Commentary for Genesis 2:20

ולאדם לא מצא עזר… ויפל ה' אלהים תרדמה FOR THE MAN HE HAD NOT FOUND A HELP MEET FOR HIM … AND THE ETERNAL GOD CAUSED AN OVERPOWERING SLEEP TO FALL — When He brought them, He brought them before him male and female of each and every kind. Thereupon he said: all these have a mate, but I have no mate! Immediately He caused to fall [an overpowering sleep upon him] (Genesis Rabbah 17:4).

BUT FOR ADAM THERE WAS NOT FOUND A HELP MEET FOR HIM. Rashi comments: “When He brought them, He brought them before him as male and female. Thereupon Adam said, ‘All of them have a mate, and I have no mate!’ Immediately, the Eternal G-d caused a deep sleep to fall upon him.” Rashi explained it well for by Scripture’s bringing the verses concerning “the calling of names” into the matter of “the help” that G-d gave Adam, it proves that this interpretation mentioned above is correct.
“The calling of names,” in the opinion of the commentators,³⁶⁴Rashi and R’dak. is to be understood in its plain sense, namely, that everyone should have a name for himself so that they be known and recognized in their progeny by the names Adam would call them, names which would be valid forever. Now when the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to make “the help” for Adam He brought all species before him since He had to bring them before him in pairs so that he should also give a name to the females of the species; for in some [species, both male and female] are called by one name, and in others they differ, such as bull and cow, tayish (he-goat) and eiz (she-goat), sheep and ewe, and others. When Adam saw them mating with each other, he had a desire for them, but as he found among them no help for himself, he was saddened and fell asleep. G-d then caused a deep sleep to fall upon him so that he should not feel the removal of a rib from his body.
In my opinion, however, “the calling of the names” is identical with “the help” [as I explained in the above verse], and the purport thereof is as follows: the Holy One, blessed be He, brought before Adam all the beasts of the field and all the fowl of the heavens, and he, recognizing their nature, called them names, that is, names appropriate to them. By the names it was made clear who is fit to be the help for another, meaning, fit to procreate with one another. Even if we are to believe that names are merely a matter of consensus and not of nature, [i.e., that they do not reflect the essence of the object bearing the name], we can say that “the calling of the names” means the division of the species as — male and female — they passed before Adam and he contemplated their nature as to which of them would be a help to each other in procreation so that they should beget offspring. Thus he called the large creatures by one name and the beasts by another so they would not beget offspring from one another, and so on for all species. And among them all he did not find a natural help for himself so that it could be called by his name for “the calling of the names” signifies the division of the species and the separation of their powers from each other, as I have explained above. Now it does not mean that it was in Adam’s power to find a help for himself among them since they were all created with natures [different from that of man]. But it means that if Adam was to find satisfaction with one of the species and he would choose it for his help, the Holy One, blessed be He, would adapt its nature to him, as He did with the rib, and He would not have found it necessary to build “a new structure.”³⁶⁵“A new structure” is a reference to the explanation of the Rabbis: “Vayiven (And He built… the rib) — this teaches us that He built Eve after the fashion of a store-house.” (Eruvin 18a.) This is the meaning of the verse, And whatsoever the man would call every living creature, that was its name;³⁶⁶Verse 19. that is to say, that was to be its name, for the Holy One, blessed be He, would so preserve it along the lines which I have explained.
In my opinion it is correct to say that it was His will, blessed be He, not to take Adam’s rib from him to make him a wife until he himself would know that among the created beings there is no help suitable for him and until he would crave to have a help suitable for him like her. This was why it was necessary to take one of his ribs from him. This is the meaning of the verse, But for Adam there was not found a help meet for him; that is to say, but for the name Adam (man), he found no help suited to be opposite him and to be called by his name so that he should beget children from that “help”. We need not resort here, therefore, to the words of the commentators³⁶⁷Ibn Ezra and R’dak. who say that the name “Adam” comes here in place of the reflexive pronoun [“himself.” The verse would thus read: “But for himself] he found no help meet for him,” just as, Ye wives of Lemech,³⁶⁸Genesis 4:23. [which should read, “my wives”]; And Jephthah, and Samuel,³⁶⁹I Samuel 12:11. The words were spoken by Samuel. [which should read, “and Jephthah and myself”]. This is the meaning of Adam’s saying: This is now bone of my bones;³⁷⁰Further Verse 23. that is to say, “This time I have found a help for me which I did not find till now among the other species, for she is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,³⁷⁰Further Verse 23. and is fit to be actually called by my name for we shall propagate together.”
In the word zoth (this, this time) there is a secret; it will be made known from our words in the section Vezoth habracha,³⁷¹See Ramban, Deuteronomy 33:1, in the commentary beginning, “the man of G-d.” if my Rock will bless me, enabling me reach thereto. This is why Adam repeats, because ‘zoth’ (this) was taken out of man.³⁷⁰Further Verse 23. [Delve into it] and understand.

ויקרא האדם...ולאדם לא מצא עזר כנגדו, he saw all these creatures parading before him as males partnered by a female, whereas there was no such partner available for him. We find a similar construction in Exodus 24,1 of the Torah writing ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה', or in Genesis 4,23 נשי למך or in Samuel I 12,11 ואת יפתח ואת שמואל. According to Tur, quoting Rabbi Joseph Kimchi, our author’s father, what gave rise to our author supplying other examples of such a strange syntax is the fact that Adam is portrayed as if viewing himself from the outside, as a third party.
The names Adam gave the animals were all in Hebrew, seeing that this is the language he spoke. This is also the language in which G’d addressed him. G’d had called him אדם since he was a product of אדמה. Similarly, Adam called his wife חוה, to reflect the fact that she was the mother of the human race, i.e. אם כל חי. Chavah in turn called her son קין, describing him as an acquisition קנין of an איש, a man, paralleling G’d Who up until then had been the Only One who had acquired an איש, meaning her own husband Adam. (Genesis 4,1). Similarly, when Lemech named his son נח, he mentioned that the name symbolised the hope that his son would provide comfort for man, זה ינחמנו, (Genesis 5,29). The way these names reflect words in the Hebrew language closely related to such names, all prove that Hebrew was the language spoken at that time. The fact that we do not know the meaning of all the other names mentioned in the Torah for people of that era only proves our ignorance, knowing neither enough Hebrew nor being endowed with the level of wisdom possessed by our forefathers. We will have to await the end of our exile to once again qualify for the command of Hebrew at the disposal of our ancestors.

ולאדם לא מצא עזר כנגדו, ”and for Adam he had not found a suitable helpmate.” Rabbi Joseph Kimchi views Adam as the subject in this verse, i.e. Adam had been unable to find a suitable helpmate for himself. This was because the Lord had not presented him with such a choice, had not introduced a candidate to him. G’d knew that none of the existing creatures would be a suitable helpmate for Adam. The word ולאדם is therefore to be understood as a metaphor, a pronoun, the line meaning: “and for himself, personally, He had not found a suitable helpmate.” We find a similar construction in Genesis 4,23 when Lemech addresses his wives Adah and Tzilah, saying: שמען קולי נשי למך וגו' “listen to what I have to say, oh wives of Lemech.” [who else had he been speaking to that he had to insert his own name? Ed.] Nachmanides explains the words וכל אשר יקרא לו נפש חיה הוא שמו, as applying to the subject of a suitable helpmate for himself. Rashi had already stated that the verse is truncated, and the correct sequence should have been וכל נפש חיה אשר יקרא לו האדם הוא שמו, “and whatever name Adam bestowed on any of the living creatures became its permanent name.” Seeing that Adam himself had been described at the very beginning of his existence as נפש חיה, Adam in his quest for a mate, proceeded to screen all the other creatures known as נפש חיה. As soon as he had bestowed the title נפש חיה on any of them, a title which remained permanent, he hoped that such an animal would qualify as his own helpmate, only to find himself disappointed again and again. Also, in recognizing the distinct characteristics of the animals he classified them into groups such as בהמה גסה and בהמה דקה, large cattle and small cattle. The word עזר is used in a wider sense, including the ability to mate with one another and produce offspring. The common denominator of small cattle, such as sheep and goats, is that they are able to mate with one another and produce offspring, whereas the common denominator of large cattle is that they cannot mate with one another successfully. Clearly, it had not been within the power of Adam to change the natural characteristics of any of these animals which had been created with their specific tendencies. However, if Adam had found among any of the beasts any that appealed to him in an extraordinary manner, he would have prayed to G’d to adapt the characteristics of such an animal so that it would be suitable as his mate. However, in the event, he found none that even remotely interested him in this regard. We do find that G’d reassigned the functions and appearance of one of Adam’s “ribs” in order to provide him with a more suitable mate. The meaning of the words הוא שמו, is that G’d agreed with the name, i.e. characterization Adam had given to each animal, and He henceforth referred to such creature by the name Adam had given them. The truth is that G’d had not wanted to remove a “rib” from Adam until the latter had asked for an as yet non existent creature to become his helpmate, his partner. When, finally, he found such a partner after awakening from his sleep, he named this partner suitably, i.e. אישה as she represented the same components as איש, i.e. himself. Some commentators feel that the emphasis in this verse is on the words זאת הפעם, “(only) on this occasion.” Henceforth, woman as well as man would not be direct creations by their Creator, but they would be born by woman, similar to the procreative process common to all mammals. This is another aspect of the wordsאשר ברא אלוקים לעשות, in 2,3 at the end of the report about the creation. Up until then, G’d had practiced the art of בריאה, creation, in the literal sense. Henceforth new phenomena would only be reproductions of existing phenomena, hence לעשות, to complete, to ensure that what had been created originally would not be lost.

Der Mensch prüfte also alle lebenden Geschöpfe in ihrer Eigentümlichkeit und wies einem jeden darnach seinen geistigen Ort an. Er prüfte so die ihm am nächsten Stehenden (בהמ), die seinem Wesen am fernsten Stehenden (חיה), die sich ihm am wenigsten Anschmiegenden (עוף), und die in der Mitte Stehenden (חיה), aber für einen "Adam", (es heißt nicht ולאדם), für einen gottebenbildlichen Statthalter Gottes auf Erden, fand er nichts, das ihm parallel sei, mit ihm seine große Obliegenheit teilen könne.

ולאדם לא מצא עזר, “but Adam had not found a suitable partner for himself;” why did G-d not create Chavah at the same time as He had created Adam? G-d had known that the time would come when her husband would blame her for his own sin. (3,12) This is why He delayed creating her until Adam had expressed a wish for her explicitly. (Compare B’reshit Rabbah 17,4) As soon as Adam had expressed his wish for a suitable partner, G-d put him to sleep and proceeded to fashion Chavah from him.

כנגדו, from raw material which matched that which had had been made of both in substance and in appearance. (See Targum Yerushalmi). This is why when the mammals had been paraded before him, the Torah had written that he had not found עזר כנגדו “a mate that would match him.” He had found numerous animals that could have served him as helpers for one purpose or another, but none that would have been suitable all round.