Pensamento Judaico sobre Gênesis 7:2

In order for a work of art to be truly successful, the input must be precise; there can be neither shortfall nor surplus. Just as the absence of a vital ingredient constitutes a blemish, so any excess is considered a blemish also. Our sages, when classifying what constitutes a blemish in an animal to be offered as a sacrifice on G-d’s altar, say "anything that is excess (such as an extra toe) is just as disqualifying as anything that is missing (Chullin 58). Naturalists have been extremely careful when defining phenomena in nature. Small tolerances and variants not allowed for in these definitions would cause us to make errors, and mistake one species for another. When defining "life," for instance, the definition is "something that feels, and consumes food and drink. If, for instance, the dimension of "feeling" were to be omitted, we would not be dealing with a form of life, but rather with some form of plant, vegetation. If the dimension of "consuming food" would be missing, we would deal with inert objects such as stones or metal. In order to define"man" correctly, we must remember that the Torah refers to man in different ways. He is called either "Adam,” "man," or "woman." Alternately, we find him referred to as "Adam-woman- serpent." It appears therefore, that unless "man" comprises all these elements, he just would not be "man." It is for us to determine the relationships that exist between the various elements mentioned. As has been demonstrated in chapters eight and nine, the terms "woman," "Eve," are well understood in their respective implications. They refer to the physical aspect of "man," the part which requires nourishment, the part that emotes. All these elements are ever present in man, are always part of our evaluation of him. Also, the term "man" is readily comprehensible inasmuch as it describes a creature equipped with the power of speech, as distinct from all other creatures. Man possesses other distinctly human qualities such as the desire for comfort, wealth, wisdom, honor etc. None of these exist among the beasts. However, the most sublime part of man, the part called "Adam," refers to his intellectual faculties which place him high above being only a "talking animal." This latter quality is one that is not readily seen or heard when we encounter a human being. Some people even deny the existence of such qualities in humans because these qualities are hidden within him. Even wise men seem at at times intent to conceal this aspect of man, such as when they describe man as "a talking living creature." Those philosophers admit only that man possesses practical intelligence, denying that he possesses speculative reason. Aristotle stands out by recognizing that man does possess both of these intellectual powers. Since speculative reason concerns itself mostly with what might be practical and expedient in order for man to achieve comfort, wealth etc., we find the tendency of man to put his highest faculty in the service of his lowest faculty, i.e. his body's requirements. It is this fact which is lamented by Solomon in Kohelet chapter 4. When there is at least some co-operation between human beings, though it may be motivated by far from lofty motivations, Solomon sees some merit in this (see verse 9-12). Even this is not enough if one does not reach the stage of recognizing the true purpose speculative reason has been granted to man, namely to enable him to achieve ascendancy over that which is merely physical. Having established this, we understand the need of the Torah to relate the birth of Cain, Abel, the sacrifice, the murder and all the other details of the accomplishments of Cain's descendants, (though all were doomed) all of which in themselves do not deserve mention. The Torah does not report events that do not serve as a model for conveying lessons to man which are valid throughout history. If the Torah related all these details of early man's activities merely to let us know the dates and age of populated earth, the genealogy of the ten generations would have sufficed. We must follow the view of the saintly Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai who views Torah as containing soul, body, and outer garments. He sees the stories of true occurrences reported in the Torah as parables describing events of spiritual significance. Thus, though he accepts the factual occurrence of the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, the four rivers etc., he views the significance of the story as going far beyond providing a historic record of the actual events described. Rabbi Eleazar ben Aroch in the opening Midrash also has this theme in mind when he talks about three wondrous events, seeing that they occurred after the conclusion of the report of the story of Creation, after natural law had become operative. This is especially so, since the plain meaning of the text does not suggest the extraordinary nature of the events mentioned by Rabbi Eleazar. The Torah, after all, merely says, "She conceived, became pregnant, and gave birth; she continued to give birth." This sounds like a very normal version of natural events. Rabbi Eleazar's thrust is to tell us that just as everything which had occurred up until now during the period of creation had been extraordinary from the point of view of natural law, so these events did not conform to natural law either. Seeing that the parents had been part of the process of creation, not part of natural law, the potential of these kinds of births had been included in the process leading up to these events. Rabbi Yoshua ben Korcha refers to the same thought, namely that the nature of the offspring of man is itself still part of the creative process. Therefore, the potential for evil etc. is not something that entered man at birth, but at a later date, as a result of a sinful act. When Adam and Eve begat Cain, Eve named him thus to indicate that it was his task to "acquire" (from the root kanah) as much material wealth as he was able to collect. Eve felt that the main difference between man and beast was the G-d given ability to acquire things (et hashem, i.e. a quality man shares with G-d). When Eve bore Abel, he had a superior profession, one that entailed leadership and demonstration of responsibility for others. When the Psalmist compares David's elevation to leadership of men to his experiences as a shepherd (Psalms 78,71), we find that thought documented in scripture. There are many other examples of the profession of shepherd serving as a leadership course preparing those people eventually to assume positions of leadership amongst men. The reason we find Abel's birth described as "additional" is to teach that it was obvious that Cain's profession could not be the sum total of man's purpose on earth. When naming Abel Hevel, Eve unwittingly gave expression to the inherent inadequacy even in Abel's profession. Since the world needs far more people of the type of Cain, i.e. people who make the earth produce, than it needs "leaders," Cain looked down on Abel. Regrettably, at that stage Adam and Eve thought that they had produced in their respective children all that was needed to secure successful perpetuation of their species, i.e. the producer and the preserver. As a result of meeting with success in their respective endeavors, Cain and Abel offered gifts to G-d. Although neither of the two had used his talents in the manner G-d would have preferred, G-d gave preference to the type of profession chosen by Abel. After all, Abel's profession involved primarily the use of his intellect, whereas Cain's profession involved primarily the use of muscle.

THE two Hebrew nouns ish and ishshah were originally employed to designate the “male and female” of human beings, but were afterwards applied to the “male and female” of the other species of the animal creation. For instance, we read, “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens,” ish ve-ishto (Gen. 7:2), in the same sense as ish ve-ishshah, “male and female.” The term zakar u-nekebah was afterwards applied to anything designed and prepared for union with another object Thus we read, “The five curtains shall be coupled together, one (ishshah) to the other” (aḥotah) (Exod. 26:3).