Commentary for Genesis 2:24

על כן יעזב איש THEREFORE A MAN LEAVETH — The Divine Spirit says this, thus prohibiting immoral relationship to the “Sons of Noah” also (Sanhedrin 57b).

THEREFORE SHALL A MAN LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER, AND SHALL CLEAVE TO HIS WIFE. The Divine Spirit says this, thus prohibiting immoral relationships to “the sons of Noah.”³⁷²See above, Note 222.

על כן, seeing that on this first occasion G’d had aimed to make Adam’s wife as much part of him as possible, so that he even used Adam’s personal body as Chavah’s basic skeleton,

על כן יעזב איש, some commentators believe that these words were spoken by Moses, not by Adam. The correct interpretation is that they were spoken by Adam, seeing that he was aware that he would father children, for this was why he had been created, in order to populate earth and ensure that his species would be perpetuated on earth, just as all the other species of living creatures. The plain meaning of our verse is close to the words of Targum Onkelos: על כן ישבוק גבר בית משכבי אבוהי ואמיה, “for this purpose a man will leave the house of his father and mother, etc.” The point of all this is that the Torah did not give permission for man to leave, move away from his parents, in order to devote himself to his wife instead, but in order to fulfill the commandment to found his own family, have children. Man is supposed to live in a separate dwelling, separate from that of his parents, in order to have and raise his children.

.ודבק באשתו והיו לבשר אחד, “he will cleave to his wife so that they will unite to become one flesh.” This is not a commandment, but means that man will be inherently designed to cleave to his wife for the purpose of founding a family, etc. It does not mean that he has been programmed.

The Divine Spirit. Rashi knows this because Adam could not have said it. Adam had no father, mother or children at that time, so what brought him to say it?

על כן. Darum, also weil, so lange der Mann allein war, es noch nicht .על כן gut war, und weil nach der Teilung es gar nicht mehr möglich ist, dass der Mann seine Bestimmung allein erfülle, weil vielmehr das Weib עזר כנגדו sein soll, er sich ohne Weib nur halb, und nur in Vereinigung mit seinem Weibe als ganzer Mensch fühlt: darum verlässt der Mann Vater und Mutter und vereinigt sich mit seinem Weibe, und sie werden zu einem Leib. Wie ursprünglich ungeteilt der Menschenleib einem Geiste, einem göttlichen Willen sich unterordnete, so auch nach der Wiedervereinigung werden Mann und Weib ein Leib. Das können sie aber nur werden, wenn sie zu gleicher Zeit ein Geist, ein Herz, eine Seele werden, und dies ist wiederum nur möglich, wenn sie alle ihre Kräfte und Bestrebungen, all ihr Denken und Wollen dem einen höheren Willen in Erfüllung seines Dienstes unterordnen. — Hiermit ist aber auch der tiefe Unterschied des geschlechtlichen Lebens aller übrigen lebendigen Wesen von der menschlichen Ehe gegeben. Auch die übrige lebendige Welt ist geschlechtlich geteilt. Allein beide Geschlechter entsprangen gleichzeitig selbständig der Erde. Sie bedürfen für die Erfüllung ihrer Lebensbestimmung nicht einander, und nur für den Gattungszweck und für die von diesem in Anspruch genommene Zeit finden sie sich einander. Das Menschenweib aber ist ein Teil des Menschenmannes, ist עזר כנגדו. Der Mann ist hülflos und unselbständig ohne sein Weib. Beide zusammen sind erst Mensch. Das Leben in seiner ganzen Bedeutung fordert ihre Vereinigung. Nur vom Menschen heißt es: ורבק באשתו. Nur der Mensch hat eine Ehe.

.והיו לבשר אחד, “they will each have marital relations only with their legal partner.”

לבשר אחד ONE FLESH — Both parents are united in the child.

יעזוב איש את אביו ואת אמו ודבק באשתו, it is appropriate that a man leave the home of his parents in order to acquire a wife who is compatible with him, and who is a suitable mate for him to live with on a permanent basis. The Torah teaches here also that the expression דיבוק, “cleaving,” being in a state of true union, is not possible between two people who are not alike in their common purpose in life. Parents and children do not have the same tasks and challenges. Man and his wife do have to master the same challenges, hence the word “union” can be applied to their union, whereas the same word would be inappropriate for describing the relationship between father and son, or mother and son. By living together they will become of one mind on how to deal with their lives’ challenges.

והיו לבשר אחד, this means that they are to be as if they were made of the same flesh. It is a reminder to man that the wife of the first male was indeed made of the same flesh as his own. When the two joined in marital intercourse, they did indeed become once more one flesh. In the future, when engaging in the act of procreation, they would relive the experience Adam and Chavah had when their separate bodies joined for the first time after Chavah had become a person in her own right. Our sages (Sanhedrin 58) explained this verse as words uttered by Adam with holy spirit, i.e. prophetic vision. The words were meant as a warning to the descendants of Noach not to engage in incestuous sexual relations with one another. The reason the Torah mentioned this as a warning to mankind in general is because mankind in general is responsible for the survival of the human race, having come so close to being wiped out altogether because of promiscuous sexual practices. The line does not mean that this prohibition commenced only as something applicable at a later stage in history, it applied to Adam himself and his direct offspring. All the seven “Noachide” laws applied to Adam already, with the exception of the prohibition of consuming flesh or tissue from animals that were still alive. This law did not have to be promulgated until after the deluge, seeing that consumption of any kind of meat was forbidden until then.
The same folio (58) in the Talmud understands the word ודבק in our verse literally, meaning a prohibition of engaging in homosexuality. Only embracing one’s wife in an intimate sexual embrace is permitted, not embracing any other human being in such fashion. Even embracing one’s fellow’s wife in such an intimate embrace, though something heterosexual, is prohibited, this is why the Torah added the pronoun “his” when referring to “his wife, באשתו.”

Prohibiting to the “sons of Noach.” As it says, “He shall cling to his wife,” and not to his fellow’s wife. The prohibition on illicit relations is derived from this verse, as if it said: “Therefore, a man shall leave his father’s wife and his mother and he may not have relations with them.” (Re’m) You might ask: What difference does it make that the Divine Spirit said it? [The answer is:] So you will not think that the verse is stating that this is the nature of things [and it is not a commandment]. For if so, it should say עוזב (“leaves”) rather than יעזוב (“shall leave”). (Maharshal) The implication of “therefore” could be explained as follows: Since I did a great kindness for Adam by forming the woman for him, [it is only right that I may make] a condition: that Adam refrain from engaging in forbidden relations. Similarly, Hashem says to Israel (Shemos 20:2): “I, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt,” implying that I brought you out on condition: that you fulfill the mitzvos. (Nachalas Yaakov)

AND THEY SHALL BE ONE FLESH. The child is created by both parents, and there in the child, their flesh is united into one. Thus the words of Rashi. But there is no point to this since in beast and cattle too, their flesh is united into one in their offspring.
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that in cattle and beast the males have no attachment to their females. Rather, the male mates with any female he finds, and then they go their separate ways. It is for this reason that Scripture states that because the female of man was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, he therefore cleaves to her and she nestles in his bosom as his own flesh, and he desires to be with her always. And just as it was with Adam, so was his nature transmitted to his offspring, that the males among them should cleave to their women, leaving their fathers and their mothers, and considering their wives as if they are one flesh with them. A similar sense is found in the verses: For he is our brother, our flesh;³⁷³Genesis 37:27. to any that is near of his flesh.³⁷⁴Leviticus 18:6. Those who are close members of the family are called sh’eir basar (near of flesh). Thus man will leave “the flesh” of his father and his mother and their kin and will see that his wife is nearer to him than they.

Die Weisen finden (Sanhedrin 56 f.) in diesem Satze zugleich bereits den Anfang der עריות-Gesetze für בני נח. Indem es heißt: darum verlasse der Mann seinen Vater und seine Mutter und vereinige sich mit seinem Weibe, erkennen sie darin zugleich die Bestimmung, dass bei der Wahl seines Weibes der Mann sich von Vater und Mutter entfernen soll, somit in nicht allzu naher Verwandtschaft sein Weib zu suchen habe. Fassen wir dies in dem ganzen mit על כן eingeleiteten ursächlichen Zusammenhang auf, so dürste damit vielleicht einiges Dämmerlicht auf das so dunkle Gebiet der עריות-Gesetze fallen. Weil das Weib עזר des Mannes sein soll, muß es כנגדו sein; weil es ihn ergänzen soll, muß es andere Eigentümlichkeiten haben. In allzunaher Verwandtschaft haben sie beide vielleicht dieselben Tugenden, aber auch vielleicht dieselben Fehler, dieselben Vollkommenheiten, aber auch dieselben Mängel; ihre Vereinigung würde beider Eigentümlichkeiten im Guten und Bösen nur verstärken, nicht ergänzen. Nur in entfernten Graden dürften die heilsamen Verschiedenheiten vorhanden sein, die beide vereinigt zu einem vollkommenen Wesen gestalten, vollkommen geeignet בשר אחד zu werden und die eine große Menschenaufgabe reiner und voller zu lösen. Dieses Motio dürfte vielleicht für עריות בני נח ausreichen. Für Israel, wo z. B. bereits mit קידושין verbotene Grade eintreten, muß das Motiv noch höher liegen. — Uber die Etymologie von אב und אם, s. Jeschurun VIII. S. 58 u. ff. u. S. 570.

The child is formed. In other words, the verse prohibits relations with animals, who do not form a child after relations with humans. (Re’m) It seems that according to Rashi, the verse is giving a reason for the forbidden relations: so that there be no illicit children. True, such relations are forbidden even with women too young or old to give birth, and with animals who do not conceive from humans. Nevertheless, the prohibition becomes more noticeable and visible when it produces an illicit child, a wrong that cannot be corrected.

והיו לבשר אחד, they are to work together in such close union as if there were in fact only one of them. (This had been the idea behind creating man as both male and female in the first place.)