Commento su Genesi 2:18

'לא טוב היות וגו IT IS NOT GOOD etc. — I shall make an help meet for him in order that people may not say that there are two Deities, the Holy One, blessed be He, the only One among the celestial Beings without a mate, and this one (Adam), the only one among the terrestrial beings, without a mate (Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 12).

IT IS NOT GOOD THAT THE MAN SHOULD BE ALONE. It does not appear likely that man was created to be alone in the world and not beget children since all created beings — male and female of all flesh — were created to raise seed. The herb and trees also have their seed in them. But it is possible to say that it was in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbi who says:³⁶⁰Berachoth 61a. The name of the Rabbi is Yirmeyahu the son of Rabbi Elazar. “Adam was created with two faces [i.e., male and female persons combined],” and they were so made that there should be in them an impulse causing the organs of generation to produce a generative force from male to female, or you may say “seed,” in accordance with the known controversy concerning pregnancy,³⁶¹See Ramban, beginning of Seder Thazria concerning the opinion of the doctors and the Greek philosophers. and the second face was a help to the first in the procreative process. And the Holy One, blessed be He, saw that it is good that “the help” stand facing him, and that he should see and be separated from it or joined to it at his will. This is the meaning of what He said in the verse, I will make him a helper opposite him.
The meaning of the expression, it is not good, is that it cannot be said of man that “it is good” when he is alone for he will not be able to so exist. In the work of creation, “the good” means existence, as I have explained on the text, And G-d saw that it was good.³⁶²Above, 1:10.

לא טוב היות האדם לבדו, the purpose of the human species on earth will not be achieved while man who is supposed to reflect the divine image will be left to personally carry out all the menial tasks of daily life on earth by being solitary.

ויאמר השם אלוקים לא טוב. The Lord G'd said: "It is not good for man to be alone, etc." This is difficult since G'd had mentioned already on the day He created man that the species had been created male and female (1,27). Another problem in the text is the expression אעשה, "I shall make for him a helpmate." The Torah then immediately proceeds to describe that the mammals and the birds were formed, i.e. ויצר השם אלוקים (2,19). This gives the impression that G'd intended one of these animals to be man's helpmate. Such a thought is not only extremely strange, but if true it would also result in one of those animals being deprived of its own mate! Besides, why did G'd have to put Adam to sleep and to remove part of his body? Could He not have formed woman as dust from the earth as He had formed man himself, especially since He formed Eve on the very same day He formed Adam (5,2) זכר ונקבה בראם? Our sages have given many homiletical explanations in answer to these questions, but they have not provided us with פשט, straightforward answers that justify the text as it stands.

ויאמר ה' אלוקים, G’d did not utter these words audibly, as is the meaning of the word when applied to human beings, but He “spoke” to Himself. Alternatively, G’d did utter words to that effect without directly addressing Adam, but Adam happened to hear these words. When the Torah speaks of “G’d speaking,” we must understand this as a sound created especially for that particular occasion. Seeing that Adam overheard the words אעשה לו עזר כנגדו, “I shall make for him a suitable companion,” he had entertained the hope that when all the animals paraded before him that he would encounter among them the helpmate, companion, G’d had spoken of. This is how we must understand the words in verse 20 ולאדם לא מצא עזר כנגדו, that he had not found a suitable helpmate when reviewing all the animals and naming them.
The Torah inserted these words between reporting on the commandment not to eat from the tree of knowledge and the sin, in order to make plain that man’s sin was due to the influence of the woman, as he had not eaten from this tree before she had been formed and been given to him as a mate, companion. Clearly, also when G’d gave Adam the commandments and forbade him to eat from that tree, seeing that the woman had not been created yet, she could not have heard this commandment from the mouth of G’d, but only from the mouth of her husband. The woman was clever enough to know that G’d had created both her husband and her. She presumed that communication from G’d took place by means of both her and her husband’s intellect, seeing that they were the only creatures who had been endowed with superior intellect.

לא טוב היות האדם לבדו, “it is not good for man to remain solitary.” Clearly it had not been G’d’s intention already at the time He created Adam that he should remain single, seeing that all other creatures were created in pairs, male and female specimen. Even trees and herbs contain seed to enable them to “mate” and to reproduce their kind. However, it is possible to argue that man was created with two faces and that between them (within a single body) they possessed the ingredients necessary to reproduce so that the second “face” enabled Adam to help him to reproduce. G’d saw, however, that it would be better that man’s עזר, assistant, should stand independently, facing him, so that he could see her having the choice to separate from her or to closely associate with her in accordance with his wishes. This is the meaning of the words: עזר כנגדו.

If he is not worthy, then opposite him. Rashi is answering the question: At first it is written “a helper.” Why then is it written כנגדו, implying she is against him, to fight him?

Gerade so wie die Schöpfung harrte, und ihrer Vollendung wartete, ehe der Mensch geschaffen wurde, und Gott ihr diese Krone seiner Schöpfung ankündigte, so auch hier vor der Schöpfung des Weibes. Der Mensch war da und um ihn blühte alles in Paradiesesschöne, und doch sprach Gott noch nicht sein: "!טוב" Es heißt nicht: לא טוב לאדם היותו לברו es ist für den Menschen nicht gut, dass er allein sei, sondern: so lange er allein steht, ist es überhaupt noch nicht gut; das Ziel der Vollkommenheit, das die Erdwelt durch ihn erreichen soll, wird nicht vollkommen erreicht, so lange er allein steht. Die Vollendung des Guten war nicht der Mann, war das Weib, und ward erst durch das Weib dem Menschen und dem Universum zugebracht. Und das ist so in den Geist unserer "Orientalen!" der "Rabbinen" aufgegangen, dass sie uns lehren: erst durch sein Weib wird der Mensch ein Mensch, erst Mann und Weib zusammen sind: "Adam". Die für einen zu große Aufgabe muss geteilt werden, und eben für die volle Lösung der Menschenaufgabe schuf Gott zum Manne das Weib. Und dieses Weib soll עזר כנגדו sein. Auch ganz oberflächlich betrachtet, spricht sich in dieser Bestimmung die ganze Dignität des Weibes aus. Auch nicht die leiseste Andeutung auf eine geschlechtliche Beziehung ist da enthalten; nur in das Gebiet des Wirkens des Mannes wird das Weib gesetzt, dort fehlt sie, sie soll עזר כנגדו sein. Und עזר כנגדו spricht eben so wenig eine Unterordnung aus, vielmehr ist damit eine völlige Gleichheit und paritätische Selbständigkeit ausgesprochen. Das Weib steht dem Manne כנגדו, parallel, auf einer Linie, zur Seite.

לא טוב היות האדם לבדו, “it is not good for Adam to remain solitary;” this was not a new idea that G-d had; He had planned for it all the time; He did not want to impose a partner on Adam, and that is why He gave him a chance to name the animals and to find that all of them had suitable mates, something that he now felt he lacked. G-d therefore responded to a wish of Adam that he had not even voiced as yet. If the mate was provided in response to his longing he would appreciate his wife more.

עזר כנגדו A HELP MEET FOR HIM — (כנגדו literally, opposite, opposed to him) If he is worthy she shall be a help to him; if he is unworthy she shall be opposed to him, to fight him (Yevamot 63a).

עזר כנגדו, a helpmate who will be equal to him, also reflecting the divine image. This is essential for him if he is to know what precisely his needs are and so that he can meet them in time. The reason why the Torah added the word כנגדו is that whenever one confronts someone of equal power, moral and ethical weight, such a confrontation is termed נגד. It is a head-on collision of will. When the two parties disagreeing are not of equal power, or moral/ethical weight, the confrontation is termed as one being עולה or יורד one of the adversaries either prevailing or losing in such an encounter. It is in this sense that we have to understand such statements as משה שקול כנגד כל ישראל, “that Moses was the equal of the entire Jewish people.” (Mechilta Yitro 1) However, the Torah did not mean for woman to be 100% equal to man, else how could the man expect her to perform household chores for him, etc.? Hence the letter כ at the beginning of the word כנגדו somewhat tones down this equality.

לא טוב היות האדם לבדו, it is not good that he has no partner seeing that among the beasts he cannot find a partner, as none of them is on a par with him.

We may have to fall back on the opinions expressed in Berachot 61 that originally man was created with two faces in one body. The Talmud there offers two opinions as to what was removed from Adam, a tail or a face, respectively. This is a reasonable explanation because it justifies G'd's blessing or command to Adam to be fruitful and to multiply (1,28) at a time when woman had not yet been reported as a separate entity.

עזר: helfen, beistehen. In seinen verwandten Wurzeln betrachtet, treten eigentümliche Begriffe entgegen, die alle in den Begriff des Beschränkens, Umschränkens zusammen gehen: עצר ,אצר ,אסר ,אזר, und doch: עזר: helfen. עזר bezeichnet somit diejenige Hülfe, die dem andern einen Teil seiner Obliegenheit abnimmt, ihm damit gestattet, seine Kräfte auf einen geringeren Kreis von Zwecken zu konzentrieren, und dadurch das ihm noch zur Vollführung Bleibende tüchtiger und vollkommener zu lösen. Es ist ein Beistand durch Konzentrierung. Während עצר die gewaltsame (צ) Beschränkung bedeutet, ist עזר die willkommene Beschränkung, um in dem so beschränkten Gebiete seine Tätigkeit desto kräftiger zu üben. So heißt עזרה der Hülfsraum. Statt dass sonst die קרבנות im היכל geschehen müssten, verbleibt durch die עזרה der היכל der höchsten כפרה, und im "Hülfsraum" geschehen alle die Wege, die zur כפרה führen. So soll auch durch das Weib ein Teil der Obliegenheiten, die die große Menschenaufgabe umfasst, dem Manne abgenommen, und ihm dadurch die vollkommenere Lösung des ihm noch Bleibenden ermöglicht werden. Dieses ist aber nur möglich, wenn das Wesen, das ihm עזר sein soll, כנגדו, nicht עמו, nicht an demselben mit ihm arbeitet, sondern ihm gegenüber an einer andern, allein auf gleicher Linie ihm gegenüber befindlichen Stelle wirkt. Wäre dies Wesen ein Mann, so trüge es selbst wieder die ganze Obliegenheit und be- dürste selber wieder des "Beistandes". Darum ist es ein Weib, eine השא, eine "Männin", die nicht mit ihm, nicht unter ihm, sondern neben ihm steht, נגדו auf einer Linie an einem andern Punkte wirkt, so dass sie jeder ein besonderes Gebiet erfüllen, sie gegenseitig sich ergänzen. Raw Hirsch on Genesis 2: 19. ויצר, nach den Weisen in ב"ר nicht: bilden; denn die Schöpfung und Bildung der Tiere war ja bereits vor dem Menschen geschehen; sondern in der Bedeutung 1,כבוש zwingen, wie תצור אל עיר. Obgleich תצור von צרר so ist ja auch von יצר die Grundbedeutung, wie bereits bemerkt, beschränken, einengen. Alles Bilden ist selbst ein Beschränken des Stoffes in den von der beabsichtigten Form gestatteten Umfang. צר selbst kommt auch in der Bedeutung: Enge, Beschränkung vor, ויצר לו מן המיצר usw. Für diese Auffassung spricht hier auch, dass בהמה fehlt, und nur חית השדה und עוף genannt wird, während Raw Hirsch on Genesis 2: 20 בהמה ausdrücklich genannt ist. בהמה brauchten nicht erst gezwungen zum Menschen gebracht zu werden, sie hatten sich ihrer Natur nach untergeordnet und bildeten freiwillig seine Umgebung. — Die Stellung des נפש חיה zu הארם lässt dies nur als Apposition zu האדם erkennen: der Mensch gibt den Dingen Namen, nicht als Gott, der dem Wesen der Dinge auf den Grund schaut, sondern von seinem individuellen Standpunkt aus, als נפש, als Individuum, חיה das aufzunehmende und abzustoßende Eindrücke von den Dingen um sich empfängt. Nach diesen Eindrücken nennt er die Wesen, in diesem Namen spricht er die Eindrücke aus, die seine von den Dingen erhaltene Vorstellung bilden, und damit weist er ihnen ihr שם, (daher שם), ihren Ort an, reiht sie in die entsprechende Gattung, Art, Spezies usw. ein. All unser Wissen von den Dingen ist nichts als eine solche Namengebung. Dieses Wissen ist aber nur subjektiv, ist nur das אשר יקרא לו הארם נפש חיה, wie sich der Mensch die Dinge von seinem subjektiven Standpunkt aus nennt, was er von ihnen, nach den von ihnen erhaltenen Eindrücken, begreift, was sie ihm sind. Das Wesen der Dinge an sich schaut kein sterblicher Geist. Während damit aber die Bedeutung der Summe des menschlichen Wissens auf ihr bescheidenes Maß zurückgeführt wird, ist doch zugleich dem Skeptizismus entgegengetreten durch die Versicherung: הוא שמו dass das von uns durch die Eindrücke auf uns Erkannte, wenn auch nicht die ganze Wahrheit der Dinge, doch Wahrheit sei. Gott, der den Menschen und die Dinge geschaffen, und seine geschaffenen Wesen dem Menschen zugeführt, damit er sie sich nach den von ihnen empfangenen Eindrücken nenne, ist auch dem Menschen Bürge dafür, dass das ihm verliehene Maß von Erkenntnis der Dinge keine Täuschung sei, dass auch dieses Bruchstück von Wahrheit wahr, dass es die Wahrheit von den Dingen sei, deren der Mensch für die Lösung seiner Aufgabe in Mitte der Wesen bedarf, und der er getrost sich anvertrauen darf. So bildet der Glaube an Gott, der die Menschen und die Dinge geschaffen, eine wesentliche Grundlage auch der theoretischen Erkenntnis des Menschen. Ohne diesen Glauben kann sich auch die theoretische Wissenschaft nicht des trostlosen Skeptizismus erwehren, hat sie keine Gewähr, dass sie nicht Traum aus Traum folgere und Traum mit Traum beweise.

אעשה לו עזר, an assistant when the need should arise. Solomon, in Kohelet 4,9, paraphrased this when he wrote: טובים השנים מן האחד, “two are better than one alone.” Furthermore, woman was a necessity if man was to leave offspring behind to insure the continuity of his species.

It is in keeping with G'd's propensity for preparing everything good ahead of time, and providing many more opportunities for man to do good than evil. However, we must ask why He separated the two bodies enabling Eve to fall victim to the temptation by the serpent? This leads us to examine the cause of Adam's (Eve) sin, what happened to him and all of mankind as a result. We have found that woman became the cause of all that the world lost because the serpent prevailed over her in a match of wits. This occurred because Adam was not at her side at the time of Eve's encounter with the serpent. He was asleep as a result of having had marital relations with his wife (Bereshit Rabbah 19,3). Another version in the Midrash there suggests that G'd had taken him on a tour of the earth. As a result the serpent encountered Eve on her own and succeeded in seducing her. If the Torah had reported man's creation and the subsequent separation of Eve's body sequentially, without interposing Adam's experiences on earth in the interval, many people would have argued that what happened was all G'd's fault. They would have said that if G'd had not separated her body from that of her husband, thereby making a drastic change in what He had created originally, the serpent would never have had a chance to seduce Eve. In order to forestall such an argument the Torah tells us first the reason that G'd separated Eve's body from Adam's, i.e. in answer to Adam's own request. His observations of how the animals lived, male and female as separate bodies, had made him desirous of a similar arrangement. G'd had only the best of intentions, as usual. This is also the reason the Torah told us already at the outset that man was equipped to procreate from the moment he was created. Being one and the same body obviously had some of the same disadvantages as being a Siamese twin. G'd therefore decided it would be better for man's helpmate to be כנגדו, an appropriate complement, rather than the other half of his body. In this way she could be a help to him at all times instead of being a hindrance on occasion. Eve's being a separate body was not dictated by Adam's need to procreate. Seeing that the separation of her body served only to please Adam we must ask why none of the other creatures could have been trained to perform that task for Adam while leaving Eve in the state she had been created. The Torah therefore describes in verses 19 and 20 that Adam did indeed search for a suitable helpmate amongst all the other creatures but did not find one that was acceptable to him. Naming the animals, i.e. identifying their essence, was part of that search for a suitable helpmate. Eve's existence as a separate body from Adam had therefore become mandatory from Adam's point of view. It is totally incorrect to blame G'd for subsequent developments, such as Eve finding herself temporarily alone, facing an evil influence whose existence she had been quite unaware of. The Torah's report about both Adam's and Eve's innocence, i.e. their lack of shame at being nude, are all facts the Torah supplies to enable us to better understand the causes that led to the sin. Human relationships are based on people facing each other, i.e. כנגדו. The Torah describes Adam's profound joy when he finally beheld the partner who up until then had been hidden from him, i.e. had faced backwards. From G'd's point of view the original arrangement was perfectly acceptable, He had not created an imperfect human species. Any change was entirely in response to Adam's frame of mind, to accomodate him. Our sages have supplied us with numerous reasons why G'd did not create an entirely new human being to serve as Adam's helpmate. When Solomon told us in Kohelet (4,9) טובים השנים מן האחד, that two are better than one, that they can help each other, this has nothing to do with G'd having created man's form in such a way that he could have impregnated the wife which was part of him but facing backwards.

Dass dieses Namengeben auf einer, wenn gleich nur subjektiven, Erkenntnis des Wesens der Dinge beruht, ist hier evident, indem Gott dem Menschen die lebendigen Wesen alle zuführte, damit er erkenne, dass unter allen diesen lebenden Wesen keines geeignet sei, ihm als die ihm fehlende Hülfe zur Seite zu treten, wie dies der Schluss des folgenden Verses: לאדם לא מצא עזר כנגדו, beweist. Die Prüfung der Wesen für diesen Zweck heißt: לראות מה יקרא לו האדם. Mögen wir es nun übersetzen, zu sehen, wie er es sich, oder wie er es nennen, oder was er sich, d. h. für sich berufen werde: immer ist durch das וכל אשר יקרא לו וגו׳ הוא שמו klar, dass der Name das Ergebnis der subjektiven Prüfung des Wesens der Dinge sei. קרא heißt rufen, d. i. einen Gegenstand auffordern in unsere Richtung zu treten, (wovon auch לקראת, wörtlich: dem Rufe des Andern zu, d. h. der Richtung zu, die durch die Stellung des Andern bestimmt wird.) Daher auch: nennen. Indem ich einen Namen nenne, rufe ich mir den Gegenstand vor, vergegenwärtige ich ihn mir. Vielleicht ist auch damit ירא verwandt, das daher auch, obgleich einen intransitiven Zustand bezeichnend, doch mit dem Akkusativ את konstruiert wird. Es hieße demnach: sich einen Gegenstand im Innern immer gegenwärtig halten. Dies ist ja auch in der Tat z. B. die einzige wahrhaftige ׳שויתי ד׳ לנגדי תמיד :יראת ד.

כנגדו, she should be constantly present to attend to his needs; the prefix letter כ is to be understood as in Samuel I 9,13 כהיום, and as in Numbers 11,1 כמתאוננים, and as in Hoseah 5,10 כמסיגי גבול, in all of which instances the letter כ serves to emphasise what follows. (compare Genesis 25,31 where Yaakov insists that the sale of the birthright be effective immediately with the words כיום, “as of today”) Other explanations of the word כנגדו are that if and when her husband would embark on a sinful path of action, it would be woman’s task to prevent him from doing so by opposing it; these are familiar to all my readers, I am sure. The basic difference between man the species and woman his mate who were not initially created as two separate individuals as opposed to all the other living creatures, is to distinguish him favourably from all those other creatures. It draws attention to the fact that man is made from superior raw materials, and that as opposed to the other creatures among whom the male does not enjoy an advantage over the female, man, i.e. the male of the human species, does enjoy such an advantage. The male of the human species enjoys a position of authority vis a vis his female counterpart. The reason that he enjoys this right is the fact that woman is –after all- one of his own original limbs, and a person does have control over the various parts of his body. Seeing that the male of the human species had been the principal creation, woman became an adjunct to him, so that it is logical that man possesses superior strength to woman, and that also the power of his intellect is more manifest than that of his female counterpart.

Perhaps the objective reason G'd had created the human species as a pair in a single body was to distinguish between the functions of the bodies of the animals and the functions of the human body. Animals mate indiscriminately, i.e. a male will mate with any female available to him, the act of mating being merely a response to biological urges. The fact that the Torah on occasion stresses the זכר ונקבה element when mentioning animals as pairs such as when they entered Noach's ark, does not mean that they have exclusive partners. The average animal does not recognise a female of its species as specifically "his" female. This is not the way G'd wanted man to relate to the subject of mating. It would have been impossible for Adam to describe his wife as בשר מבשרי, flesh of my own, were it not for the fact that Eve had been part of his own body previously. The whole idea that man's זווג is arranged in heaven would have been impossible to understand but for the fact that the female of the species is considered man's "other half." This consideration may also be the reason that when the Torah legislated forbidden sexual relations (Leviticus 18) the subject is always the male. It is forbidden to engage in sexual intercourse with certain women as they could not possibly be your missing "half."