פירוש על בראשית 2:22

ויבן AND HE FORMED (literally, He built) — as a structure, wide below and narrower above for bearing the child, just as a wheat-store is wide below and narrower above so that its weight should not strain the walls (Berakhot 61a).

ויבן ה' אלוקים את הצלע לאשה, it was someone possessing the features of a human being, much like those of a man. She would be different from man only in some external physical features. She would possess the same ability to perfect her personality as did man.

ויבן ה' אלוקים את הצלע, the word צלע here has to be pronounced on the last syllable. The Torah says, in effect, that G’d “integrated” this צלע to be an integral indistinguishable part of Chavah’s other limbs and organs. She became basically a creature similar in all respects to Adam himself, except for her specifically female features.

So that it should become a woman. Rashi is answering the question: Does ויבן את הצלע לאשה not imply that He built the rib for the woman, to be used for something, rather than implying that He formed the woman from the rib? Thus Rashi explains [that the ל of לאשה means] “to become a woman.” Similarly in the verse Rashi cites, “And Gidon made it to an ephod” (Shoftim 8:27), it does not mean that Gidon made the material into something to be used for the ephod. Rather, he made the material into an ephod.

ויביאה אל האדם; “He brought her to Adam.” Where did He bring her from? After all she had been part of her husband’s ribs before, i.e. right next to him? The Torah here describes how her sudden appearance next to him was viewed by Adam when he awoke from his deep sleep. He thought that G-d had brought her to him, just as He had brought the animals to him to be named. It was only after he noticed that now one of his ribs was missing, that he realised that she had formerly been part of his own flesh; this is why he exclaimed: “bone from my own bones, etc.” If we were to look for a similar formulation in the Holy Scriptures, we can find it in Joshua 2,7: והאנשים רדפו אחריהם, “and the men had chased after them” (the spies). Actually, they were only under the impression that they pursued them, as they never found them. Some commentators claim that our verse means that Adam thought that G-d had performed the operation beyond the borders of the garden, and this is why the Torah wrote: “He brought her to Adam.”

ויבן את הצלע לאשה AND HE MADE THE RIB INTO A WOMAN — לאשה means that is should become a woman, like (Judges 8:21) “and Gideon made it לאפוד ” i. e., that it should become an ephod.

ויביאה אל האדם, after Adam had woken up G’d brought Chavah to him to be his mate. In other words, when Adam awoke he saw her standing upright facing him.