Musar sobre Génesis 3:19

The whole subject matter of burial is connected with Genesis 3,19: כי עפר אתה ואל עפר אתה תשוב, "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Adam's origin was dust from the earth. Our sages describe G–d as having taken earth from the site that is described in Exodus 20,21: מזבח אדמה תעשה לי, "Make for Me an altar of earth" (Talmud Yerushalmi, Nazir 7,2).

These commandments concern themselves with the refinement of body and soul. Concerning חלה, i.e. bread, the Torah tells us in Deut. 8,3: that "man does not live by bread alone, rather on all that emanates from the mouth of G–d." I have explained at length elsewhere in the name of the Arizal, that this verse explains the efforts made by scientists to find out how it is that through the intake of certain foods the soul remains attached to the body, although the soul by definition does not need to eat. The answer to this problem is that food is both something physical as well as something spiritual. There simply is nothing on this earth that does not contain some spiritual input from the "higher" regions. Heavenly forces cause that spiritual potential to be activated down here on earth. This is why the soul can also benefit from those spiritual ingredients in food, just like the body derives strength from the nutrients in the food consumed. Because of this, the soul remains attached to the body as long as the body receives sufficient food of the right kind. This is what is meant by the above quoted statement that man does not live by bread alone. It means that the body is maintained by the physical composition of the food, i.e. bread, as one can see. Over and above that, life is maintained, i.e. the soul is kept going, by the invisible spiritual elements in food, i.e. G–d's command, מוצא פי ה', for those spiritual elements to become active within the person in question. The Torah therefore commanded us to set aside the חלה, the portion to be given to the priest; by fulfilling this commandment the spiritual element in the bread should be "awakened" and contribute its share to maintaining our souls. Since the priest represents holiness, he is given this "holy" part of the bread. Since, ideally, this חלה is set aside when the bread has not yet been baked but is merely dough, it is a method of refining our bread by adding sanctity to it before it is even baked. The bread thereby acts as a refining agent for both body and soul. The first man, Adam was considered as the חלה of the universe (Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 2). He was perfect in mind and body until he sinned and caused the curse, and the Torah said concerning the earth קוץ ודרדר תמציח לך, ובזיעת אפך תאכל לחם "It will sprout thorns and thistles for you,…. by the sweat of your brow will you eat bread." The net effect on the bread after Challah has been set aside and has been given to the כהן, is for a person to qualify for the blessing inherent in the verse "ולחם לבב אנוש יסעד, bread will sustain man's life" (Psalms 104,15).

The two arms of man correspond to the emanations חסד and גבורה. The two legs correspond to the emanations נצח and הוד. The male reproductive organ within which all the forces of the body coalesce and form his seed and by means of which he unites with his wife, corresponds to the emanation מלכות. After the Torah had described the union of man and wife [i.e. man in the plural i.e. אותם, Ed.], it mentions that G–d blessed them (Genesis 1,28). He called their combined name אדם. Man had not become whole until joined by his wife as a separate entity. When this occurred Man's soul wore garments of distinction [i.e. the body. Ed.] Man's essence is his "interior," his body is merely his "clothing." This "clothing" was snow white, as if he were wearing clothing made of "light," i.e. כתנות אור. Man's body then could be described as illuminating both his soul and itself. This provided man with three different kinds of wholeness or "perfections." They are alluded to in the acronym מגן (usually understood as shield, protection). The three letters forming that acronym are the first letters of each of the words ממון, money, גוף, body, and נשמה, soul. This is what is meant when the beauty of Jacob is described by our sages as comparable to the beauty of Adam. The Torah refers to it when it describes the mental and physical state of Jacob/Israel shortly after his encounter with Samael. We read in Genesis 33,18: ויבא יעקב שלם, "Jacob arrived whole." We are told in Shabbat 33b, that the word "whole" comprised the three aspects we have mentioned as the perfection of Adam. The Talmud described one of the aspects in which Jacob was "whole,” שלם, as תורתו; this refers, of course, to the state of his נשמה, his soul, since it is Torah which illuminates our soul. Adam the whole was not deficient in any area that is part of life. He did not have any needs since he already found himself at home in גן עדן, in an ideal environment. His food was derived from the trees of גן עדן. He did not have to work for a living and was therefore free to directly devote all his time to the service of G–d. The Torah describes that Adam was placed in גן עדן in order לעבדה ולשמרו, was placed in such an undemanding environment in order to enable him to serve G–d without hindrance and impediment. Our sages interpret the word לעבדה as referring to the performance of positive commandments, whereas the word לשמרה refers to the care taken not to transgress negative commandments. Adam performed all six hundred and thirteen commandments in a theoretical, spiritual fashion. All of this is explained in Pardes Rimonim chapter הנשמה, and I have elaborated on this elsewhere (מסכת חולין item 104, new edition of של"ה השלם by Rabbi Meir Katz). Man unfortunately did not even manage to spend a single night in גן עדן before he sinned. (cf. Psalms 49,13). His "jewelry" was removed as a result of his seduction by the serpent. This brought in its wake that instead of wearing "garments" which illuminated his soul as well as his body, he had to wear garments made of the hide of flesh, i.e. animals which did not represent anything spiritual. Ever since, new generations of man are the product of the smelly drop of semen, i.e. semen which is polluted by the residual pollutant of the original serpent. Once Eve had become defiled through sexual union with the serpent, the defiled party had to leave the holy site, i.e. גן עדן, just as in the desert anyone who was ritually impure could not remain within the holy precincts of the מחנה שכינה, the camp hosting the Presence of G–d. The immediate result of this was the toil involved in securing his sustenance, his clothing and his shelter. This is what the Torah meant when it describes that G–d told Adam: "You will eat bread in the sweat of your brow" (Genesis 3,19). Because man was constructed from parts of nature, מטבע, he has a tendency to pursue money, matbei'a, as symbolized by the word מטבע. He uses this money, מטבע, to secure his needs.

The above is similar to what I have written about elsewhere when I explained Genesis 4,7. There G–d explained to Cain that if he were to be good i.e. אם תיטיב, he could achieve a higher spiritual plateau, שאת. G–d told Cain that the alternative would be לפתח חטאת רובץ, that the חיות described in Ezekiel 1 which are carriers of G–d's throne perspire from their load, and that this perspiration is the river poured over the wicked people in purgatory, (cf. Chagigah 13). The word for perspiration is זיעה, the word G–d used when He told Adam that he would have to earn his livelihood the hard way (Genesis 3,19). [The poisonous nature of perspiration is also described in Bereshit Rabbah 78,1. Ed.] When Israel are free from sin, they act as the carriers of the throne of G–d; in fact they have been created to do just that. They are to occupy an exalted position as personified by the patriarchs who became carriers of G–d's מרכבה. When this idyllic state will have been achieved there will no longer be a purgatory since there will not be any perspiration by the חיות which were described in Ezekiel's vision as the carriers of the מרכבה. This is the vision or promise held out by G–d to Cain, that man has the potential of elevating himself to such a spiritual level. If man fails to achieve this level, the מרכבה will have to be carried by other creatures whose poisonous sweat creates גהנם.

The sin of Adam and Eve in eating from the tree of knowledge was directly attributable to the failure of Earth to respond fully to G–d's command. The reason that Earth had not been punished sooner for its departure from G–d's command was that its intention had been constructive, as we explained earlier. Now, however, there had been fatal consequences of Earth's failure to obey G–d fully; this is why Earth was punished at the same time man too was punished for his sin. This is why the Torah added the words בעבורך when describing its punishment. The very words כי ממנה לקחת, "for from it (earth) you have been taken" (Genesis 3,19), which is part of Adam's penalty, that of forfeiting eternal life, are an allusion to the fact that the sin had been made possible by Earth's behaviour at the time when it did not produce the right kind of trees.

A person could have sat idle and the decree would have been fulfilled (his designated portion would have come to him), had it not been preceded by the fine imposed on every human being: "by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread" (Gen.3:19), whereby a person is required to make some effort for obtaining his livelihood, for thus the exalted King decreed.

When we examine closely, we will find that Humility is dependent both on thought and deed. For at first, a person needs to become humble in his thoughts and only afterwards, can he conduct himself in the ways of the Humble.

Humility in thought is for a person to contemplate and come to realize as truth that he is undeserving of praise and honor, and all the more so [unworthy] of being elevated over his fellow men. This is due to what he lacks and also to what [good] he has actually attained.

Regarding involuntary manslaughter, discussed in 21,13, the penalty of exile to a city of refuge parallels Adam's expulsion from Eden. Adam's sin had been due to the serpent's power to seduce. This had resulted in death being introduced in the universe (Genesis 2,17). When the Torah writes here מכה איש, when a man kills, it means Adam who was the first איש, individual, to cause death. Anyone who causes death is subject to "you are dust and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3,19). The repetition of the expression מות תמות, in Genesis 2,17, is our clue to transmigration of souls, to the concept that several re-incarnations may be necessary for man to achieve his תכלית, his allotted task on earth. However, the principal meaning of the line was never that death would occur immediately after the sin had been committed. After all, Adam was 930 years old before he died (Genesis 5,5). His sin was comparable to an inadvertently committed act since it had been due to the outright seduction by the serpent. This is the reason a person guilty of involuntary manslaughter only has to be exiled to a city of refuge.

Just as sexual union before the sin was an act which did not need to be performed in private, so the provision of food and clothing at that time was also something that did not involve man in preparation or hard labour.