chayim and mavet- “u’bacharta b’chayim”- they have the choice to do mitzvot or not, and if they do then they can stay in Israel, if not, they will be forced to leave.

- we can compare life in Gan Eden to the life in Eretz Yisrael- if we listen to Hashem, then we live good lives- all we need to do is follow the Torah

Kruvim

The kruvim are only mentioned twice in the Torah:

1. After Adam and Chava are kicked out of Gan Eden, kruvim are left to guard the way to Etz HaChayim

2. There are kruvim that sit on top of the aron guarding the Torah

“Etz Chayim hi l’machazikim bah”- describes the Torah- if we grasp on to the Torah, the world can go on as it should, and if we follow in Hashem’s ways, we can stay in Eretz Yisrael- galut is tantamount to death, while fulfilling Torah is chayim

- The support we get from the Torah can bring us back to Gan Eden

à We carry on the same challenge of Adam and Chava

The struggle with Etz HaDa’at shows a developmental process- the ideal of the world is to be like Gan Eden, but we need to put in effort to get there- we need to work up to the point where our world is completely according to the Torah

5. What was the fruit of Etz HaDa’at?

Nechama Leibowitz (p.45): The fruit was not an apple- this has been adopted from Christianity

Gemara Brachot 40:

What was the fruit that Adam ate?

a) Rabbi Meir- Grapes

b) Rabbi Nechemiah- A fig

c) Rabbi Yehudah- The fruit was a kernel of wheat. In the time of Chazal, the first food that a baby would eat after stopping to nurse was a kernel of wheat- it was a sign that the baby was starting to speak à Rabbi Yehudah sees this as a sign of a developmental process

Bereshit Rabah Parsha 19:

a) “Vatikach mipiryo”- we see that something was taken from the fruit- the isha must have made wine from the grapes

- We see in Sefer Bereshit alone many examples of how wine causes one to sin (Noach, Lot)

b) The fig tree was noten terufah l’makah- we see that right after the chet, Adam and Chava cover themselves with fig leaves- they must have used whatever was closest to them

- Adam and the isha were able to get the covering they needed to “protect” them after their sin

c) Talmud Bavli Masechet Ketubot

One day, wheat will grow as tall as a palm tree- we see that this is a developmental plant

In the story of Gan Eden, we can notice a milah mancha: “Arum” – this is usually translated as “naked”, but it is also used to describe the snake- he was more “arum mikol chayat hasadeh”- this can’t be naked, because how would that describe a snake?

à Arum = cunning, sly- the mirror image of nakedness, because he takes the truth, which is very clear, and twists it around

How was the snake cunning?

- the snake was jealous of Adam, and wants to take the isha away from him, so he twists around Hashem’s words

The nachash appeals to the isha as if she was an animal:

R’ Hirsch:

• He asks- “af ki amar Elokim lo tochal mikol etz hagan”- so what is Hashem said not to eat from the tree- he gave you the instinct to want the fruit, and when you act on your instincts, you are acting the way Hashem made you!
  - The nachash knows that animals act instinctively- he asks the isha to ignore her tzelem Elokim and disregard her sechel that separates her from the animal kingdom
• He puts a negative spin on Hashem’s words- Hashem said “mikol etz hagan echol tochal u’mietz hada’at tov v’ra lo tochal”, but the nachash makes it sound bad by saying “lo tochal mikol etz hagan”- makes it seem so hard not to eat from one tree!

- The isha traps herself and she says “mikol etz hagan nochal”- a problem because she didn’t specify the tzivui, so looks like it is a matter of permission

- Nachash responds that Hashem doesn’t want them to eat from Etz HaDa’at because He doesn’t want them to be G-dly

What is the meaning of Etz HaDa’at Tov V’ra? What does it mean, and how could it be negative? Furthermore- aren’t we supposed to try and emulate Hashem? If something is G-dly, how can it be negative?

Rambam (p.47):

*Rambam says that before the chet there is no free choice- only have it after- the problem is how Hashem could punish them?

Before the chet- the world was a matter of emet v’sheker- right thing vs. wrong thing- the world was objective, choices were clear

• Mitzvot were the right thing to do so that is why they were done

After the chet- the world became a matter of tov v’ra- good vs. bad- the world is now subjective

• People do things because others want to, depends on what we feel like doing, because it is a matter if what I think is good or bad- the choice is no longer clear

What is “k’Elokim” about tov v’ra?

• Hashem makes decisions based on tov v’ra, but we have to remember that Hashem’s desires are not like our desires since whatever Hashem desires is good- we need to use our yetzer harah in order to make decisions, and therefore we need to learn to channel our yetzer harah to good- we have to learn to control our passions and know that there is a time and place for everything (much more dangerous for us)

• When David missed the target, Yonatan told him that he did a chet = missing the target. When we do chataim we are doing the right thing by using our yetzer harah, just we missed the mark by doing the wrong things

The nachash wanted the isha to join the animal world of tov v’ra- the world of instincts and passion- however, when the isha did use her desires, the first thing she did was cover herself- she realized that in her chet she channeled her passions in the wrong way

- now understand that sexuality is something private- it too comes with desires that need to be controlled

Why do they reach for clothes?

Begged = clothes vs. bagad = betrayed

Livush = to wear vs. bush -> busha = embarrassment

à It is a sign that they are embarrassed that they betrayed Hashem

- Still, Hashem Himself makes clothes out of leather for Adam and the isha to wear- He still cares about them eve though they made a mistake. The clothes are a way of Hashem telling them that they made a mistake, but it’s time to take away reminders of the chet (fig leaves) and step into the next part of life

After the chet- “vayishma’u et kol Hashem”- ironic that they heard Hashem’s voice after they did what the nachash said to because he tried so hard to get them to ignore Hashem

- Adam and the isha go and hide- Hashem asks “Ayekah?”- Who are you? What kind of person are you really??

- Now Adam has to face himself- he says that he hid because he was arum- Adam now understand that he needs to differentiate between his desires and what Hashem wants, and he is scared of himself

6. The Punishments

- Hashem makes a clear distinction between humans and animals through the punishments because the chet occurred when the animal and human worlds got too close

Nachash: “ki asita zot arur ata…”- the nachash is now separated from the world of humans and is the most hated creature, will eat dirt for the rest of its life

à The nachash tried so hard to get the isha to join the animal kingdom- now there is an extremely clear line between them that can’t be crossed

The isha: woman now has painful childbirth experiences

à Hashem makes the distinction even more between the human and animal kingdoms- animals have pain-free births, while ours must be very painful

Adam: “arurah ha’adamah b’avurcha”- the ground is cursed because of you -> you will have to struggle to work

à Distinction between humans and animals- humans need to work to survive, can’t be sustained on just anything that is around them like animals can

- The ground punishes you because you sinned through the ground- the fruit grew from the ground

Which punishment was the worst? (p.54)

- we might think that Adam of the isha had it the hardest, but the nachash got the worst punishment- it is like how Moshe says that Israel is better than Mitzrayim

-> This could sound crazy because in Israel it is so much harder- we need to work so hard and there is so little rain! Yet in Israel, we can life a life of Torah and we have a way to get rain- we can rely on Hashem for help (farmers have the most Emunah because after they plant they know the rest is in Hashem’s hands)

- Adam’s life is harder now because he has to work for his sustenance, but he has the ability to ask for assistance from Hashem and connect to Him through Torah, and the nachash is on his own

7. “Lo tigu bo”

Where does the isha get this extra prohibition from?

Gemara: She added it herself

Avot D’Rabbi Natan: this is not possible, because when the nachash says that she will not die if she touches the tree, this would not come as a shock to her- she should understand it was something that she added!

Torah Temima- Rav Epstein:

Adam added the prohibition- he did not tell the isha that it was his addition, so she believed that it was from Hashem

What was wrong with Adam adding the prohibition not to touch?

-Chazal say that “kol hamosif, gore’ah”, but Adam took the “asu siyag laTorah” which is mid’rabanan as a mid’orayta and made the issur of touching as serious as eating

-Adam treated the fruit like one treats chametz on Pesach, as something forbidden to touch, when he should have treated it like ma’achalot assurot (like non-kosher foods) – he approached the issue in a completely backwards way because the only reason that we can’t touch chametz on Pesach is that we are so used to eating it, and so we might slip up. The fruit from etz hada’at, however, should not have entered Adam’s mind as something that was even remotely possible to eat- touching should not be a big deal! There should be no temptation at all because it should not be on his radar as a possibility of food to eat

*kosher meat can be on the same table as non-kosher milk, if there was some reason to, we could touch McDonald’s- we have no temptation because eating it is not an option!

à Chazal brought the idea of “asu siyag laTorah” because of temptation- but there shouldn’t have been temptation- this is where Adam’s problem stemmed from

8. Isha vs. Chava

The isha has no name until after the chet- why not?

-Before the chet, Adam was able to name all of the animals- in order to do this, he needed to find their essence, because that is what a name truly is. After the chet, when Adam saw what his wife was capable of doing, he understood her essence of “em kol chai”- therefore, she was now beyond just being the isha and could be called Chava