Pensamiento judío sobre Génesis 2:17

The kind of tolerance G-d displays depends on who He needs to relate to. In the first instance there are the spiritual, completely disembodied beings inhabiting the "upper" world, who are closest to Him. Since these beings by their very nature are close to perfection, tolerating them does not require a major effort on G-d’s part. Also the bodies in outer space whose regular and constant orbit represent service of G-d on a non-stop basis, do not require a great deal of tolerance on the part of G-d. These heavenly bodies, which provide the four basic raw materials for our physical universe, in a sense support this earth. At the time of the garden of Eden being at man's disposal, G-d had a home in the material universe because His spirit was present within man. This was the connection between the worlds above the rakiyah, firmament, and the world "below." Both harbored the Divine spirit. The commandment, "Do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil," meant "do not become engrossed in the material world except to the extent of doing good. Engrossing yourself in evil will make you part of this finite world, make you mortal." Since we have defined mavet, death, as being equal to ra, evil, and chayim, life, as being equal to tov, good, it is quite clear that contact with ra is contact with death (Deut. 30,15, compare our Chapter 7). Breaking this commandment, then, had to result in the Shechinah, G-d’s Presence withdrawing. Shechinah cannot associate with death; since there did not remain any immortal human beings on earth, there was no alternative but to withdraw to a level further removed from earth. At this point, the author describes successive withdrawals of G-d from different planets in outer space as being connected with the individual functions of these planets in our world. Abraham made up for the commandment that Adam had transgressed, by taking upon himself to command his offspring to observe the commandments of the Lord. G-d acknowledged this when He said, "As a result of Abraham having listened to My voice etc." (Genesis 26,5). Isaac repaired the damage done by Cain who had committed murder, when he voluntarily submitted to the command of His Creator, in contrast to Cain who had acted as if there were no judge or judgment in the world. His deed was acknowledged when the angel instructed Abraham, "Do not lay a hand on the lad, do not touch him" (Genesis 22,12). Jacob, who had been able to prevail on all his children to remain loyal to G-d and to proclaim His Unity when they said, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our G-d is One," enabled G-d to return His Presence still closer to earth. Jacob had thus repaired the damage done by Enosh who had been the first to introduce the concept of G-d not being One. When Levi appeared, risking his life to avenge the shame of the rape of his sister Dinah, he repaired the damage done by the generation of the deluge, who had practiced immorality, incest etc. Kehot was the leader of the Jewish people when the latter were forced to commence performing slave labor for the Egyptians. The Jews who had been singled out for this cruel treatment, because they had failed to assimilate to the Egyptians, maintained a profile of being different by keeping their Hebrew names, language, and religion in spite of persecution suffered. This fact enabled G-d to move still closer to earth, as the damage done by the collective insubordination of the generation that built the tower of Babel had now been repaired. Amram in turn repaired the damage done by the people of Sodom, who through lack of concern for their fellow man, had driven the Shechinah still further away. Amram demonstrated his concern for the future of his nation when he responded to the admonition of his daughter not to stop having children, even at the risk of a baby boy being drowned by the Egyptians. When Moses finally made his appearance, and instead of persecuting the just, stood up against terror, injustice, and "might is right," he repaired what Nimrad/Amrafel had destroyed when he made war against the weak who had not provoked him. G-d was thus able to feel at home again on earth since the counterweight to everything the serpent had helped ruin had appeared on earth, and had made its impact. The Talmud Yevamot 112 says that when Israel stood at Mount Sinai, their "filth" departed from them. What is meant is that they reverted to the state of innocence that existed when Adam had just been created. The book of Exodus deserves to be called the book of redemption, since it tells of the redemption of the Jewish people from a cruel and barbaric fate at the hands of a cruel and barbaric nation. Apart from the physical redemption from slavery, the promise of being given the land of Israel with all its abundant natural wealth, would enable the Jewish people to live a life of ease and to be tested if they would indeed prove obedient to G-d, so that He could allow His Presence to dwell amongst them. Moses’ss accomplishment in restoring G-d’s Presence to earth, made him the intermediary between G-d and His people. To be a good intermediary requires that the intermediary himself feels in harmony with the objectives and methods of the one who has made him intermediary. Such rapport can exist either naturally, or in spite of one's natural inclinations. When Moses was shown a kind of wood that sweetens the waters at Marah (Ex. 15,25), our sages are in two minds about the nature of this wood. Some say that it was sweet wood, and that the resultant sweetening of the waters was a natural process. Others maintain that the wood itself was bitter, in which case the transformation of the waters was miraculous (Mechilta Beshalach). We find that G-d employs both kinds of agents as leaders of the Jewish people at different times. Gideon, who abandoned his preoccupation with salvaging his harvest, and who challenged the angel about G-ds apparent abandonment of His people, demonstrated selflessness and lack of concern with his private business to such an extent that the angel could say to him "go forth with this strength of yours and save the Jewish people." (Judges 6,14) He succeeded because he possessed the major ingredient needed for leadership. The reverse may be the case when the emissary of G-d is motivated by a feeling of obedience to G-d, but lacks the characteristics that put him in harmony with the purpose of his Sender. When attacking Amalek, Saul allowed considerations of economic gain to persuade him not to kill the best of the herds; he also displayed pity just when G-d had forbidden pity. This led to tragic results for his dynasty (Samuel I Chapter 15). His downfall can be traced not to lack of basic obedience, but to internal conflict between his own aims and methods, and G-ds aims and methods. Therefore, G-d looked for another man, David, who would be in tune with His objectives heart and soul, and who is held up as a model human being whose inner strivings coincide with G-d’s. When Jerobam is chastised by Achyah (Kings I 14,8-9), the point emphasized is that he failed to be with G-d "like My servant David, who observed My commandments, who followed Me with his whole heart to do only what is right in My eyes." This same David describes his own world outlook in Psalms 139,20 in the following words, "Those who hate You O G-d, I hate, and those who rebel against You, I quarrel with." When the Messiah is described, three characteristics are described as essential (Psalms 72,12-14). "For he will deliver the defenseless man who cries, and the poor who has no helper; he will care for those who have been brought low." "He will redeem their souls from malice and violence, and their blood will be precious to him." Our Parshah tells us that Moses possessed the qualities enumerated in Psalms and that therefore he was the ideal intermediary and saviour for Israel. When Moses, on his first outing to his brethren, saw an Egyptian torture a Jew, he could not stand this and he slew the Egytian. This corresponds to the line, "He will deliver the defenseless man who cries out." On the second day, when he observed injustice being perpetrated among his Jewish brethren, he stood up for the victim, the defenseless, as he did when he helped the daughters of Yitro at the well. In each case he risked his life or safety. Despite his disappointing experiences, he continued to involve himself in other peoples' problems. It is clear then that with the advent of Moses, G-d had found the person who was likely to lead the Jewish people successfully.

(1) Man is apt to sin for either of two reasons. Either he is overcome by physical temptation, or he subscribes to a faulty philosophy. In the latter event, his sin will be performed with dedication, since the sinner has become convinced that what he is doing is actually the will of the deity he worships. Warnings against this kind of sin must therefore be expressed in much stronger language than warnings against sins which are merely the result of weakness of the flesh, often only temporary. When warning against sins of the flesh, the Torah uses the term nefesh. When warning against aberrations due to intellectual misconceptions, the Torah uses the term ish, describing man's intellectual essence. The chapter dealing with immorality, incest etc. is introduced by a warning not to follow the lifestyle of the Egyptians, nor to adopt the lifestyle of the Canaanites. The former were more sophisticated, known for their intellect. Their physical corruption was rooted in a corrupt philosophy. The Canaanites, however were renowned for their physical prowess; their philosophy was only an outgrowth of their physical perversions. To counteract the former, the Torah says "observe My social laws, My philosophy, and keep My statutes." (in that order) Concerning the latter, the Torah says "keep My statutes and observe My social laws." (in that order) The purpose of the legislation is contained in the latter half of verse five, "that man shall perform them and live by them," meaning that we shall remain "human" only by observing Torah laws. The fact that the Torah stresses these practices as determining whether a person will retain the tzelem, the Divine image, which entitles him to the description Adam, human being in the true sense of the word, tells us that it is not the fundamental error of philosophy that requires the most urgent treatment. The errors stemming from physical urges require treatment on a priority basis. It is easier to disabuse the mind of ish of faulty reasoning, than to disabuse the nefesh, the physical essence of its urges. The repetition at the end of chapter eighteen, "for I am the Lord your G'd," is to impress upon us that we must observe this legislation not only out of fear of punishment, but because we appreciate the wisdom of the Creator revealed in this legislation. It is only in the next Parshah that the Torah addresses itself to many of the philosophic aberrations that we must avoid also.

The answer G'd gave to the angels in our opening aggadah then is this. Since G'd had asked Adam to perform a simple task, one well within reach of his capabilities, and still he had failed, such failure could only have been due to lack of effort on his part, not to the fact that he was a mixture of body and soul. At that point in the conversation came the angels' question why Moses and Aaron also had to die, seeing they had in fact complied with all the mitzvot that they had been commanded. The angels' question presumed that Moses and Aaron had in fact sinned, but since such sin had been minor, they should have deserved forgiveness. It is also assumed that the angels' statement that Moses and Aaron had observed the whole Torah, meant that any sins that they might have committed had surely been wiped out by their having repented them. Otherwise, one could not speak about fulfilling "all" commandments. G'ds reply was, that it was true that they had not sinned in the sense of having been remiss, but that their very nature makes them mortal, since their composition makes one hundred per cent dedication to spiritual perfection impossible. To that extent, both sinners and saints wind up leaving their bodies behind when they die. Even those sages who hold that death can occur without prior sin, (Shabbat 55) do not refer to involuntary sin, since we have a verse in Kohelet telling us that such sinlessness simply does not exist. Also, the so called etyo shel nachash, the poisonous residue of man's seduction by the original serpent in Eden, which is credited with having caused the death of four otherwise totally blameless individuals, refers only to the absence of the kind of sin that warrants the death penalty. That school holds that Moses and Aaron had been guilty of death, having violated their duties as prophets. ("because you have not demonstrated sufficient faith to cause My name to be sanctified." Numbers 20,12)