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The Book of Genesis
Parshat Bereishit
A free excerpt from the Kehot Publication Society's
new Chumash Breishis/Book of Genesis with commentary
based on the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe,
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THE TORAH - CHUMASH BEREISHIT
WITH AN INTERPOLATED ENGLISH TRANSLATION
AND COMMENTARY BASED ON THE WORKS OF
THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE

THE TORAH - CHUMASH
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The Book of Genesis
Parshat Bereishit
Foreword
I

Chabad of California
Erev Rosh HaShanah 5769
Preface
T

Chumash
parashah

Kehot Publication Society

3 Tammuz 5764
GENESIS
Bereishit 1 ~
Noach
Lech Lecha
Vayeira
Chayei Sarah
Toldot
Vayeitzei
Vayishlach
Vayeishev
Mikeitz
Vayigash
Vayechi
EXODUS
Shemot
Vaeira
Bo
Beshalach
Yitro
Mishpatim
Terumah
Tetzaveh
Ki Tisa
Vayakheil
Pekudei
LEVITICUS
Vayikra
Tzav
Shemini
Tazria
Metzora
Acharei Mot
Kedoshim
Emor
Behar
Bechukotai
NUMBERS
Bemidbar
Naso
Behaalotecha
Shelach
Korach
Chukat
Balak
Pinchas
Matot
Masei
DEUTERONOMY
Devarim
Vaetchanan
Eikev
Reeh

Ki Teitzei
Ki Tavo
Netzavim
Vayeilech
Haazinu
Vezot Habrachah
~

n o j
Bereishit
Overview
T he word Torah means teaching,1 and as we should therefore expect, much of

the Torah consists of Gods instructions regarding how He wants us to relate to
Him, to our fellow human beings, to the world around us, and even to ourselves.
Yet, if we carefully examine all Five Books of Moses, we see that Gods explicit instruc--

constitute a people
common responsibilities. True, the Torah does also contain Gods instructions to the rest
of humanity, but these instructions are presented solely in the context of the Jewish peo--
ples responsibility to impart them to the non-Jewish world. It is thus clear that the Torah
is a book of instruction addressed primarily to the Jewish people.
It is therefore intriguing to note that the intended recipients of the Torahs message, this
entity known as the Jewish people, does not technically come into being until well into
-
ment, as He is about to redeem them from Egypt,2
as a nation. And only when God announces at Mount Sinai, some two months later, that
He is transforming them into a kingdom of nobles and a holy nation,3 are they forged
forever into a collective unity suitable to receive the Torah. Until that point, there is no
such thing as a Jew; there are only people. True, long before this, God starts to focus His

so on. But legally and practically, this developing family still remains a group of people,

into the Jewish nation.

any explicit Divine instructions to the Jews as a people

The most fundamental answer to this question is that it is in the Book of Genesis that
God presents His credentials, as it were, establishing Himself as the Creator of the
1. Zohar 3:53b; Gur Aryeh on Genesis 1:1; Rabbi David Kimchi on Psalms 19:8, Sefer HaShorashim s.v. yud-hei-reish. 2. Exodus
12:1-2. 3. Exodus 19:6.

OVERVIEW OF BEREISHIT

document the creation of the world and then skip the intervening history of humanity.
-
duced to the patriarchs and matriarchs, whose righteous behavior is the model upon
which we are supposed to fashion our own.4 It is for this reason that the Book of Genesis is
called, later in the Bible, the Book of the Upright,5 in reference to the patriarchs and ma--

directly to the account of the lives of these great personalities. Why the detailed chronicle

The answer to this question is provided by the Midrash: God desired to make His
home in the lower realms.6 That is, God created the world as a lower realm with re--
-
ing that humanity then introduce Divine consciousness into the world and ultimately

naturally as we are in our own homes.
[ INNER DIMENSIONS \
God, of course, did not lack anything before
creating a lowly world to dwell in. Why, then, did

since the correlation between challenge and
By way of analogy, we can point out that we satisfaction is itself God-made. Therefore, the
experience the greatest satisfaction when we meet ultimate answer can only be that this desire was
a seemingly impossible challenge; we are most somehow rooted deep within Gods essence, and
intrigued when the seemingly incongruous occurs. as human experience bears out, there are some
Making the world into Gods home, being the most desires for which no logical reason can be given.
impossibly incongruous challenge of all, would
The tool God gave humanity to enable it to perform this feat is the Torah. By living life
according to the Torahs instructions, humanity would be able to transform a world ini--
tially antagonistic to Divinity into one conducive to Divinity. The drama of creation thus
required three elements: the world, the human race, and the Torah, serving respectively
This being the case, it is clear that the physical, lower world was created for the

in which the Torahs drama would be acted out. Put another way, the Torah preceded
creation; in the idiom of the Midrash, the Torah was Gods blueprint for creating the
world.
The originality and audacity of this claim form the essence of the Torahs opening
verse: by recounting the creation of the world, the Torah is boldly asserting that the world
and everything in it, as well as all of history, exist within the Torah, meaning that their

the world, one of many features or components of life; rather, the world is a part of the
Torah.
4. Torat Chaim Likutei Sichot, vol. 5, p. 458 (Igrot Kodesh, vol. 22, p. 360), vol. 8, p. 225, vol. 15, p. 245, vol. 10, p. 53,
vol. 20, p. 110. 5. Joshua 10:13; Avodah Zarah 25a. 6. Tanchuma, Naso 7:1.
It follows directly that neither the world nor anything in it can ever constitute an ob--
to be the case is
only a mirage, a test of our dedication and belief. But the truth is exactly the opposite:
God, in fact, created the world and everything in it precisely to aid
Torahs directives.7
But precisely because the world was created in such a way as to obscure Gods pres--
ence, we are given the free choice to ignore Him and His intentions for the world. This
is exactly the choice that humanity made in parashat Bereishit, and for the most part has
service it may pay to the contrary. The early history of the world is the record of human--
ity pushing God further and further out of the picture, out of life, so it could be free

possible existence and/or involvement. Rather than come to terms with a transcendent
yet personal God, humanity chose to lavish its devotion on the spurious gods of nature
(teva, in Hebrew), in which God has hidden and submerged (tava) His presence under the
guise of the immutable laws of causality. In keeping with His own decision to allow free
choice, God obliged, so to speak, by retreating to the spiritual realms, leaving humanity
increasingly to its own devices while hiding His presence even further behind the faade
of nature.
Yet God did not despair of His original vision of being welcomed by humanity into the
apparently mundane world; rather, He implemented His contingency plan. He took the
one family that continued to nurture the original ideal of Divine consciousness and forged

-
ing His original purpose for creation. The Torah, the tool originally intended to enable all
-
ing the mundane world into Gods home by supplanting material consciousness with

the rest of humanity God gave a subset of the Torahs directives, which they would use
8 The Jewish people would
both serve as an inspiration and example for the rest of humanity and encourage them to
play their role in His scheme for transforming the world into His home.
parashah, Bereishit, is not merely a
chronicle of historical facts; it documents Gods original vision for the world and humanity,
role originally intended for humanity in general to the nascent Jewish people in particular.
T he imperative to make the world into Gods home by sanctifying mundane reality
extends beyond the physical faade of creation. Every one of us possesses an inner soul,
but by virtue of having been born into a physical body, we naturally relate to reality in
further encrusted by acquired materialism. Freeing our souls from the shackles of this
materialistic perspective is an additional aspect of our Divine mission to reveal the inner
intent of creation.9
7. Likutei Sichot, vol. 1, p. 80, et al. 8. These are the seven categories of commandments incumbent upon non-Jews, which com--
prise approximately one tenth of the 613 commandments that express the Jewish peoples role in creation. See on Exodus 19:5
and the appendix at the end of Deuteronomy in this edition of the Torah. 9. Likutei Sichot, vol. 2, p. 439.

bara) accord--

as follows: The beginning [of our Divine mission is] to draw out [the inner,] Divine
[dimension of everything in] heaven and earth. Our challenge in life is to refuse to take
the world at face value, but rather to peer behind the veil and reveal Gods inner intent in
everything.10

world; it is rather an endeavor to restore the world to its intended and true state. The ma--
terially oriented world, overburdened with its own egocentricity, is sick, and it is our task

word for created (bara) according to yet another of its meanings, healthy (bari): The
beginning [of our Divine mission is] to heal the heavens and the earth.11
Needless to say, we are able to heal the world of its materialistic, egocentric outlook
only to the same degree that we purge our own selves of that very outlook. It is therefore
essential for us to always keep in mind that God is the source of all the blessings we have

-
stantly recall that] God created the heavens [i.e., all our spiritual blessings] and the earth
[i.e., all our physical blessings].12

our fullest dedication and the best of our abilities. But aside from the satisfaction inherent

ultimate fruit: the worlds consummate transformation into Gods intended home.13
10. Keter Shem Tov, addendum 4. 11. Sefer HaMaamarim 5699, p. 72. 12. Likutei Sichot, vol. 2, p. 437. 13. Based on Likutei Sichot,
vol. 5, pp. 1-15; vol. 10, pp. 3-6; Sefer HaSichot 5752, vol. 1, pp. 62-67; Yom Tov shel Rosh HaShanah 5666, pp. 1-9.
~
God created everything that exists, so He is there-
fore beyond all categories of existence and beyond kav) of Divine consciousness, with which He
created numerous spiritual worlds, each populated
by various grades of spiritual entities, archetypes,
Him; He created all these categories, so He is be-
- greater the Divine consciousness that characterizes
-
By the same token, He is beyond any category of ber of worlds into being, they may be divided into
gender, so when we speak of Him in the masculine four general worlds, of which all the others are gra-
dations: Atzilut Beriah
in fact, there is no neuter in Hebrew) and because Yetzirah Asiyah
by assuming the role of the Creator of a universe, The world of Atzilut is considered the ideal repre-

sentation of Divine consciousness, in which Gods

in the context of this world as masculine.
Despite this inscrutability, God makes Himself at all self-awareness. The creatures of the lower worlds

of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah are characterized by
- increasing degrees of self-awareness. The world of
tributes that serve to channel His creative energy. Asiyah is the spiritual archetype of our physical uni-
- verse, in which self-awareness is total and there is
butes in one way or another, and therefore, by ob- no a priori Divine consciousness at all.
serving creation through the lens of Gods revealed All these stages of creation evolved in a logical
teachings, we can gradually come to know God sense, but not in a temporal sense, because actual
Himself.
In order to create a world antagonistic to Divinity, physical creation.

- Each of the four worlds is governed by a set of Di-

. These are ar-
tzit- ranged in a logical hierarchy, which groups the se-
mtzum) of Gods presence produced a realm vacant
of Divine consciousness.7
- In this hierarchy, supra-intellect rules intellect, in-
vine consciousness was withdrawn equally in all tellect rules emotions, emotions rule behavior, and
VHURW
category left axis middle axis right axis
supra-intellect keter
binah -

intellect
daat

gevurah
primary emo- chesed

tions
tiferet
netzach
behavioral
emotions

expression malchut
7. 5b.

16
BEREISHIT
Background
In the idiom of the Midrash, God created the world in order to have a home in
1 which means so He could be present in a realm not inherently
conducive to the awareness of His presence. The blueprint He prepared for creat-

2 just as the plan precedes the execution.3 In the idiom of the
4
The world, however, is just the stage on which the cosmic drama of making a home

the human race, on whom God made the accomplishment of this goal dependent.
The conscious essence of a human being is its soul. Every soul has a unique role
to play in making reality into Gods home; this unique task gives rise to the souls
unique personality. The world, thus, was created both for the sake of the Torah
and for the sake of humanity.
Inasmuch as the world was created in accordance with the vision, purpose, and

-
ation of the world and the genesis of the Jewish people. This digression is required

necessitated the existence of a unique nation among the human racethe Jewish

the Promised Land of Israel. The Torah therefore describes how the necessity for a
chosen people living in a chosen land came about.5

world. This sovereignty would allow Him, when the time would come, to expro-

there in the meantime.
T
creative process. Its creation was preceded by the creation of a number of spiri-
tual realms. Among these spiritual realms is the abode of souls before they are
born; each soul is sent into a physical body in this world in order to accomplish
6 this realm would also serve as the
abode of souls who have completed their task on earth and died. Relative to our

during its stay in the body, it enters Purgatory, an additional spiritual realm where
this cleansing occurs, before entering the World to Come. When the task of making
the physical world conducive to the revelation of Gods presence has been com-
pleted, the souls waiting in the World to Come will be restored to their physical
bodies and live again in the perfected, physical world.
1. Tanchuma, 7:1. 2. Rashi on Proverbs 8:22; 1:4. 3. 1:1. 4. Rashi on Deuteronomy 33:2. 5. Li-
, vol. 5, pp. 1-15, vol. 20, p. 541, vol. 10, pp. 1-6. 6. Below, 3:19.

17
~
The physical universe, at the moment of its creation, constituted nine concentric
spheres. The outermost sphere is that of the celestial vault. Inside this is the sphere

-
side these is the sphere of the sun; inside this is the sphere of the moon. Inside this
). All these spheres are solid; the outer
11
which were, at the moment of creation, layered in four concentric spheres. A sphere
of solid earth, the heavi-
est, was at the center,
surrounded by a layer of
liquid water, surrounded
in turn by a layer of gas-
eous air, surrounded in

). In
the context of the physi-
cal universe, the upper
two spheres are termed
12 and the lower
The physical earth was

created fully matured,
e.g., layers of sedimenta- 2: The Earth at Creation
ry rock that would natu-
rally have taken many years to form were already in place, etc.
-
vidual entities. They also possess a certain degree of free choice.13

this moment, there was only a hierarchy of order in the pre-physical creative pro-
th
day of the month of Elul, year -1.

would unfold during the subsequent week consisted simply of either placing ev-
erything in its proper place or activating it.14
11.
12.
, vol. 1, pp. 460-464. 13. See Rashi on, -
, vol. 19, p. 334. 14. Rashi on 1:6,
1:14, 1:24, 2:4.

18
BEREISHIT
G
He manifests at any given moment. In this context, God created the physical world
and the World to Come with the Name Kah yud-hei, ): the World to
yud hei. The form of the
heithree sides
with the fourth side

alludes to the fact that,
as stated above, if the
sould acquires too ma-
terialistic a perspec-
tive on life while in the
physical world, it has
-
gatory.8
On the other hand,
the Divine Name used
throughout the creation

is , which signi- 1: The Celestial Spheres

limitation and restraint. This is because God created the world to operate accord-
ing to strict, consistent rules. Later, with the creation of humanity, it became pos-

.9

-
ity, His more essential nature had to be concealed. Thus, the Name also indi-
cates Divine concealment, whereas the Name
indicates Divine revelation.10
[continued...] behavior determines expression.
Within this structure, the various sometimes
act as conduits that transmit content to other , malchut,
or alternatively as recipients of this content, which the of expression, which in this context is fe-
then express it in new contexts. The role any par-
ticular takes in this process determines its The -
tum, each comprising ten sub- -
on mah of , binah of , etc.), and each
sub- comprising ten sub-sub-, etc.
of the intellect are col-
8. See 1:8, below; Rashi on 2:4, below. 9.

5. 10.
sun and its shield is

19
~ FIRST READING
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X CHASIDIC INSIGHTS W
tenable to accept the Torahs geocentric perspective.24 and perfection of creation was present from its very
2 Gods spirit: In the idiom of the sages, this spirit is inception and constitutes an intrinsic element of all

redemption and progress towards it. All events sub-
the throne is that of a place where Gods presence can sequent to the creation are steps leading toward this
ultimate goal.
repose.25 Gods presence desired to dwell on earth, so
to speak, but was unable to do so because the earth was T here is a lesson to be learned from the fact that Gods
unsuited for it. This tension initiated the entire creative spirit was present even in the void and darkness of pri-
process that followed. mal reality. Even when prospects seem bleak, the spirit
of messianic optimism is there; all we have to do is re-
The sages also call this spirit the spirit of the

26 i.e., the redeemer who will bring the world
illuminating the world with the light of the Torah.27

24. , vol. 10, pp. 181-2. 25. , vol. 1, pp. 480-482d. 26. 2:4. 27.
, vol.
1, pp. 131-133.

20
Genesis 1:1-2 BEREISHIT
The First Week

1:1 in the beginning of Gods creation of
heaven and everything in it and earth and everything in it
2 when the earth was astonishingly void, with darkness over the surface of the
abyss, i.e., the water, and Gods spirit, i.e., His intention to make the world into
His home, hovered over the surface of the water, r ready to initiate this process
1 God: The orderly functioning of the world that of consciousness in creationa realm of greater and
was established during the process of creationi.e., lesser God-consciousness. This was necessary in or-
natureis a concealment of God, since the world ap- der to facilitate the purpose of creation, the making of
pears to function so perfectly on its own that it does
not betray the fact that any being outside of creation make the lower realm into a home for God, there must
is involved in running it. In fact, God is so well hidden
in nature that it is possible to entertain the notion that
the world always existed and was not created, or that
of Divine consciousness.
86) L
This conceptual division immediately implies a geo-

is equivalent to that of the Name of God used in the
creation narrative, ).
Heaven and earth: perspective on creation is therefore oriented from the
vantage point of earth.
the sky and all the heavenly bodies that appear to us to -

according to the theory of relativity, there really is no

-
erence for the heliocentric one is due to the fact that it
In any case, the archetypal division of reality at any -

[1] Heaven: The seven lower sub-sub- of mal- 16
chut of malchut of Asiyah15 are sometimes referred to are, in ascending order:17
Hebrew
translation content
name
none; hides daylight during the night and is drawn open in the

morning, renewing the creation of the world
sun, moon, stars, planets
Manna18
Zevul 19 The spiritual Jerusalem, including the spiritual Temple20
21 Ministering angels
22
Right, judgment, righteousness, life, peace, blessing, souls, the dew

23
of resurrection, angels, the Divine throne
15.
, , vol. 3, p. 782. 16. Rashi on Deuteronomy 4:35. 17. Chagigah 12b. 18. Psalms 78:23-24. 19. Isaiah 63:15. 20. 1
Kings 8:13. 21. Deuteronomy 26:15. 22. 1 Kings 8:39. 23. Psalms 68:5.

21
~ FIRST READING
X ONKELOS W
r l q ~r
s j o j r j q l~ q w~
p V n k~~j a q q 4 ~w
v jv
n
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L j Q n k~ p~s_ q 3
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o l~ ~r
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u j n p z j s
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j
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r z j


T - changes reality will undergo in the messianic era as be-

also imply an act of creation, i.e., that all the four ele-
familiar reality is actually an aberration of the worlds
ments of creation not mentioned explicitly were also
natural state and the messianic redemption will simply
created by Gods word.33
restore reality to its natural condition.

That the light was good: Throughout the account of

creation, we are repeatedly told that God saw that what
This creation is alluded to in the words In the begin-
He had created was good. In most cases, this statement

follows the description of Gods creative activity on

un-translated sign of the accusative, et ). This word
each of the six days of creation. These expressions of

satisfaction mean that each stage of creation represents

f tav, ). Allegorically,
alef,
a further readying of the world for its role in the Divine

plan, as a stage for the drama of making the world into

Gods home.
-
lations.34 -

Light: Light, both physically and allegorically, is a pre-
else that is not as good. In this sense, the repetitions
requisite to sight, awareness, consciousness, knowl-

-

than its spiritual antecedents. The spiritual worlds are

indeed higher on the hierarchy of spirituality than the
primordial creation is therefore light, i.e., the ability to
physical world, but precisely because of this, they are

inferior to it in terms of being suited for Gods purpose
of creation. This itself implies the imperative to order
in creation.38
these elements in ones consciousness, and order im-
God separated between the light and the darkness:
in the actualization of the redemption-oriented spirit Here again, just like the establishment of the dichoto-
my between heaven and earth, it was necessary to po-
towards infusing reality with Divine consciousness.
light must be contrasted with darkness, enlightenment
And there was light: Despite the initial gloomy state
with ignorance, clarity with confusion, objectivity with
of realityvoid, chaos, and darknesslight broke
subjectivity, rationality with irrationality.
through and illuminated the world. The lesson for us
In other words, although God saw that the light was
situation may seem, we should not despair: at any mo-
-
ment God may turn the tables and light and order will ing daylight to rule the entire 24-hour day. Darkness
displace chaos and darkness.35 serves a purpose; in fact, this purpose is so important
that for half the year there is more darkness than light.
4 God reserved this quality of light as a reward for
This equality of light and darkness clearly indicates
the righteous in the messianic future: God created
that darkness does not simply serve to allow us to val-
not only light, but the whole world a priori in its full
ue and appreciate the light, but that the dark side of life
perfection.36 Even if this perfection was only tempo-
is useful in and of itself, and can be harnessed, like the
rary and God later lessened the quality or intensity of

most aspects of reality, the initial experience of perfec-
tion imbued reality with the impetus and potential to
later strive to restore it.37 Although we are accustomed equal status, the dark side of life must always be subor-
dinate to and guided by the clarity of light.39
33. 5:1. See

32a; 83ab;
) 2:2, 2:4
on 5:1). 34. 3. 35. , vol. 2, p. 657. 36. , Bereishit 8. 37.
, vol. 10, p. 9. 38. 3:7;
438, etc. 39. 2:5; 2:7d.

22
3 God said, Let there be light, and there was light. This primeval light did not

of the day; darkness and light alternated randomly.28
4 God saw that this primeval light not only illuminated the world, making it phys-
ically visible to its future inhabitants, but that it was also good
the Divine energy sustaining everything from within. Such an obvious display of
Godliness would not allow humanity free choice, so God separated this spiritual
the light from its simple, optical dimension and reserved this qual-
ity of light as a reward for the righteous in the messianic future. God then saw that
the remaining, physical light was good and would enable life to function in an or-
derly manner were it to shine consistently rather than randomly, so God separated
between the light and the darkness.29 This was
a further step in transforming the world from a state of chaos to a state of order.

30
3 God said: Throughout the account of creation, every- to blend in order to fashion the particular object He

Of the three modes of self-expressionthought, speech, -
and actionthought is the most intense and action the
least: one can think much more and much more quickly He spoke. This creative language God used is what we
than he can articulate, and articulate much more than know today as Biblical Hebrew. Hebrew is therefore
he can do. Thought is therefore considered the mode
- the form, sound, and position in the alphabet of each

middle of both continuums, similar to action in being The name of any given entity in Hebrew is thus a pre-
removed from the individuals essence and similar to cise description of its essence, expressed through the
31In any
-
rah indicates, on the one hand, that the world is sepa-
rate from God, just as ones words separate from him Since, as we have stated, the Divine Name used for
, indicates Divine concealment, the
thoughts remain within him), and, on the other hand,
that creating the world did not require God to change, creation account can be understood to mean: The in-

the exertion that action does.

The faculty of speech that God used to create the world
-
is the origin of language. The words He used were ative energy was channeled in this process constitute

the name of the created entity.
[3] The light was good:
its existence logically. The immanent Divine light,
however, remains accessible to us; with a certain
kol almin). Inasmuch as the transcendent light has
been set aside for the messianic future, we can no through
g creation and enlivening g it.32
28. , vol. 25, pp. 1-2. 29. , vol. 25, pp. 3-9. 30. Rashi on 1:14; , vol. 25, p. 4, note 24. 31.
Yetzirah;
; Rashi on 2:22. 32. , vol. 25, p. 8.

23
~ FIRST READING
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rz n~
q
{r nr
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o u
s
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j rp rj o
pz n
q u z ~
o nq

rant souls of the spiritual impurity they would accumulate through misdeeds per-
formed during their physical lifetimes.47
And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
5 There was evening and there was morning: Alle- ever, even then, the dark aspect of this awareness is not
gorically, this means that any new perception of reality altogether superseded by the light, for there was eve-
- -
48

-
[ A CLOSER LOOK \
[5] There was evening and there was morning: example, the Sabbath and the holidays all begin in

period from one nightfall
p g to the next. Therefore, for
[5] There was evening and there was morning: tzimtzum), there was
Evening preceded morning because God brought room for physical light.49
[8] Purgatory:
geihi-
spiritual lightDivine consciousnessthat shines ) is a spiritual realm, it is only allegorically that
in the spiritual worlds antecedent to our physical
world. Once the light of the spiritual worlds was -

24
5 God called to the light and assigned it to the day, and He called to the darkness
and assigned it to the night.40
the day to the second half. Thus, there was evening, followed by the rest of the
night, and then there was morning, followed by the rest of the day; together night
and day constituted one full day. It was clear while the primeval light was shining
that God was the only being to possess intrinsic existence and that all other beings
existence is dependent upon His.
6 As was said above, the sphere of water was originally surrounded by the sphere
of air. The primordial sphere of water included both what was to become atmo-
spheric water as well as what was to remain below as oceanic water; it was thus
not exactly what we know today as liquid water, but something between a gas and
a liquid. God said, Let there be a sky in the midst of the waters, and it shall
separate between atmospheric water and ocean water. Here, God raised and sus-
pended the gaseous-moisture part of the water above the sphere of air, resulting
41 ). Once again, God distin-
guished between higher and lower aspects of reality by imposing a hierarchical
order on an initially chaotic state.

-
tity is on the physical hierarchy, the greater its consciousness of God. Therefore,
when God separated the atmospheric water from the ocean water, the ocean water
complained that it, too, wanted to enjoy the Divine consciousness granted to atmo-

spiritual realms.42
7 So God positioned the sky, and
thus separated the water below
the sky from the water above the
sky. And so it was.
8 God called the sky Heaven
[a contraction of the

mayim-
im-
)].
God also created the angels on this 3: The Separation of the Waters
day.43 -

-

44 which judges cases based on the principles of justice
and mercy with which He created the world. The head of the angels of mercy is
Michael45 and the head of the angels of judgment is Gabriel.46
Also on this day, God created Purgatory, a spiritual realm in which to cleanse er-
40.
, vol. 1, pp. 354-355. 41.
42. Rashi on Leviticus 2:13;
5:4. 43. Rashi on v. 5, above. 44. Rashi on v. 26, below. 45. Daniel 10:21, . 46. Daniel 9:21, . 47.
4:6, 11:9; cf. Rashi on 2:3, below. 48. 77b; 81c; 1:3d. 49. 2.

25
~ FIRST READING
X ONKELOS W
] rw~p T nqb r q ^q q n nqW q br n Rn k~ p~s] q 9

s ju n ~rr q u z u j q u j n r j q l~ q
~r u j z qpu o
l j n j r~r j ~q j~rr q j z * ^ n k~ ~br j nq 10 vw o jn v q Lr rq q ~Q p r v o j rO ~p
~r u j z qpu j r j ~r
j u o r l q
~r j ~rr q
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n Q n k~~j _ q q qL n ~]r
r n Q q q_ oj n jp ~T pO r rq q
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ju
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v n n_
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~r j n
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{ p o ~
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o z j q
o
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q o s s j qp z l~ r jj u q j nj u rs l~
q n q
s ~r j nu q s z j rr ~sj ~p z pu s z j
{ p o ~sj
~ o
s u q s ~ s n j s u
p z j q o
s r~n r po p z n j u
s j q jr ~p
r n r t j ~n r z
j o nu
pz p ~r
r n{ lqu
~n r z j un o
u n j q k~p ~su p z n u q ~q
s j p ~r r ~ p z pu q
s o u q j q s z r ~o j n s j u { p o ~r j n
q ~ u j{ rj j r q s r~n r uu q j n p z
u j
r z p ouu n uj n r{ lq u p ~r r q z n j ~u ~ p z pu s z j u p z ns j u
n u t
q n j z
un r r ~q
uj z sr j
q r j q
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o z j q ~n
r z j un ~ oo q j n ~n
p z j
4 ~
p z pu ~r j n q q s z jun n r{ l
z u j p q j n j

9 Let the watersbe gathered to one place: The sec- the other work involving the earth. But since the end
ond stage of the work involving water actually in- result was the formation of the various bodies of wa-
volved the lowest, most central sphere, that of earth. ter, the work of the water was not considered complete
Here God contoured the smooth surface of this sphere, until this point, and therefore only now does God see
producing mountains and valleys. As the surface of the
earth rose in some places and sunk in others, the land- In creating the seas and revealing dry land, God fur-
mass displaced the water, forming all the oceans and ther prepared the world for humanity. Once again, we
other bodies of water.59 Since this second half of the see the division of reality into two contrasting states,
work of arranging the water was really work involving here the division of the surface of the earth into land
the earth, it was done on the third day, together with and sea. The land, in this context, is the lower state,
[ A CLOSER LOOK \
[continued...] less, since spiritual truths always to Purgatory.62 On the other hand, we are taught
have physical correlates, the physical subterranean
63

60 -
61 64 Only in very
in the fact that there are places underground where
or even, in extreme, rare cases, to be cleansed until
surface. Similarly, the Talmudic sages ascribe the

cease to exist.65
59.
, 60. 56b 61. 2:35c, 3:35b, etc. 62. 39a; 19a. 63.
64. 6; 33b. 65. Nedarim 8b.

26
9 As stated above, when the world was created, the perfectly spherical body of
earth was completely covered with water. In order to further prepare the world for
humanity, God said, Let the waters below the heaven be gathered to one place,
and dry land shall be seen, and so it was.
10 God called the dry land Earth, and He called the gathering of water Seas.

geographic variables in each place. This breakdown into distinct geographic re-
gions further prepared the world for humanity, for it allowed for the propagation

in its unique way. God designated the future Land of Israel for the future Jewish
people. This designation, however, did not yet make the Land of Israel qualita-

when the Jewish people entered it and conquered it.50
Now that the work involving water that began on the second day was completed,51
God saw that it was good.
11 God said, Let the earth begin to sprout vegetation underground: seed-bear-
ing plants and trees whose bark tastes the same as its fruit that produce fruits
with seeds according to their species, on the earth. And so it was. God explicitly
commanded only the fruit-trees to bear seeds according to their species; He did
not command the seed-bearing plants to do so.
12 The plants did not strictly adhere to Gods command. The earth gave forth
vegetation: plants bearing seeds according to their species, even though God had
not explicitly commanded this. The plants reasoned: If God commanded trees,
who grow far apart from each other and are easily distinguishable, to produce
only their own species, then plants, which grow close together and are similar to

plants, who did than God had commanded them, the trees did than God
had commanded them. The trees felt that if they had edible bark, as God had com-
manded, it would endanger the perpetuation of their species. The earth therefore
gave forth trees whose bark taste the same as their fruit, only producing
fruits containing seeds according to their species. Although the trees intentions
were honorable, the ground was later punished52 for not relying on God to ensure
the trees continued existence.53 Both the plants and trees began to grow under-
ground, but stopped just short of breaking the surface.54 God did not make the
vegetation grow the surface of the earth until the sixth day.55 God saw that it
was good, despite the trees disobedience.
56 Garden of Eden, an appropriate
habitat for humanity.57 A detailed description of this garden will be given when the
narrative focuses on the story of humanitys beginnings.58
13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
50. See below, on 12:1. , vol. 5, pp. 9-10. 51. Rashi on v. 7, above. 52. 2:17, below. 53. Chizkuni. 54. Rashi on 2:5.
55. Below, 2:5. 56.
, vol. 1, p. 427. 57. 11:9, 15:3; cf. Rashi on 2:3, below. 58. Below, 2:8-14.

27
~ FIRST READING
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~
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s r q
nru
q r r o s u q
j p ~ j sp
j r u j q
j ps
s j s u q j n j~o r j{ n
n n l
pz n r p
o z q n l
s juu

-
pendent. The creatures of the sea are submerged
within their environment and dependent upon it to outset that there be a greater and a smaller luminary.
a much greater extent than the creatures of the land. But since both are necessary components of creation,
neither is intrinsically superior to the other; from Gods

the sea and its creatures represent a greater depen- the context of creation, there is an implied superior-
dence upon ones life-source, whereas the land and its ity of the giver over the recipient, and, in order for the
creative drama to unfold, creations perspective must
consciousness.74 This dichotomy is a prerequisite for be allowed to prevail over the Creators. Thus, as soon
the worldly consciousness that God will want human- as it was created, the moon was immediately dimin-
ity to transform into Divine awareness. ished. However, once creation took on creature-con-
16 The greaterthe lesser: God here, once again, was
establishing the duality in creation between male/fe- had to ensure that it would not lose sight of the goal of
74. , vol. 35, pp. 5-6.

28
14
now placed them in their respective celestial spheres. God said, Let there be lu-
minaries in the heavenly sky to separate between day and night
.66 They shall serve as signs: their eclipses indicate the times
God has designated for punishment; at these times He is more likely to mete out
punishment for certain misdeeds.67 The luminaries shall also serve for
dates of the Jewish festivals,
for reckoning days
and yearsone orbit of the sun measuring a day and one turn of the sun through
the zodiac measuring a year.
15 they shall serve as luminaries in the heavenly sky, to shine on the
earth. And so it was, as follows:
16 God positioned the two great luminaries, the sun and the moon. They were
originally equal in size, but the moon immediately protested over having to rule
jointly with the sun, so God made it smaller. When it then complained about this

would allow starlight to be visible, giving the moon the appearance of being at-
tended by many servants; when this failed, God promised that in the future, an

for having diminished it.68 In the messianic future, the light of the moon will again
be as great as the light of the sun.69 God assigned the greater light, the sun, to rule
the day and the smaller light, the moon, to rule the night accompanied by the
stars and planets.
from them, making their light immediately visible on earth even though it would
have naturally taken many years for their light to reach it. Where necessary, light
appeared to shine from stars that had already become extinct.
17 God placed them in the heavenly sky to shine on the earth,
18 to rule by day and by night, and to separate between the light and the dark-
ness. God saw that it was good. Nonetheless, the fourth day of the week was
made unpropitious to infant health.70
19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20 God said, Let the waters teem with swarms of mobile, living creatures, and
fowl that issue from the mud of the swamps71
face of the heavenly sky.
[14] As astrological signs: At this point, God pro- this.73 Astrology as practiced today, however, has
grammed the mechanisms of predetermination
and predestination into creation. The only beings cannot be considered reliable, even provisionally.
exempt from this mechanism will be humanity, The Torahs calendar is a com-
who, if they so elect, may exercise a certain degree bination of the lunar and solar calendar. Months
of free will.72 begin at the new moon, but an extra month is pe-
the celestial map of destiny and thereby provision- riodically intercalated to align the months and the

free will can override predestination), and there are consistently.
instances in the Torah of p pagan
g astrologers g doing
g
66. 67. , vol. 15, p. 9. 68. Chulin 60b; Rashi. 69. Isaiah 30:26.
70. Rashi on v. 14, above. 71. Rashi on 2:19, below. 72. , vol. 15, pp. 7-12. 73. See Exodus 1:22.

29
~ FIRST READING
X ONKELOS W
p] pw r ]~o j Ls n j q n Q n q qw~p O n k~ ~] r nj q 21
~r qj j q ~rqr u n q u r r j ~r j u
n ~r z or j ~r j q ~r z qj r u r j w r ~ob j op R v n j nqW q b j v r c p l~ pp \ sv r * ] r q v q
~ r
s r
r u jo
s j n~rr q u
z n j ~q
r o l~ r j ~r l q n s j n q rj
Vr s~p jqa r 22 w v n Q n k~~_j _ q q o O n j Tr r ^
j n ru
u z u u
r o j r j s qj Q r jqOn qT nqb qw~ p ~^ j n R j ]
j ~ s L o Q n k~
~ r
s j~rr q qj ~r
u j r r
q
u j u
u j u
r l qz q
j r l q ~r j ~q
j o j n v n n l_p w s Q n jvq _p pwn jvq 23p ~v r r p_ n
o u r
q u jq l~ q
r z n l
s qj
n u j qu j n ~r j q ~r z qj ~r j ~q
_r oj r O n jTr q p^ pp ~Wr r~ ob R n k~ p~s] q 24
r l q qu j n ~r j ~q q o j z oj u c n k~ q] q q 25 w v o jn v q L rn j p ~w Qp jv q j prV p
~r j ~q q o r r j q l q o
r u r j qu j n ~
r n u j r j qu j n w r V~o j r O n j Tr oj qw~p j r R n j p ~Wr r q b w q ~p
r j ~r
l q n s j n ~r j ~q j ~l
r z n
p~s] q 26 w v n Q n k~~j _ q q L on jQ r r l~
vr p_ p
~r
r z k~ o lq r jq l~ q
r o l~
o
u u j
u jj z n j ~rr
u j un ~ rr j qu j r W qq b j c
n j n jL
o j n Q o j q j V r ~_
r lp v q On k~
~
r n j
n u ~r q j z n ~ r
s j u ~qr u
z or j ~r z ln rj u ~r j ~q rj u
pQ p rw r j p ~Or rw r j Tr oj q nqR r q ] j
q q
~r j ~
p ~v r rw q_so v r
X RASHI W

r n
s q ~r
p z ~r j ~q uj p z s u
u n r o p z ~ r jq r uj ~u r r ~
q o j n j
u r q u
pz n
s
j n ru n nnq q
so n
q r z ~
q r
j r
j ~
s j
n
q
o z

s ~
p n ~n
r ro jj q ~p q r j ro ju r r ~r r uj
p z s
u pu r rj n
" rr j ~s j{u n r z o n j ~s
s jj{ u n u s n n rr ~s u u j nj u j n ~n
p z ~s r n r p n nu q q u r rj u
r s j n~n j j{q uu ~o j u j n n n j
q u
u ~o ~r ~p
ru qq z pp n j nn qu
q po j un r s r o q j n
~r j~o
j z n z u n
q ~q ~ o u r rj n u n n q o j un oj n j q ju j
p z n j sr ~ p r j q uu q u r u z p
p z z p p
j
p r q ~r u z j q rj qj n s u p z ~ r jq r uj ~r ~q r r j n u j j t r ~ s nj ~ s j po n r j r ~ s
4
n u j n ns u j q u q u ~o ~n n
u j n ns jp r u z o n r u j j t s u q q ~q j
p z z r rrq oj u n ~r ~p r r j n
q ~q r ~r { p lq ~n z o j { p lq uj ~r jn z o o l s z juu ju rj ~
q u ~ u p z r j o~sj r j r rj n
o j~su
s j n nnu q s r z oj
s r n un
u u j n ~su p z n u ju
u ~ r ~
p q ~~s
r ~ n uu j u
s ou { lq j n j u
s
~ o jj
pz r r
l qu n j
u p ~p p pu o qj u n u r
q qj ~s
n r ~p p z
u j
u ~ ru o s ~sj r ~p n s r ~p rr
{ p k~
p q
r ~n j r r
q n u z j o s j j rj n s r q su q p z un j z q oo ~
p z
u p ~r ~r o
s u o u j
q n s
~
n r ~
p
s
nu
o u
n o u q ~
j o j
p z
u j q r~s r ~r z pp ~ r n s j ~ rr~p z n s u n ~r j n
u j j t ~sj s ~
~
p sn k~~r j nn qs un
uj q
r nnu
q qu z j
u s j q n u j o
pz n r jz o {p p ruu q u
r u z p
p z ru q

u r p z u j un uu o j qu j ~ u j j n q q r ~sj r ~r r r u u
n ~o
pz n r j nuu ~n
j ~n j n
j p ~r
r q n{j
s j
s z rr q u z oru
q qj n uu j n j n j{q j
u n r juu o u j un o u s z j
un p
p z
j {p p s z j r r n
s u q q u p s 4 r r r n j s z ju u u n s z j p q { p lq r r j u ruu n
s uj rs j n
uj rj
un {qq u q
r q q j
p oj n
u r
{ p l q 4 r r ~s
s ouj qu ~r n u j
u j q r ~ u r u z s r q p z
s
u r j jq r ~r
s
u p
p z
s j
r n j s ~
u j q j nj n ~r jq q u j un r ~r r p z n j
j rj n ~u n r
j u
q ~p r ~
u p z j
u p
r u j qj n


from the daytime is the precursor of the sin of Adam

and Eve and their subsequent banishment from the
certain aspects of greatness. Similarly, the atonement Garden of Eden, as will be elucidated further.
26 Rule:
the sun/moon dichotomy is not intended to be perma-
nent; it is only a temporary situation occasioned by the
84 God Himself can do this, since only He can override

30
21 God created the great sea creatures, including the male and female leviathan.
The leviathans were so large that God foresaw that they would overrun the world
if He were to allow them to reproduce, so He immediately killed the female and

messianic future. In addition to these large sea creatures,75 God created every par-
ticular species of living being that swarms, with which the waters teemed, and
every particular species of winged fowl. God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed , saying, In the future,76 I will al-
low humans to eat you and some of you to eat each other. Therefore, be not only
fruitful, reproducing yourselves once, but be also
throughout your lives.77
multiply on the land.
23
24 God said, Let the earth bring forth mobile, living creatures according to their
species: livestock, reptiles and all swarming creatures, such as insects, amphib-
ians, worms, ants, beetles, worms, moles, snails etc., and beasts of the earth ac-
cording to their species. And so it was.
25 God made beasts of the earth according to their species, livestock according
to their species, and reptiles and swarming creatures of the ground according
to their species. God saw that it was good, but He did not bless the beasts to be

78 and did not
want to include him in a blessing.
26 Since the angels are created in Gods likeness in that they possess a measure of
free will, God presumed that they might object to another form of life also being
created in His likeness. He therefore humbly asked their leave to create human
beings. God said to His heavenly court, Let us make a human in our image, i.e.,

world79 and with which I made you, and according to our likeness, i.e., possess-
ing discernment and intellect. Even though it was only God, not the angels, who

as to include them. Some of the angels opposed the creation of humanity,80 but

them) were to exist only in heaven and not on earth, it would cause an imbalance
in creation. He continued: If this human lives up to his Divine image, he shall

all the earth, as well as all the reptiles that crawl on the earth. If he does not, he
will be inferior to the animals81 and the wild beasts will prevail over him.82
[26] Let us make a human: God phrased the cre- . Other creatures, in contrast,
ation of humanity in the plural because the human are principally manifestations of one or another of
being is unique in that he comprises all the Divine 83
75. , vol. 5, pp. 16-19. 76. See 1:29-30, 9:3, below. 77. , vol. 10, p. 72, note 7. 78. Rashi on v. 22, above.
79. Rashi on v. 27, below. See before v. 1, above. 80. , Bereishit 44; see below, 6:2. 81. The Hebrew
reish-daletreish-dalet-heiyud-reish-dalet), allowing this word to be inter-
preted both ways. 82. , vol. 6, p. 150. 83.
, , vol. 3, p. 1229. 84. , vol. 30, pp. 8-15.

31
~ FIRST READING
X ONKELOS W

Q n k~ p _ p j O j qj Tr ~r w
v r ~p * j 27
^ n k~ ~b r nq
q ou j u o j q u j r ~r
r r j~r j u
~ r j u j qj u r o ~r u j sn k~
j n ru
r 28 v r s~ ~_ r r Q r o j _ rr L s~ ~] r r
hr s~ ]p jq
r j s qj s qj ~r u j
r u j u u j u u z u u r j s j q l~ q p ~Q r rw~
p ~_ j
n V
j _
j Rn k~p W r p~qbs M
n k~
o u u j u u j z u u q l
u u j u ~r j ~q
~r j q r j u ~r q j z n ~ r s j u ~qr u Qr qw r
j nqO r q ]
j Tr q ^ qj n Y j rL tj n j
r j q l~ q ~r j ~q q ~r z or j
~ru j{n r u r s j n r j ~r p W rn rbq c o
n R n k~ p~s] q 29 p ~v r rw q p_p sv r
r o u ~q q n q j jn u o qj qj
o
o u u o~r n r~ n r r u j~r j ~q w~p j p ~Or rw r ] ow
j q T p l~ Rq p q] o s * p] ow rw~p
s j r j jn u o qj qj ~ r r~n
ro j o j v r j ~r jQ p vj _
n p rq L r q] o sQw
o n
j w
_ p l~V o rw r
X RASHI W
ro
r r t z j n j o~q s r uj r jz o o
u r r n uj u {r p
u ju q u
s j qu j r ~r r ~p sn k~ ~r j nu q
uj u
n~r j q~ o~s pz ro j
q ~
p z os
u r r q p z r j p q j q k~p
pz nq r~
uj r j n~
u
j r l~q ~
uj r j nsu q
p z
s
n u
rj q p t
j z s u j ns u j qu
p z p z r j p q j
z ~n r s j ru { lr q o u j q q r
s uj
{ r l q r pq qr
p z ru q
qu q r juu rj ~r jpj n p r r z ~n ~s r j rj n j o ~s ~u oj q quj n s u p z s p z o j q
~sj r l~q js u q j s o
uj u r q p r rj z
n p ~r r z q o s
s ~ ~r
ur sn k~ p pu j r
s sp q jo q j un
j ~
q
{ r s
r u k~ p j r n
uj n r js u j z ~n j
u r ~r r r z j n ~
u
s j s r
u ju p p
s r t j q p p
s ~ p z r j
s
un
n sq o uj ~
u r u
p z j
u r
t q q
u ~s
j
{ p
o p pr q ~
q q n qo ~~
s u r q ju sr ~ ~r
ur ro juu r r

p p
j s
j ~
q
u
p z l~ {p
p
r q k~pp
pz r{
ru p r
n u j
q o j z ~ p z
s r uj r r ~
q z q j n
uj s
j sr jq n
p r un q r 4 s ~
z n r r ~r j un j qu n
p z 4
{ p o ~r j
n p z
s u z j
u s j u n j
r q ~q
j rs ~ z
n ~ r n j un
su ~p o r
q j z o ~s
o
j nzn z
q u po j z ~ p z r ln ~
u j j n s r

below.95 Women, whom God made intrinsically self-
94 motivated to concretize the Divine presence on earth,

A lthough God phrased this command in the plural, children. In contrast, men, who are more intrinsically
addressing both Adam and Eve, He obligated them dif- abstract, would not necessarily seek to procreate with-
-
their psychological makeup, which will be explained rah explicitly obligates them to procreate.96
[ A CLOSER LOOK \
[28] God blessed them and God said to them: In norms that humanity voluntarily adopted over the
general, the very act of issuing commands implies years, together formed a universal legal system by
that there are consequences for obeying or disobey- which all people were bound. Aberrant behavior
ing those commands. Thus, from the dawn of cre- was liable for punishment by God and, in some cas-
ation, it was always implicitly understood that God es, by human agency. The age at which people be-
would reward compliance with His will and take came legally culpable in this system was 100 years.
corrective measures against non-compliance with This legal system remained in force until the formal
His will. In addition, the very fact that God created Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. At that time, the
the world for a purpose implies that humanity is legal distinction between Jew and non-Jew became
held responsible to behave in way consonant with formalized when God bound humanity at large by
the Seven Noahide Laws and the Jewish people in
of the world and the maintenance of a just, Godly particular by the legal system delineated for them
society. in the Torah. Also977, the age of culpability for trans-
This corpus of explicit commands and implicit ex- gressing any law God explicitly articulated was re-
pectations,, together
p g with to additional,, edifying
y g duced to 13 for men and 12 for women. 98
94. , vol. 1, p. 114, in the name of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. 95. On 2:23. 96. 65b;

1:13; , vol. 26, pp. 267-268. 97. Rashi on 5:32, below. 98. , vol. 5, p. 147, p. 153, note 30, vol. 17,
p. 317.

32
27 So God created the human in his image, i.e., in the mold that God had decided
upon: He created him in the image of God-
chy of faculties He used to create the world. He also created him according to
His likeness,85 i.e., possessing discernment and intellect. Whereas God brought all
other creatures into being directly from His speech, He created the human beings
86
He created them as a single, androgynous being comprising both male and fe-
male
When the human being realized that the vegetation of the world was waiting for
rainfall so it could sprout, he asked God to make it rain. God made it rain and the
earth quickly became covered with vegetation in all stages of maturity.87
28
be described in greater detail further on, God blessed them and God said to them,
: subdue its apparent antago-
nism to Divinity and reveal its inner desire to express the Divinity within it. Rule

crawl on the earth.
capacities to do so. In particular, the female is apt to venture beyond her abilities in
this regard, so the male should therefore restrain her when necessary.
29 God said to the man and woman, Behold, although I have made you masters
over the animals, I do not permit you to kill them in order to eat them,88 for I do
not want anyone to confuse your dominion over life with Mine. You must always
be aware that you are only a creature. Rather, I have only given you every seed-
bearing plant on the face of the entire earth, and every tree that has seedbearing
fruit; they shall be yours for food. You may also eat the meat of animals that die
naturally.89

-
fact, however, God delegates the conquest of the world
to us. world and all its creatures hinges on our actions.91
The tool God gives us to accomplish this feat is the 27 He created them male and female: The male part of
the human being was not aware of the female body at-
tached to him as anything other than an extended part
worldly contextshow to conduct business, how to of himself; he therefore later on92 feels that he has been
observe the Sabbath, and so on. But at the same time, created without a mate. Since this androgynous human
-
scend the limitations of the world and ascend the lad- God is, so to speak, both male and female, comprising
der of Divine consciousness. The Torah is therefore the the qualities we associate with both.
bridge between Divinity and the world. 28 Populating the world with
human beings created in Gods image is an essential
our ability to do this stems from the Torahwe are
Divine consciousness, especially if they live up to their
90 Divine calling.

However, the power to rule also entails responsibil- the spiritual sense as well, by encouraging them to ful-
ity. By charging us with the task of bringing creation
to its fruition, God also made us responsible for it. If The Talmud93 considers a teacher of Torah to be the fa-
85. Below, 5:1. 86. See 2:6-7, below. 87. Below, 2:7. 88. 89.
, vol. 20, pp. 7-11. 90. 119b; , vol. 14, p. 41 and footnote 39. 91. 4:47a. See 6:7, below. 92. 2:20.
93. 19b.

33
~ FIRST READING
X ONKELOS W
]o * s ] j nqW r q bw r j p ~[r r[ ] q qw r j v 30
~ r s r ju ~r j ~q q o r ju
~r j ~q q z or j s ju ~r q j z n L rj ~r j pQ o p_ p w rw~ p r O
q p] pTw p l~p ~Rr rw q
s j r u r ~r j q ~r z qj u o n
~r l q o r l q ro j ~ru j{n Qwon jr O r]p l~w rw~T p n k~~^j ^ q q 31 wv o n j v q
~lr qo ~ r r j q l n r
r u r j
r n j z
s q j r l qz q j r l q v n n q_p w s Q jn
v q _p pwn jvq ~s L j
~r j ~q j ~rr q j z u rj q u j z ~n j
~r s u j r j n o z j s o o r j
T n k~ ^ qjq 2 ~v r rw j r j p ~Q r r j n _ q r q Vt jq 2:1
r j r l n u o u j n l ~r r n j z
u o u j n l r u n ~r r n j z ~r s u j

On n j q] q T sn j q Lr r]p l~ Q~ j q j On n j q] q
r ln
v r r_p l~ Q~
j qw
j rn
X RASHI W
4 r rj u ru n q o s
s ~o p z r r r{r u o ~s s j n z
{ o lq q jun n z n z q u ~ o n
s n z n z q s
q o s u ~
p z j
u u r u z q z sp u
s r q sq o n j n r
s j u uj q j
p o l p z r
j
q pr
n rj n
p z q
s ~
n z o j
uu ~n j ~r j nj r l{ q u q u j s u qj n 4 r rj u ru n nzn z q
s o~q rru r
s
o z j t
r z n l ~o r j{ n
r u "
j o
r r s r r
r
p o~
q r ru s u qs
u r n rn uj n z n z ~
u nzn z q s q n j
s j n
u uj r t
~
r rju
q r j j n
j r j
r r
u ~
j
r u r u ~
qz r u un
q n n j z
q us
uq sn k~ q j q r s
u ru q j
r u u q
- perience of creations perfection is repeated every Sab-
ness of God, the creative activity of the week is not an bath, this glimpse into the future provides the inspi-
ration and impetus to continue the work of perfecting
of the heightened Divine awareness available to us creation during the coming week, as well.106
on the Sabbath. By placing Sabbath rest at the end of
the week, God gave reality the drive toward its goal, it is their culmination and completion. The extent to
the messianic future, when the work of perfecting the which we sense the spirituality of the Sabbath is pro-
-
to know and experience God. ing the mundane tasks of the six preceding days. Thus,
In this sense, the Sabbath stands apart from the work- God enjoins us to remember and feel the Sabbath felt
week and is not subject to the normal limitations of during the workweek as well. In this way, the transcen-
time and space. Time was also created by God; on dent consciousness of the Sabbath can begin to perme-
each of the six days of creation a distinct aspect of time
was created. The fact that God ceased creating on the
Sabbath implies that He ceased creating time as well, purpose of creation, as will be explained further on.
which in turn implies that the Sabbath is, in a sense, Sabbath rest is thus not a begrudged concession to
beyond time.104 mans inability to work without stopping, but rather a
As was mentioned above, the Name of God used positive and essential component of life.107
throughout the creation narrative is , which in- He ceased:

to speak, of the original thought of creation that gave
rise to the whole process of creating the world. Dur-
overrides the limitations of nature, it is a revelation of
Divinity that transcends the aspect of God revealed
-
through the Name . Thus, the phrase and God pleted His masterpiece, He surveyed it and reviewed it
[ as the culmination of His plan. Inasmuch as everything
there was an end to the limitations of Divine revelation is continuously being brought into being by the energy
imposed by the Name God infuses into the world, on the Sabbath, everything

of creation and the Sabbath, there is a mutual interde-

pendence between them. The Sabbath gives meaning
to the work of the preceding six days.105 Since the ex- observance.108
104. , vol. 17, p. 60. 105.

, vol. 2, p. 793. 106. These two aspects of the Sabbaththe completion

vayechulu), alluding to the perfec-
keli), alluding to the blessings for the coming week that are received
, p. 13). 107. , vol. 15, pp. 335-337. 108. See on Exodus 35:1-2.

34
Genesis 1:30-2:2 BEREISHIT
30 All plant vegetation shall also serve for food for every creature of the earth,
for every bird of the heavens, and for everything that crawls on the ground,
which possesses a living soul, but those animals whom I have created as carni-
vores may kill for food, unlike you.99 And so it was.
100 i.e., spiritual be-
ings that serve as agents of good or evil in accordance with the power God grants

also prepared Moses grave.101

31 At the end of the sixth day, God saw all that he had made, and behold, now
that He created a human being, it was very good, for only hu-
manity is capable of bringing creation to its fruition and purpose. And there was
evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2:1 Heaven and earth, and all their components, were thus completed on the
sixth day.
2
God technically
work that He had done on the seventh day, and the seventh day therefore also
appeared to be one of the days of creation. But since the amount of work God

creation is still considered to have been completed on the sixth day. Alternatively,
God did not create anything on the seventh day, but rest and spiritual renewal are
themselves a necessary ingredient of creation. In this sense, with the seventh day

all the work that He had been doing.102 In fact, the Sabbaths position at the of
the creation week indicates that the Sabbath is the goal and purpose of creation.
2 God continued: - Himself demonstrated that every element of creation,
ing into the seventh dayeven if only slightlyand including every iota of time, has a purpose; it is there-
did not stop just before its onset. Evidently, God want- fore both our responsibility and privilege to use it to
- its utmost.
fore just beyond) the very last instant of the sixth day, Moreover, the very fact that an additional moment re-
mains is in itself a sign from above that we can expand or
Something would have been lacking had God ceased
His work even one instant before the Sabbath.
The lesson God was teaching us here is indeed astound- As a people, we might be collectively tempted to make
ing. True, as Rashi points out, we are required to cease the same error in judgment: Looking back on the Jewish
working somewhat before the Sabbath begins in order peoples imposing accomplishments in its rich history,
to ensure that we do not inadvertently violate the na- we might wonder what further contribution we could
ture of the day. But until that moment, we must be sure possibly make toward readying the world for redemp-
tion. Gods own use of every possible moment teaches
us that our contributions, however objectively minor,
Those of us whose main occupation is earning a liv- -

103
full-time Torah scholars must not compare themselves What sets the Sabbath apart from the
to part-time students and think that since they are any- workweek is the unique Divine consciousness avail-
way spending the greater part of their day studying, able to us on it: on the Sabbath, we are meant to experi-
whats the harm if a minute or two goes to waste? God
99. , vol. 20, p. 10. 100. 7:5, 11:9; cf. Rashi on 2:3, below. 101. Rashi on Deuteronomy 34:6. 102.
, vol. 5, pp. 24-30. 103. , vol. 5, pp. 33-35.

35
~ SECOND READING
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~r j n n ~q ~ r o l~ r j ~ r
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p
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p z r q u

s ~o
j sp s z j
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pz s z ju n j pj z n p p n z n z qu pss u j t q sp p r o s

q n
s pj nu j n ~s
q
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q u n j ~s
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z n s uj ~
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p l qn ~
q r ~
r
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j n j ~s
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s o u j z
un n r
s

u uj q k~p
u r pz ~r r j
o
p z q r
j r ~~
r r u
p z
j u n r z
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p z r r s
uj n
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pz r
r j p n
j n ro
s j z q r
o z
q p z
u r q
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u j rj p o l o q u j n r ~
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r
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p o~
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~
u
pz sn k~
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j z

u sn k~
~n
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u r p r
j r n r u j ~s
pz ~ o j q qz
n j z u o oj su q n u
s r r uj p q z j os z j r r q j r
u j u ~ oq
p z r z j p pu p p r
s j p p
sn k~~
u

pz
s u z j ~r j n ~r u q r
s j ru z j un n
r z q q
u r r
s r

s
s
j n r
u q j
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s uj
pz
n nuq
p z q
s s uj

3 From all His work that God had created to make: because the ultimate purpose of creation is expressed
This phrase may be read as from all His work that more in the physical realm than the spiritual realm.120
-
ish. In other words, God created the world intention- about to focus on the history of humanity. In this con-
- text, earth is of greater importance than heaven, since
volved in bringing it to its intended goal, to become a the purpose of creation is to transform it into a home
home for God.117 for God.
Therefore, we should never think that by opposing the God: As was mentioned above,121 the Divine Name -
material nature of reality and spiritualizing the world kim
we are somehow opposing Gods intentions. God pur- judgment. The Torah now introduces another Name
of God,

we can perfect it.118
4 Earth and heaven:
- process, the Name is used exclusively, for only
- by concealing His overpowering oneness could God
bring creatures that consider themselves separate from

Him into being. Humanitys mission, however, is to

119 bring light into the darkness, to reveal God within the
109. Exodus 16:5, 22-23. 110. See , vol. 18, p. 21, note 36. 111. See Exodus 20:8-11. 112. Exodus 16:25-26. 113. Rashi on
1:31, below. 114. See , vol. 5, p. 42, note 34. 115. Above, 1:1. 116. Rashi;
, vol. 1, p. 479. 117.
. 118. , p. 66. 119.
120. , vol. 1, pp. 699, 707. 121. On 1:1.

36
3
blessing of the Sabbath was that the work people would do during the preceding
six days would produce enough bounty to provide for the seventh day as well.
109
set aside as something higher than the norm;110
was that the character of the day would be uniquely conducive to spiritual renewal

work would be forbidden on it.111
regard to the manna.112 God Himself intentionally rested on the Sabbath, for on the
Sabbath, God ceased from all His work, including that which God had created
and planned to make on that day:
entities; on the sixth day He created sixthree for the sixth day and three that had

day creation
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came contingent upon the Jewish peoples acceptance of the Torah. Thus, retroac-
tively, from the time of its creation, the world only existed provisionally until the
Giving of the Torah.113
The Garden of Eden
Second Reading 4 The preceding account of creation114 is the chronicle of how
everything in heaven and earth began to function at its proper time, everything
having been created on the day that God made earth and heaven
day.115 These are the chronicles of heaven and earth, having been created on the
day that God made earth and heaven.
5

the Torah now focuses on its creation in greater detail.116

-

they would be buried. In particular, He used earth from the future site of the altar
of the holy Temple in Jerusalem, which would in the future allow humanity to
atone for its misdeeds. God thereby made repentance and atonement an essential
part of humanitys physical being.
Although vegetation was created and began to
grow underground on the third day, it remained just below the surface of the earth
until the sixth day. This was because God had not brought rain upon the earth,
for there was no human to work the ground and appreciate the value of rain.

37
~ SECOND READING
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j r r
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s o~
uj qj u
q q ~r

body together, He created the human being in two: He linked with every aspect of creation. Therefore, the
body was formed of the lowest common denominator,
so that we can rectify even the lowest elements on the
God could create the animals souls and bodies simul- spiritual hierarchy.132 This gives us additional insight
taneously because their souls and bodies are akin in na- into Rashis statement that God collected earth from
ture. The animal soul is oriented primarily toward self-
preservation, and the various forms of the animal body doing so, God included within us the entire material
are also designed mainly to procure food, grow, and world we are to elevate.
reproduce. The human beings soul, however, is orient- Third, our mission is to combine two opposites: the
ed to search for meaning beyond self-preservation, and spiritual consciousness of Godliness with the spiritual
could therefore not be created together with a body darkness of the physical world. By creating us through
oriented merely toward self-perpetuation. Instead, a similar fusion of extremes, God endowed us with the
133
the animals bodieswhich were created aliveand The knowledge that we were formed from the dust
only then introduced a soul to animate it.130 and that we were the last being to be created should
humble us. If we live up to our potential, we are indeed
the one hand, the basic derivation of the word adam the purpose of creation; if not, we are nothing more
than a body that was created secondary both in time
the body. On the other hand, the word adam is also and essence to that of all other creatures.134
be related to the word adameh, which means I will This awareness also has practical implications. As we
-
imitate and even resemble God Himself.131 -

God created the human being in this way for three rea-

sons:
the dust of the earth. We must begin with a simple, un-
assuming acceptance of Gods will; only then can we
both precedes and causes the lifeless bodys transfor- 135
-
The human became a living being: This phrase is proof
tual nature is meant to be ascendant over our physical
of our connection with God. Even though God blew
nature.

Second, if an entity is to ascend, even its lowest part possibility that human nature somehow conceals and
- obstructs the Divinity within it. Therefore, the Torah
sion to spiritually perfect the world, we need to be
130. 3d 131.
, vol. 1, pp. 295-296. 132. , p. 7.
, pp. 126-
127. 133.

, vol. 1, p. 301;
, pp. 343-344. 134.

, vol. 1, pp. 7-8. 135.
, p. 202.

38
6 So, a mist rose up from the earth and watered the entire surface of the
ground.
7 Using this mist, God then formed the human out of dust of the ground by
. God blew into his nostrils a soul of life, and the
human became a living being, possessing vitality, as do animals, but also possess-
ing the faculties of understanding and speech. Both the body and the soul were

essence of God.122 This was necessary in order to preserve the balance between the
days devoted to heavenly and earthly creations:
day heavenly creation earthly creation
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adamah), from
which he was made.123 When Adam realized that the vegetation was waiting for
rainfall so it could sprout, he asked God to make it rain. It rained, and the surface of
the earth became immediately covered with vegetation in all stages of growth.124
corporeal world. We have the singular capacity to originates in the Name , Divine concealment.127
reach beyond the world with all its limitations and 7 And He blew: In contrast to the rest of creation,
- which God created by speaking, God put the soul into
fore, once the Torah begins the story of humanity, it the body by blowing. We all breathe constantly and can
uses the Name
, to indicate our potential and
destiny as human beings.125 time we become exhausted. This is because the breath
Still, the Name
does not appear here by itself. we use when blowing comes from deeper in the lungs
As long as the narrative takes place in the Garden of than the breath we use when simply breathing or talk-
Eden, God is referred to unusually126 and exclusively
by the dual Name

being the dialogue between Eve and the snakebut God than does the rest of creation. This simply means
then the Torah per se is not talking; it is only record- that humanity is the primary purpose of creation while
ing a conversation). This clearly indicates that the full everything else is subordinate to us. Our Divine soul is
a sparki.e., a partof God.
was possible only as long as humanity remained in This soul can never lose its intrinsic connection with
God. Our challenge is to ensure that this connection
predominantly known by the Name
, for the remain manifested within our physical being. Just as
condition of exile requires that He principally manifest when one blows, the air only reaches its destination if

there are no obstructions, so can the Godly soul shine
Another reason this dual Name is used in the story of only if there are no obstacles that obscure it.128
the Garden of Eden that this episode is the archetypal A living being: This term is also used to describe the
animals,129 but the human being became a living be-
evil inclinations. The good inclination originates in the -
Name
, Divine revelation; the evil inclination as God created the animals in one phase, soul and
122.
, p. 14. 123. 5:2, below. 124. Rashi on v. 5, above.
125. 5:32a;
, vol. 1, pp. 346-347;
, vol. 3, p. 163. 126. This combination oc-

another 16 times. 127.
, Bereishit, vol. 3, p. 1044. 128. Tanya, ch. 2;
, ch. 4-5. 129.

39
~ SECOND READING
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j
r oo

does it lose sight of its true purpose and become truly no sense of ego or independent self, they do not evalu-
evil. Rabbi Dovber, the Maggid of Mezeritch, likened ate whether to choose evil or good on the basis of what
this to how a broomstick, which is made for the posi- they think would be best for their own interests as op-
tive purpose of sweeping the house, becomes evil if it posed to Gods purposes. Rather, they choose good be-
is used for an evil purpose, such as striking a child.151
perception of evil is entirely objective, good and evil
There is nothing wrong per se with knowing the are totally distinct; that is, evil can never be miscon-
152 The angels pos- strued as good and thereby tempt them.
sess this knowledge153-
versely. But this is because an angel has no free choice. choiceexisted only as theoretical constructs. Evil was
He knows what is good and what is evil, but has no there to provide us with free choice, but our original
nature precluded the possibility of our ever choosing
to sin.
Garden of Eden, and this implies that he possesses the
free choice to obey it or transgress it. But this knowl- As will be explained later,154 eating the fruit of the Tree
edge of good and evilboth the angels and humani- of Knowledge would impart subjective knowledge of
-
there is such a thing as disobeying Gods command, man to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, but He
but they have no motivation to do so. Since they have -
[10] A river issued from Eden to water the gar- reduced to the point where we can experience it as
den: physical pleasure.155
bliss that is beyond any direct relationship with the Our challenge is to transform and elevate the ma-
terial pleasures of this world into experiences of
the conduit that channels some of this supernal de- Gods sublime transcendence. This transformation
,
of this world. To this end, the river divided and whose numerical value is 53)the 53 parashiot of
the Torah.156 The Torah enables us to bring Godli-
- ness into our daily lives.157

151. 4:77a. 152.

, p. 425. 153. See 3:22, below. 154. On v. 17. 155.
, pp.
53-54. 156. There are actually 54 in the Torah, but and are considered one that is occasionally
split in two, as is noted in the Overview to . 157.
, p. 236.

40
8 God planted a garden to serve as humanitys habitat, in

the location He had previously designated for that purpose,136 the eastern part
of Eden , and He placed there the human whom He had
formed, as will be seen presently. But before continuing the narrative,137 the Torah
digresses to describe the greatness of the Garden of Eden.
9 The surface of the earth was already covered with vegetation, but now138 God
caused the ground of the Garden of Eden to give forth especially lush growth:
every tree that is of pleasing appearance and good for food. The Tree of Life,
whose fruit imparts immortality to whoever eats it,139 was in the center of the
garden, as was140 the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.141
Although it contained all types of fruit trees, the Garden of Eden was mainly an
apple orchard.142
10 A river issued from somewhere in Eden to water the garden, and from there it
disappeared into subterranean channels, divided, and surfaced outside of Eden143
and became four riverheads. This river was so rich in minerals and nutriments
that even its endowed the lands they watered with great abundance,144 as
follows:
i.e., that the Godly infusion was indeed successful, and and the sustainability of its resources. An unworked or
that the Divine soul became fully manifest in the hu- overworked earth will destroy a civilization.
man being.145 Agriculture is the model for spiritual health, too. Just
He asked God to make it rain: The world was created as the farmer must cultivate trees and plants to bear
to be perfected by humanity.146 Therefore, until human- fruit, so too, we must pursue our spiritual goals in or-

must not allow ourselves to lie desolate: our lives must

Creation up to this point was carried out independent- in a lasting and meaningful way.149
9 Good and evil: It is God is, of course, who deter-
- mines what is good and what is evil; without the To-
ward, however, it became incumbent upon humanity

God, of course, did not need to involve us; He simply of good and evil, therefore, is that which accords with
chose to have the completion of the world be depen-
147 say that God created good and evil at the outset of cre-
8 God planted a garden: God planted the Garden of ation means that He created the possibilities both to

obey and transgress His will.
the garden was planted solely for humanitys sake. This possibility is a prerequisite to free choice, reward
Similarly, every individual should consider the cre- and punishment, and on a deeper level, to the existence
ation of the whole world to be solely for his or her
sake. This will lead us to realize and appreciate our that can be transformed into Gods home. Seen in this
- context, evil is also part of the Divine plan, and also
ize and appreciate our personal responsibility and role 150 likens evil to a pros-
in creation.148 titute hired by a king to test the moral fortitude of his
son, the prince. Even though the king commands the
the world was to plant a garden stresses the central- prostitute to do her best to seduce his son, he hopes she
ity of agriculture in civilization. A healthy civilization fails; moreover, the prostitute, even while using all her
must be based on a healthy and vibrant agricultural devices to ensnare the prince, hopes she fails, too! Only
sector that works the earth responsibly, simultaneously when evil is allowed to overtake a persons conscious-
maximizing the health-giving qualities of its produce
136. Above, 1:12. 137. In verse 15.

138.
, vol. 1, pp. 427-428. 139. Below, 3:22. 140. Below, 3:3.
141. Rashi on 3:7, below. 142. Rashi on 27:27, below. 143.
, vol. 1, p. 425. 144. Seforno; , vol. 1,
pp. 103-105, 110-111. 145.
, p. 154. 146. See on v. 3, above. 147. 4:53d, etc. 148.
,
vol. 1, pp. 425, 427-428, 451-452. 149. , vol. 20, p. 378. 150. 2:163a.

41
~ SECOND READING
X ONKELOS W
r O n l v q ]p ~w
p r~ o U o R s q~ ] L v r o 11
n Q r ~p _
r n q j ~ u s z n u q u z
~ r lq r u q n r nl q l~ r u
r u
q u ~r n ~q r j ~q ~ j r lq j
qs Q j q_ r L~Q n q_p ~r rVlq v 12 rv r qw Q r p l~
u z j ~ r
n q j ~ u
j u oj ~q j ~ r jr u j
s n ~rr jn ~r lq
~ Q o o O q~ ] L nQn o q_rr qw v o j 13 q s v q p_~p j
~r lq u z j
jo q j n ~ u
z u u q l~ r u r
q jn ~r r nj
Q o s~v q _ p O p T
n
n nj q^rr qw v o j 144 v _p ~wp r
~r r n j ~r lq j u u ~q j ~ r jn q j
sn k~ r j q j u r j ~ u
_ rj V q nq 15 v r j ~_ Q n n j v r _rr q j L~q ]q j n
p o j ~r u j nu j ou j j z ~q j r ~r r
u q ju n ju u q jj n j
v r j r j Q r j r j p wq o O j ]o nqq L r ~r w v r ~p Q n k~
X RASHI W
n j
q u n r j n r p z r ju n u q j un q
r o r o
pz r o p z
o z q j nq j n q j u n ~ u s z nu
~r j nu q q r j
u r ~s nq l uuz ~q j z u u r ~r r ~p z n u ~r j n p ~r r ~p n j z q u n
s s j n j r u j n
~uu uz ~q p z u r r jn j uu z ~
q q j n n r po z q ou q~
j u
pz s nu
z o~
q r ru u
r z r r u z r s j
~o r j{ n p ~p o z q r jn q r t q u z r p r j u nq j n q q k~pp
un j z n o sj u sz p z ru j z n u
o r n
u ru n
u ~n rn rj
un
s r j q nu q s~j r s jj s rj pj p s j j o s rr p z s nu
p p n p s j j o
s j q o qju p z q n n j s j

Egyptian civilization.163 The worlds initial perfection was only within its own
15 To cultivate it: God commanded humanity to im-
-
prove the Garden of Eden even though it was already manitys mission is to reach beyond the limitations of
perfect, possessing every tree that is of pleasing ap-
164 and being more blessed The world as God created it lacked this dimension of
with natural resources than any other place on earth. realityeven before the primordial sin.167
This idea is also expressed in the interpretation of the -

165
the perspective of choice, creation may be divided into
three realms: the forbiddenthat which we must not
further.166
more self-aware168is the Nile. Egypt, expressing
- -
sciousness becoming successively less Divine and fore the archetype of all Jewish exiles.169
[ A CLOSER LOOK \
[12] The Garden of Eden: The Garden of Eden was tained its original purity. It is therefore invisible to
located near the Euphrates River, northeast of the our eyes.172
Land of Israel.170 Its exact location is open to specu- [13] Gichon:
which case the Pishon and Gichon Rivers could be
existed somewhere in the physical world.171 The the White and Blue Niles. On the other hand, there
reason we cannot see it is because, as will be seen is a mountain range in northern Pakistan and Af-
later, the physical nature of the worldincluding

that of our physical bodies and sensesbecame Biblical Kush, the Pishon would be the Nile in its
entirety and the Gichon could be the Indus.
of Knowledge. The Garden of Eden, in contrast, re-
164. 165. Above, 2:3. 166.

, pp. 120-121;
, p. 306. 167.

, vol. 2, p. 101;
, p. 103. 168. See on v. 10, above. 169.
, pp. 42-43. 170. Nach-
manides on 3:22, below; on 84a, ; on Kidushin 71a,
; on 55b,
; sources cited in
, , vol. 2, p. 702, note beginning ;
,
vol. 1, p. 357, note 25. 171. , vol. 17, p. 206. 172.
, , vol. 2, p. 703.

42
11 river is the Nile [. It

), which is grown in abundance
in Egypt and highly valued.158 The river is the one that traverses the entire land
that would later be called159 Chavilah [from , where gold
is found.
12 The gold of that land is
good. Also found there are
crystal and the onyx stone.
13 The name of the second riv-
er is Gichon ; it is
the one that encircles the entire
land that would later be called
Kush.
14 The name of the third river
is Tigris [Chidekel-

the east of the land that would
later be called Assyria. The fourth river is the most distinguished of the four, the
Euphrates [Perat
of Israel.160 The Tigris and Euphrates are the two rivers that make Mesopotamia
).
In addition to its physical luxuriousness, the Garden of Eden was a spiritually su-
perior environment, as well: The rest of the world, having been created directly by
God, was spiritually unsuited to self-initiated change, and therefore not conducive

choice.161
15 -
pitulates the narrative: God told the human that He was going to take him from the

-
ation of the whole world. When the human heard this, he did not want to enter the
Garden of Eden, because he was intimidated by the overwhelming responsibility
involved. God therefore persuaded the human to enter, and He placed him in the
Garden of Eden, having motivated him to cultivate it and guard it enthusiastically.162
cated by the order in which these trees are mentioned
in this verse. became the cradle of civilization and secular wisdom.
11 Because Egypt Many components of later civilizations were rooted in
158. See Isaiah 19:9; Exodus 25:4. 159. Rashi on v. 14. 160. Below, 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7, 11:24. 161. , vol. 15, p. 52.
162.
, vol. 1, pp. 453-454. 163.
, vol. 2, pp. 184, 191.

43
~ SECOND READING
X ONKELOS W
r ~r q sn k~ r j n qu Q r qwvo s _ n ~
s L o Q r ~r w O n k~ ] r j T qj q 16
v r q
qo ~r u j nn q~n s un r o j
n
s o u nj ~r j r~n o u u o u Lp Q
n q~ s~ ] T qb q qo R o 17 ~
_ rO r v o ss _ ~r

u o ~ r z n j q ou n un q
r j ou u
n u o ~ j r s
u j o l~ ou u n
u ju
v
r
_ Q p
n _ j r l~V
j Rn
by the ratio of one to the other.

forbids him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge implies would have internalized the consciousness of Gods
that, at least in potential, God intended to permit the

fruit of this tree as well. There are two ways in which
the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge can be considered consciousness would then have been so thoroughly
saturated with Divinity that we would have been sol-
idly anchored in the reality of God; no ungodly as-
considered usable, for by abstaining from it, we are pect of life could have held any fascination for us. We
would have been in the paradoxical state of simulta-
using it. In other words, everything in Gods creation neously possessing self-awareness while experiencing
exists to serve a purpose, and our task is to use it for our self-awareness as being null and void within our
that purpose. Although in many cases this requires us overpowering awareness of Gods reality.
-
ment with the object or otherwise using it for a Godly there would be nothing wrong with acquiring subjec-
purposethere are also situations in which we are re-
quired to refrain from acting upon or using an object. would already have been totally submerged in Divin-
But even when God commands us to avoid something,
we are still elevating itby avoiding it rather than by our Divine self. Were this the case, we would be able
actively engaging it. to safely evaluate reality from a subjective perspective,
since our subjectivity would be, in essence, Gods sub-
of all the trees, signifying his responsibility to elevate jectivitynot merely human, limited subjectivity.
each and every one of them, including the fruit of the However, once Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowl-
- edge before eating of the Tree of Life, and thereby in-
tion added that the manner in which he was to elevate ternalized subjective knowledge of good and evil at the
lower level of consciousness, God forbade them to then
it.179 eat of the Tree of Life. Their new level of consciousness
Second, we are taught that God originally prohibited
Adam and Eve from eating from the tree only tempo- rather than be allowed to become permanent. Like
every other physical object, their bodies now incorpo-
the Sabbath,180 rated aspects of evil, and this evil could not be allowed
to survive eternally.182

warning could only be applicable before Adam ate of
W e re-experience this challenge every day of our
lives. Every morning, when we begin life anew, we
the Tree of Life.)

As was mentioned above,181
of good and evili.e., internalizing itmeans mak-

ing our knowledge of good and evil subjective. When -
this happens, we no longer evaluate everything purely ing though the issues of life based on our subjective
based on its objective good or evil, but rather based on perception of what is good and what is evil. By de-
our own interests, i.e., if it is good or bad for us. It be- voting the beginning of each day to prayer and Torah

from this subjective perspective and be sure that any of eternal Life before tasting of the Tree of Knowledge
- of good and evil.
tives. Good and evil are fully intertwined: everything
If, however, we eat of the Tree of Knowledge before
-
the Tree of Lifeif we allow the nature of our relation-
erything we perceive as evil contains some kernel of
ship with God to be determined by the boundaries of
good. There are no longer any absolutes in the world;
our limited consciousnessa real danger exists. At

any time, our personal calculations may obscure the
179.
, vol. 4, p. 1928. 180. on Leviticus 19:23, 21:7;

, vol. 24, p. 133. 181. On v. 9.
182.
, vol. 2, pp. 277-278.

44
16 God commanded the human, saying, Of every tree of the gardenincluding

the Tree of Lifeyou may eat freely.
17 But you shall not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, for on the
day you eat of it you will die.173
required to do; and the obligatorythat which we same as that of the 248 active commandments; the
must do. The forbidden is that which is antithetical to
Divine awareness and consciousness; the obligatory is that of the 365 passive commandments.175
that which promotes Divine awareness and conscious-
ness. By choosing to do that which is obligatory and T
not to do that which is forbidden, we increase the ex- to underscore an important lesson in human psychol-
tent to which Divine awareness permeates the world ogy. Work and activity are an intrinsic facet of our
makeup, not only an answer to our needs. Even when
humanity existed in the Garden of Eden, with all of its
our role is pivotal. If we choose to indulge in the per- needs provided for, and in a state of perfection before
the onset of sin, God still directed us to work, to im-
of Divine consciousness in the world; if we choose to prove the world and improve ourselves. Similarly, no
partake of the permissible for holy reasons, we elevate individual or community should ever allow itself to
the world, along with ourselves. fall into complacency or sloth. There is always work to
As was said above, evil existed at this point solely be done, always an aspect of creation to be perfected
as a theoretical construct. It was Gods intention that
even this abstract evil be eliminated from creation, and we were created.176

The intrinsic value of work, however, does not imply
eliciting ever higher and more intense revelations of that all types of work are the same. It is indeed praise-
Divinity in the Garden of Eden. In this way, these in- worthy to be an upstanding and productive citizen
creasingly higher states of Divine consciousness that and this is included in Gods directive to cultivate and
would permeate reality would render evil completely guard the gardenbut mere mundane productivity
irrelevant and thus do away with it altogether.
To guard it: In addition to improving the garden, upon Adam and Eve.
Adam was also required to guard it. Our work always It is in this sense that Adam and Eves cultivation of
consists of these two aspects, the active pursuit of good the Garden of Eden was the equivalent of the Jewish
and the avoidance of any situation that could lead to
evil. It is never enough just to pursue the good. mentioned above. The commandments are the conduit
The Garden of Eden proves this point. It was so pure between spirituality and physicality, through which we
and holy that it simply could not tolerate evil, as evi-

sin. Nevertheless, even there, vigilance was required. more spiritual place. Only this type of work both al-
Even if it seems to us that we are totally absorbed in lows us to accomplish what is expected of us and ful-
Divine consciousness, totally involved in doing Gods
bidding, we must still be on guard. As long as we are as well.177
aware of ourselves and even slightly conscious that, 16 God commanded the human: In its broadest sense,
for example, we love God because He is good to us, this means that God taught Adam and Eve the entire
or because He is the basis of our existence, and so on, Torah.178
then these same rational calculations can eventually as we know it today, with all the stories of what trans-
lead to unfortunate consequences. Adam was therefore pired during the rest of Adams lifetime and in the en-
warned to guard the garden, his Divine environment, suing millennium and a half. Rather, God taught them
in order to ensure that his service of God be carried out the purpose of creation, the proper way to live and
with pure, ego-less love. It was, in fact, precisely in this relate to the world, the rules and societal conventions
area that Adam soon erred.174 He wanted humanity to follow, and how to ascend the
To cultivate it and to guard it: Adam and Eves care ladder of spiritual and Divine consciousness. All these
of the Garden was equivalent to the mission that God Divine ideas and notions were later embodied in the
would later give to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. Torah as we know it today.
17 You shall not eat: On a deeper level, the fact that
173. See below, 3:17, 19, 22-24. 174.

, vol. 1, pp. 102-108;
, pp. 27, 33. 175. ;
21, 55; 1:27a. 176. , vol. 7, pp. 240-241, vol. 16, p. 196; , vol. 2, pp. 97-98;
, vol. 1, p. 240. 177.
, pp. 208-209; Tanya. 178. 1:37b;
18b, 22b; 319.

45
~ SECOND READING
X ONKELOS W
o kp jo ~
r rsn k~r jq l~ q L q j Q r ~r v r _ k w~
V O n k~ ] r j T p~qbs 18

j r j u o ou j ~q n
s
s ju n r ~r
u oj n j v jpp
j
Q o _w pk~v p
X RASHI W
r r~sp 4
o r r
s u jpp
uj o
u
s ~o
j ns u j qu q u o
s u z j o u j z
u ~s j ~su p z
s j s k
s ~s
or n js u jpj 4 n r p
j u s ~o
j ns jp
ru u j
n r~ u
r u z
s r q
seeming paradox. God therefore created us a priori
absolutely void of subjective knowledge, making the until it brings us to the clear perception of truth.
awareness of this prior state of grace forever etched in On a more general level, the entire exoteric dimen-
our consciousness as a possibility that could serve as an
ideal to strive for. Then, through the temptation of the
snake, God plunged us headlong into the maelstrom with the realities of this world, even its more unsavory

evil. By overcoming the evil within us, we can now re- -
alize our Divine potential in the fullest. When the pro- teric dimension of the Torah, in contrast, is the Tree
cess is completed and good is fully extricated from evil
and once again totally separated from it, humanity and rather with the study of God Himself, the true reality
creation will have returned to the spiritual state of the and source of all life.194
Garden of Eden before the sin. However, we will still
) can be consid-
retain the appreciation of Divinity and the drive for it

we acquired during our stay outside the garden. Even
). The Torah is the Tree of Life in that it provides
though basking in Divinity, we hunger for it with the
the best advice for living life.195 God tells us to eat of the
same intensity we knew in the darkest nights of exile.
Tree of Lifeto learn the Torah with the intention of
In the future, redeemed world, the advantages of both
applying it to our daily lives, but not to eat of the Tree
states of beingpristine naivet and wisdom born of
of Knowledgenot to learn the Torah as an abstract,
sad experiencewill be paradoxically wed.190
theoretical exercise in academic philosophy.196
This is similar to the process of maturation we all ide-
18 It is not good: Whereas the animals were created
ally undergo in our own lives. The innocence of youth

created initially androgynous in order that he feel the
gives birth to the wisdom of adulthood. The challenge
lack of a mate and appreciate companionship. This oc-
of adulthood is wedding the innocence and idealism of

youth with the sagacity of maturity.191

You will die: This implies that God originally intended the sixth day, God saw all that he had made, and be-
for human beings to live forever. Inasmuch as in the 197 Thus, the creation of woman
messianic future, death will cease to exist,192 we see -
here again193
beings) a priori in their messianic state; the non-messi-
Gods commandment not to eat the forbidden fruit is

followed immediately by the story of the creation of
order.

O ur present-day Garden of Eden, our opportunity to and Eve have mated does the narrative return to the
topic of the Tree of Knowledge.198 Since, as will be seen,
lose our self-awareness in intense unity with God, is

to eat the fruit, it follows that once God commanded
them not to eat the fruit, He immediately put in mo-
Torah, for inasmuch as it is the literal word of God, it tion a series of events that would precisely lead them
to eat it.
In order to internalize the subjective knowledge of

subjective, relational creature; God accomplished this
the maze of applying Gods word to this world, pains- by separating him into mutually dependent, male and
190. Based on 191. Based on 24a-25b. 192. Isaiah 25:8. 193. As on 1:3, above.
194.
, vol. 1, pp. 269-270. 195. Proverbs 3:18. 196. 319. 197. 1:31. 198. 3:1.

46
Genesis 2:18 BEREISHIT
18 This human, having been formed by God Himself and created in His image,
was so impressively perfect and well-suited for his task of manifesting Divinity on
earth that God had to ensure that neither he mistake himself nor any other crea-
ture mistake him for a second deity. God said, It is not good that the human be
alone
deity, since I, too, have no mate. I will therefore separate his female aspect from
him, rendering him incomplete without her and in need of her assistance. I will
make this female aspect into a separate being, a compatible helper for him to give
him this assistance.183 If he is deserving, she will help him do good; if not, she will
oppose his will.
truth and ultimately lead us to choose other, improper,
paths. that characterize the life of a fallen individual who
now ardently seeks his restoration and reinstatement
The Sabbath, the taste of perfection, 184
is a foretaste of into Divine grace. Thus, paradoxically, without subjec-
the messianic future, when death will be swallowed tive knowledge of evil, the otherwise perfect human
185 The Sabbath and the Tree of eternal Life
are thus in a certain sense equivalent. Their common aspiration to holiness. This is why the forbidden fruit

overrides the prevailing consciousness of the limited,
valued much more by someone who has tasted evil
natural world, just as eating of the Tree of Life means than it can by someone who has not.
internalizing the awareness of Gods transcendence.
This in no way detracts from the greatness or vigor
Thus, even if Adam and Eve had not eaten of the Tree
of existence without this knowledge. There is a heavy

186 since the
is the loss of innocence and purity. We should not fall
essence of the Sabbath and the essence of the Tree of
into the trap of one-sidedly glorifying the anguished
Life are one and the same.187
pathos of the knowledge of evil while considering the
Adam and Eves error, then, was in thinking that it pristine, sinless existence somehow boring or monoto-
nous. On the contrary, there are real dangers involved
would be preferable to eat of the Tree of Knowledge
188 Someone who in the descent into subjective knowledge of evil, not
does not possess any subjective knowledge of good the least being the danger of failing in the struggle to
and evil is essentially devoid of any pernicious sense ascend out of it, at least temporarily. Thus, both modes
of ego. Unconscious of himself as separate from God, of existence have their advantages and disadvantages.
he is constantly connected to the source of life and
therefore immune to death. Just as the sign of a healthy the descent into subjective knowledge of evil outweigh
the dangers involved in taking the risk? The answer,
the sign of spiritual health and life is when the indi- paradoxically, is both yes and no. Yes, the Divinity re-
viduals consciousness is totally absorbed in God and
His will. Even if he is aware of himself, his awareness is the purpose of creation!) is immeasurably greater

But no, because the mutual pain of exile for Creator
- -
manity undergoes when exposed to this knowledge, is
189 so agonizing that no ends can justify it.
Nonetheless, there is an advantage to subjective knowl- Thus, it is clear that God wanted us to live without this
edge of good and evil: that of contrast. One who has
never fallen into sin will not pursue righteousness with

the same zeal as someone who has. As exalted and ex- within easy reach). Since these two seem mutually ex-
hilarating as the life of the fully righteous individual clusive, it was necessary to devise a solution for this
183. , vol. 5, p. 20. 184. See above, on 2:1. 185. Isaiah 25:8. 186. on 3:1, below and Leviticus 19:23; Li-
2:29a; , vol. 3, p. 747. 187. See
, Bereishit 46a; , vol. 24, p. 133, n. 14; vol. 36, p. 75.
188.
, pp. 425-430. 189. 5c; cf. Rashi on 2:25.

47
~ THIRD READING
X ONKELOS W
T~o jTp r q^ q qw rrR r l~w v r
n Wn k~b r jc pcn q 19
r u ~r j ~q n sn k~ r j ~r j u
~r q j z n ~ r s r u r j ~r ru q o Lw~r nj w q ~Q j nO r ~]r w
r ~ p T~ orq n qO r q ]w r
o j n ~r o k p j r ~r q j n j~q j
r ~r u o o r r l n s j u o v ~
j Q
_ r
q p_ pV r ~r w~
v r a r nj p b l~c s j
~r j u u o j z ~u ~r j q ~r z qj
~ r s ju ~ r n u j r j r r j z r ~r ] j T r oj qw r j R o W r ~r v r ~br j n q 20
r ~r ju ~r ru q o s ju ~r q j z n
~r j u u oj n j j r j q u j z ~~
q r
v jpp
j Q o~_r rw~ v P r ~r jL p r q] q
q s Q jnqO r q
j o j u r ~r q ~r jn z sn k~ r j R q nq L
r nq Q r ~r w
v r q Vr o j q * a n k~ b r j c oqq 21
nnu q u n s jn o ~r l o ju
u q
s ~ju r j{n rv p j
q Q r r_ s j n q Or s j q
n T q~q
X RASHI W
r ~r
r ~
s r j n
p z l~ rr
q z pp
r u o z j r
u
u o j
r
s j r n{ l ~n
r n j ~n r r l~r n
s j pnu q
po ~ rr ~s r ~r juu r
s j
s j z ~
u
oz
s
j p ~r
r qq
q ~
p sn k~ {q q q rj q j
r u l~r
r rr j ~
r n k ~
r n k
p z j
r o j q sn k~
qo u q q ~r
p z n j~
u j j np p
r
n
s
s r
p z z o o~
u ~
ru r ~p
~o nj
u p u z o r t j q ~r ro ju r r n u n ~
u j j nr r l~r
n q ~~
r r
j ~
u j j n nq
q
n rj q j
q p j
u
s j r r j n sr j qqn ooq q r n
u p u ~r n ks u qs
u r
n r r n jq j z un ~
pz r
r j p n
s j
su j nu q ~ u j q oj z
u j j n n u j ~r p z u p r j z nu q s r n j
r r ~
q o j n j
u
oz p r
s j nr ~r
r ~p
r{r u q q n l ~p j n ~su r z nu q j r lq
p z q nu q s j
r z j r
pz
n ~
p
u n
r s
j z u u n
j u u
n s z j
r
r pp q u j n ~
j o j n uu p nu
pz ru qz ppr ~r
r ~
s r j n
p z ~s
l jr ~
r p z
s rq qu

the animals before the angels, but they could not name the names he gave them were the words God had used
them. God brought the animals before Adam and he to create them.
named them.209 Even though the human race on the whole no longer
Certainly the angels could discern the spiritual an- possesses Adams deep spiritual insight, when parents
tecedents of the animals, the names of their spiritual choose a name for their child, their choice is subcon-
archetypes, as well as Adam. But they found it incon- sciously guided by Divine inspiration to suit the par-
ceivable that physical animals should be given these ticular soul-characteristics of the child.213

their spiritual source and physical being. In the normal are derived from a spiritual realm in which Gods re-
order of things, heaven and earth do not meet, and a ality is obvious and nothing else appears to possess
created beings spiritual source is of an altogether dif- independent being. Animals, on the other hand, stem
ferent order than its physical manifestation. Only the from a lower spiritual realm, in which Godliness is hid-
den and everything else therefore feels autonomous.
above210) we are created in Gods image and thus, like
God, transcend the incongruity of heaven and earth. source: they live and eat in the water and will die if
Adams achievementrevealing the connection be- they are removed from it. Animals, in contrast, live
tween realitys spiritual source and its physical man- outside of their source of sustenancethe earth.
ifestationwas only the beginning. As will be seen,211
the giving of the Torah connected the essence of Godli-
ness, which is too transcendent to be a direct source of require ritual slaughtering, as do animals,214 since the
anything, with physicality. Since the angels, by nature, purpose of slaughtering is to raise the animal to a level
cannot imagine how the gulf between spirituality and where we can elevate it by consuming it.
materiality can be bridged, they could not fathom how As was said above, by naming the animals Adam ani-
God could dare give the Torah to corporeal man, just as mated the connection between them and their spiritual
they could not understand how Adam dared to name
the animals.212 Divine source, and therefore do not need their con-
And whatever the man called each living thing was nection activated. Adam therefore did not name the
indeed its name: Adam named each creature correctly; 215
209. 17:4. 210. On 1:26. 211. On Exodus 19 and 20. 212. , vol. 15, p. 15. 213. , vol. 17, p.
6. 214. Chulin 27b. 215.
, vol. 1, p. 233.

48
19 Before He separated the primordial human into a man and a woman, God
wanted this being to feel the need to be bipartite. He did this in the following way:
As described above, God had formed out of the ground every wild beast and ev-
ery bird of heaventhe birds from the mud of the swamps.199 Now, God brought
them to the human to see what he would name each one, and also placed them
under his rule, as He had promised. God brought the animals to the human be-
ing in male-female pairs,200 in order to make him realize that his unitary state was
unnatural and to induce him to search for a suitable helpmate from among the
201 since there was
202
The human proved to be outstandingly insightful: he deduced what each creatures
name should be based on its characteristics and qualities. Therefore, whatever the
human called each living thing remained its name permanently.
Third Reading 20 The human gave names to every livestock animal and bird of
the sky, as well as to all the wild beasts. As God intended, the human noticed that
the animals were naturally heterosexual, and examined203 them all for a suitable
helpmate. among the animals any helper who was
compatible for himselfwhom God had named Adam. This troubled him.
21 God did not want the human to witness its female side being severed from its
male side, for this might lead the male to disrespect the female, so God cast a deep
sleep upon the human, and he slept. He then took one of its sidesthe female
and closed the cut made in
female halves. The human could only succumb to the forbidden to eat of the Tree of Knowledge; only in him
allure of the subjective knowledge of good and evil would this knowledge become subjective, becoming
once his subjective nature was made dominant in his instantly enmeshed in the fabric of his sense of self, as
female half, as will be explained presently.204 explained above.
In making us subjective creatures, God once again205 19 To see what he would name each one: As was said
melded the two extremes of spirituality and physical- above,206 the Hebrew name for something is an expres-
ity in the human being. Angels are entirely spiritual sion of its essence and nature. In naming each creature,
and do not mate; animals mate but their drive to do so Adam had to analyze the essence and nature of each
is purely physical. In contrast to both, the human drive one and thereby deduce its name.207 In so doing, he re-
to mate is both spiritual and physical: we do not feel
- for him.
pects enhancing each other. If we mate with our spouse By naming the animals in accordance with their spiri-
only physically we feel degraded; if we mate with our tual source, Adam did more than display his bril-
spouse only spiritually we feel frustrated. liancehe articulated the notion that physical reality
By creating us as spiritual-physical heterosexual be- can and should express its spiritual origin and be true
ings, God made us inherently subjective. As opposed to its spiritual essence. In this sense, he animated the
to all other creatures, we experience life in a relational bond between the animal and its source. It was at this
fashion; we evaluate and organize our experiences -
into a hierarchy of relevance. God had to make us this pose of creation, i.e., of making the world into a home
for God.
perfecters of creation; it is crucial that we feel the re- When God consulted with the angels before creating
lationship between God and creation and thereby be Adam,208 the angels asked Him, What is the nature of
inspired to enhance and perfect it.
It is for this very reason that only the human being was
f , Chulin 66b. 202. Abarbanel; , vol. 35, p. 2, note 6. 203. Rashi on v. 23,
199. 1:20-21. 200. Rashi on v. 20. 201. Cf.
below. 204. On v. 23, below. 205. See on 2:7, above. 206. On 1:3. 207. 14. 208. See above, 1:26.

49
~ THIRD READING
X ONKELOS W
Q r ~r w
v r n _ q rw p l~V r o qw~* v p a n k~b r jc pcqn 22
~r jn r sn k~ r j ~r j u
qu j j~q j ~r ju ~n j r ~r n o jn qq R q~] s M r ~r v r h p~qs h 23 v r ~r w v r ~ p r~Q p jn q Lr ~n j
~r r r ~r q l~ q r ~r q j
n j u n ~
n r j n u q j q ~
n r j ~r
q j n ~Q n o_ n r O ~~] n o nr T~ s jL n rj n Q r rqO rl v o pp U
u qj qu n o l~ ~r ju ~n o j j n ~r j
q jj s uj z n o u q ~r ~ rn j L~w n ~p j Q n ~w r ~p ~wr O n l vq T ow q 24 ~w sv r mvt
qu j n j u o u ~n j n
u l~ ouj j z n ou
s l q r~r j n j s nu o ju ~n u j lOn T po^ j vj qn 25 v r ~_
p r r jQ r jO j ~n ] j q r j
u o ju ~n j r ~r ~n rn j q s oj q
r l ~r jn j n jq u j n ~ r j T sn O r] r rTrr q j 3:1 v r snj ~ Q jL j ~n jQ r ~r v r
r j q l n ~r ru q o s un un q
~r j z u u j ~r ju ~n j q l~ q sn k~ r O ~]n w r ~T p p~qbs L n k~] rj Q r r_p l~O p r q] q q
s un u j o ~ r r j q l~ o l~
~r u j nn q~n vr q_ os Q
n O~
j ~
s v
] O n k~]q ~w
r
v n ~Uq
X RASHI W
~q
j r j
s
o u n j q j j j p pun j
u n s r u
u ~s pz j u r q j u n rr j r jn j pnu q
rj q jn r r
p o s u qu n ~s
s
o z
s j n r ou p z n u q
s ruj nn r q j u n r r ~
u p z nu n
p z r ~
s j rr q o u q j

o u
q q r
j r
r p os
u qj n
j o
r n
s j ~
r
q r r pnu q r
s n q ~ { r{ r u q un j q ~su
s p z rj q jn r r j
r~
r r jp r j
n r uu r r r z rrr q j r j s s {q q q
s ~ s
j r z ~
n s j n
r z ~n j
s j ro
q ~p
" o z un j q q
s s j
r s u j z ~n j j
u r ~r r {q q q
s j n s o qj q qqq ~s
s ~o s j n
s ~o j
s j n
~r 4
r p o lz r rr
q q
r r u
n o r j p q j~r ~p
s ~o
q s u j
q r j r j n~s
j rr q
j r o
uj
r
q r ~~
r r u
pz
u rr ~q j ns
j
u o j
z n j z q
uj n j
s
j nu t lr ~
s s z r
s j
z ~n
o
un
r z ~~
n o r n~s j rr
q ~
q r u
pz

u r
s rr q r jr
s r t ju
s r j r n j s un uu r z sp u q s z jun r
s r ~r j n
p z ~r n s z r q os
p rq ~~
r r
p z
s jq ~
r
un ~q su
n u ~4s
r u n s z sp u q q
s k~ p oo p p ~ u
z ~n r lq o u q
nj ~
s r ~
s ~r r n u
p z q ~q
j s s
j u
n
u ~s
j ~s
u o j
q r
s r r q r~
p { r r j s r l
r ~p sq o
uj q
j u u pn z uj
~s r p z o
j n r ju
r p
r r u j
n
s
o ~r j z n u z s
r z uj n ~s j r ~p r r{uj
{ p l q
r z j poj z
o
r
s ~
s
uj o u q j

the impulse to raise the consciousness of reality to a not in order to satisfy any lust for the delights of the
palate but to satisfy their hunger and enjoy the good-
a relationship is the impulse to concretize the impli- ness God had given them; likewise, they engaged in
cations of this consciousness in the context of the real marital relations not to satisfy any egocentric lust for
world. Both approaches are of course necessary, and
the healthy equilibrium of inspiration and actualiza- enjoy the goodness God had given them, and to pro-
tion is dependent on the regulation of the male-female create.225
dynamic in creation. 1 The most cunning: As was mentioned above, the
25 They felt no shame: Since they did not possess any
sense of self-centeredness before they ate the forbidden knowledge of good and evil. Gods intention was that
fruit, they engaged in marital relations with the same -
innocence they felt, for example, when eating. They ate manity would raise the level of Divine consciousness
[21] Woman: The ability and drive to understand cause of this inherent superior sensitivity to the
and apply the implications of Divine consciousness world, women mature psychologically quicker than
is called binah do men. Thus, Jewish law considers a female a re-
presence in the womans psychological makeup is sponsible adult at age twelve but a male only at age
thirteen.227
), which is cognate to ).226 Be-
216. 3:20, below. 217. 14:7. 218. 1:28-30. 219. Rashi on 5:1, below. 220. 4:1-2. 221.
, vol. 1, p. 24.
222. Rashi on 4:25, 5:3. 223. , vol. 10, p. 15. 224. Rashi on v. 15, below. 225. , vol. 3, p. 893. 226. Nidah
45b. 227. Nidah 46a; 4:42b.

50
22 God built up the side that He had taken from the human into a woman, shap-
ing her so she could carry children within her, and He brought her to the man.
Adam and his wifewhom he would later name Eve216were created as mature,
twenty-year old adults.217
23 The man said, This time, in contrast to all the creatures I examined previously,

Woman [ishah], because she was taken from man [ish]. Thus Adam completed
the process of naming all creatures.
24 God decreed that a man shall therefore leave his father and his mother and
cleave only to his wife forbidding extramarital relationshipsand that husband
and wife shall combine to in their children.
them into man and woman, God blessed them, commanding them to procreate,
and gave them the fruit of the earth as food, as recounted above.218
25 The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame
in this. Since they were not conscious of themselves as being independent of God,
they considered all their physical desires as a natural part of Gods intention for
them. Their consciousness was not tainted by self-interest, so there was nothing

conceiving,219 Eve gave birth to twinsa son and a daughteras will be described
in detail further on.220
The Tree of Knowledge

3:1 The Torah now interrupts its description of the events of the sixth day of cre-
ation with the account of how Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of
221 births.222
It places this narrative here because the antagonist of this episode, the serpent, ini-

engage openly in marital relations.
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild beasts that God had made.
He also possessed the means to express his cunningness:223 he stood upright on his

he wanted Eve for his wife. He decided the best way to eliminate Adam was to
have him eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, since God had made this pun-
ishable by death. But he knew he would not be able to entice Adam to do this, so
he decided to work through Eve, whom he assumed would serve the fruit to her
husband before she ate any of it herself.224 Although the serpent had seen Adam
and Eve eating all kinds of fruits in the garden, he said to the woman in order to
open a conversation, Did God really say, You may not eat from any of the trees
of the garden?
23 Woman: God intended for husband and wife, in

others mentality, but before they could cleave to one
another He separated them into two distinct beings,
each with their own mindset and propensities. Simply, and physical union allows them both to experience the
this is because since man was designed to be a relational other side as well and develop sensitivity toward it.
being, it was necessary for him to be able to empathize

51
~ THIRD READING
X ONKELOS W
o o u n ~r jn j ~r ju ~n p p l~ q
~ v o s Qr qwvo _ n j n Lrr qw~p Q r ~n v r p~q s_ 2
~r r~ n o o u
n u o
~ r r j q l~ ~r u j n
u ~r u j n q~n
u n j n n
T~ j ~
s v ^ R n k~]q ~Mr r qwv ] j p l~ h o r] n j n 3
~r jn u o u j j ~
~ r~r ju ~n j~r j
n r jou u
n q l~ q
n u
u
j o
u j
Lr ~n wv r ~p r Q r q p~s_ q 4 v tw j pL Q j~ n _ jp O n
r j r m o jj o l~
qju q u j n j ou u
n
u
u
j o ~
u ju r j
j r s u j o l~
] p j r l~ Tj Rn O n k~ qs] o Un 5 tv j Qw~
ou n un qn j j q
uj
s j u o s o
z n jq rv r _ Q osj v ~
O n v o Tn
p vj n L povo Q j j n j p O n
X RASHI W
r q so un rn l~
q u
r o j
n ~ r
r n j
un
r n o n~r r u j
r n juun q q r n
s s u u ju ~s
n j
~p ~r ru q ~r o r n
s
u r ~t ouj ~p ~os { r ~t q q k~ pp
~s r r ju q jj u j s u ~ p z ~ u
s r o

s r
s o j s sn ~
o u
p nj n r
s r ~o
pz o z
j u rq ~
r s
u r jr
p z q u r r ju uu t
uj
s

knew that the purpose of humanity was to make God fore the primordial sin, need not fear that partaking of
a home in this lowest of all worlds. How appropriate, the permissible will corrupt her. Indeed her failure to
then, to internalize the knowledge of good and evil, al- do so was sinful, since she forfeited the chance to el-
lowing humanity to descend in its spiritual status and evate another element of creation to holiness.234
thus be able to elevate the lowest levels of Divine con- Whyor perhaps more to the point, howdid Eve er-
sciousness. The serpent became Eves inner voice. roneously exaggerate this way? How could she think
This is the inner meaning of the serpents wish to sup- that when God said not to eat He really did mean
plant Adam; subjective knowledge of good and evil also not to touch? Apparently, God implanted in her
wanted to replace objective knowledge as the consort thought processes the awareness of the need to take
of Eve, the impulse to concretize Divinity in the world. precautions. This awareness is indeed essential for the
In the end, this is essentially what happened: Adam ate
actualization of Divine consciousness in the world.
When wrestling with mundane consciousness, there is
2-3 The woman replied to the serpent: Still, Eve ini- always the danger of being drawn into its perspective
tially resisted the snakes suggestion. But she had evi- and losing sight of the purpose of the descent. Thus,
dently already erred in exactly the direction the ser- precautions are quite legitimate and called for. The er-
pent was leading her: by mistakenly assuming that it ror lies in being so cautious that we do not exercise our
was forbidden to touch the tree as well as to eat from it, capacities to the extent God requires.
she was denying herself more than necessary and was 4 The serpent pushed Eve against the tree: Even if the
exaggerating the danger involved in the full exercise serpent demonstrated to Eve that touching the tree was
of her powers. harmless, thereby convincing her that eating it would
The lesson here is that it is imperative to neither un- also prove harmless, it is still inconceivable that she
derestimate nor overestimate our capabilities and the could have disobeyed Gods explicit command if she
still retained her original level of Divine conscious-
in the Talmud231 that God will hold us answerable for ness. Therefore, the sages teach us that the serpent
every rejection of a permissible pleasure. On the other not only pushed Eve but also raped her.235 Whether or
hand, we are also bidden to create a fence around the not this is to be understood literally, the implications
232 so that if a breach does occur, the Torah is not are spiritual: the serpent injected into Eves mind the
violated, and a certain amount of voluntary asceticism
is considered a prerequisite to holiness.233 The resolu-
tion of this apparent contradiction is that the relative post-Tree-of-Knowledge subjectivity that induced her
weight accorded these opposing approaches to life de- to evaluate the serpents arguments from the perspec-
pends on the spiritual state of the individual. The aver- tive of her own ego and ultimately to make her deci-
age person needs restrictions. He should not indulge sion on that basis.
in every permissible pleasure, for this would dull his 5 You will be like God and be able to create worlds:
spiritual sensibilities. On the other hand, someone who i.e., you will be able to bring far greater levels of Divine
- consciousness into the world than you would be able
231. , end. 232. 21a; 1:1. 233. 3:13; 9:15. 234. , vol. 1, p. 253. 235. 145b-

commentary on Nazir 23b.

52
2 The woman replied to the serpent, We may eat from the fruit of the trees of
the garden,
3 but as to the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which is in the middle of the
garden, God said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.
In fact, God had not forbidden them to the fruit, but Eve thought that He
forbade them to eat the fruit because the tree was poisonous, and that touching its
bark would therefore also prove deadly.228
4 The serpent pushed Eve against the tree, showing her that touching it did not
harm her. He said to the woman, Just as you did not die from touching it, you
will certainly not die from eating its fruit! When Eve saw that touching the tree
did not harm her, she could not believe that eating its fruit would kill her.229
5 Rather, the serpent continued, God did not forbid you to eat the fruit for your
own good, that is, because He wants you to live forever and He knows that eating
the fruit will make you mortal. He forbade it out of jealousy. He does not want you
to infringe upon the aspect of perfecting the world He has reserved for Himself.
God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened to your own
potential: you will see yourselves as independent agents, masters of your own des-
tiny. You will thus be like God and be able to create worlds, just as He did. This is
because you will know good and evil subjectively.
of the world and thereby annihilate evil without hav- to deny you the complete experience of the fullness

stage possessed no inclination or motivation to trans- was meant to be an ongoing expansion of Divine con-
gress Gods will. sciousness brought about by cultivating and guard-
-
with the sort of Divine revelation and consciousness stood thisthat by depriving them of the fruit of this
that could not possibly be elicited without subjec- tree, God was limiting their ability to accomplish His
tive knowledge of good and evil. God therefore gave
this subjective knowledge a voice in the person of the means to make this world His home and was deny-
snake, and via him devised that Adam and Eve should ing them the opportunity to summon all their inherent
eat the forbidden fruit.

arum) also means
-
dial snake are described similarly. But whereas the na- how to accomplish Gods ends. This rationalization
kedness of Adam and Eve expresses their innocence, has been the arch-technique of the evil inclination ever
the nakedness of the snake describes his being stripped
us to sin, for we as humans are logical thinkers and
partial awareness of God that pays lip service to His would refuse. It instead convinces us that transgress-
existence and omnipotence, but dupes itself and oth- ing Gods express will is a shortcut to accomplishing
Gods true purpose, that the supposedly sinful act is
meritorious.
and the same.230
-
Did God really say: - edge did not address Adam but Eve. In separating the
gument from misconstruction. He knew full well, of
course, that God had not forbidden any fruit other woman with the drive to concretize the Divine ideal
than that of the Tree of Knowledge, and that Eve knew within reality, as was said above. It is precisely in this
this as well. However, by suggesting that God had area that we are most vulnerable to the arguments of
forbidden other fruit, the snake planted the thought evil. Evil seduces us to descend where we are not sup-
in Eves mind that perhaps the Divine prohibition of posed to, misleading us into believing that, by so do-
eating this fruit was exaggerated. Perhaps God means
228. 229. , vol. 5, p. 218, note 35. 230.

, vol. 1, p. 236, n. 96.

53
~ THIRD READING
X ONKELOS W
~r r~n q o l~ ~r ju ~n q l q ~ ]wr l~v q a n j r W l~v q j o b r c ]n r \ ~n v r ~]p qo 6
no j ~ u o ~q o l~ q qo j
u o ~ rr u q u j ~n j ~r r~n q q j u
a o qn L q~ sqQj n
n _ q qn On j q jT o r^r pj jnq R ov r
~q p p n p p l~ q u ou ~n o q o ju
~ rr u q u j ~n j r l~ q u q u n u qj q j O]j ] o q o j o oTr j b q rqn 7 ~
p O ] v q sq Q r nV
r ~n jwq
~n rn j q o l~
u r ns oj o
q o
n~o j o u j q s j u nu q j uu ~n sv s l Q p r _lv q q r O ~o j ] ol Tj j nvq Lo Q n tvo _n
nr j
s ju r l q
X RASHI W
4 o nu
t o n
u j o q
u q ~r ~p
s r ~
u p z j u r ~
u jn j z r r
p z r r ju r l~r
r z ~n r ~p o q
r~o
j o l rr
p o
u j j q j n
j r r
j r j
r q ~
q rj n ~uu r l~
q n jsn ~
o s j n o
r
s un u u qn k~ pj
u j j u q j n
u j qu n s u p z rr uj uu p n
u j ~r
p z o r ~
u o
r r pj j po
o j u rq ~r
u j j n p z
s
j nqo r
~s r oj u n
u p o lsu n u n u r
j n o
r ~r j z r l~ s o sj u rq ~r
u q o un q r r p z
s
j un j{q j
s
s j or ~ u j

u
r u z
s r
q ~ o
p z " o
r o j q u j n p p~~
q rr{u n~
j
u pj n~
j
n r u
u ~s p z u r
n u
r z ~n j
q r
s r r rr
p z p
u
u ~s
j j u nj q ~su
u p z r n uj poj z oo rj q rr un q r q j r ouj s u q j u q
~
r u j
q un q z q j
n s r
s
j z r
q r ~n
j qj n ~s
j
j
u r
q p u nur j r
q q jn j
q o ~
s r u u
q ~q onu
t
o un u oj u q
q n ~
s r j nu q

And he ate: As was seen above,239 Adam was such a not be detrimental to animals.
paragon of perfection that God had to take measures to 7 By using the very
prevent the rest of creation from deifying him. He was leaves of the Tree of Knowledge to clothe themselves
highly intelligent, possessed great moral purity, and and express their remorse for what they did, Adam
had heard God prohibit the fruit explicitly. It therefore and Eve articulated a deep understanding of repen-
seems incredible that he was not able to resist eating tance. The goal of true repentance is not only to repair
the forbidden fruit, especially in the context of the mi- the damage that has been done, but also to transform
drashic view240 that Adam knew that the prohibition the negative force into a positive one. Past failings,
- when utilized as impetuses for virtue, become a force
for good.242
The fact that this was a serious test for Adam gives And made themselves loincloths: As soon as they
us some important insight into the workings of free acquired subjective knowledge of good and evil and
choice: the more crucial a particular Divine command- the accompanying sense of heightened self-awareness
and self-centeredness, they recalled their recent physi-
cal intimacy and how pleasurable it had been. They
realized that, in their new consciousness, physical inti-
simple in itself, but because it is important at this par- macy could become something that could be pursued
purely for sensual pleasure, and thereby a potentially
powerful agent for intensifying self-orientation and
in order to force him to fully exert his free choice.241 desensitizing humanity to Divinity. Therefore, of all
She also fed the fruit to the animals: The animals -
were not forbidden to eat the fruit. Because the human most of their procreative organs, and tried to lessen
being is a subjective creature, knowledge of good and their power over human consciousness by keeping
evil would be harmful to him and only him. It would them covered.243
239. 2:18. 240. See above, on 2:17. 241. , vol. 3, p. 747. 242.
67a. 243. ,
vol. 3, p. 893.

54
6 The serpent persisted in trying to convince Eve, taking care to converse with her
when Adam was not present. He eventually convinced the woman, who then saw
that the tree was good for eating because it would make them godlike, and desir-
able to the eyes because it would open their eyes to their own potential, and that
because it would enable
them to know good and evil subjectively. So, she decided to eat the fruit. But to
the serpents chagrin, she took some of its fruit herself and ate. When Adam came

arguments, convincing him to partake as well. Also, even though the serpent had
convinced her that the fruit was not deadly, she was still afraid that it might be,
and she didnt want to die and leave Adam alive to marry someone else. Adam
knew that the fruit was forbidden, but he was confused by the fact that Eve, whom
236 Thus, Eve also gave some to
her husband with her, and because of this confusion, he ate. She also fed the fruit

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened: they suddenly under-
stood that they had lost their original Divine consciousness: they were no longer
aware of themselves as a part of God, but as independent beings. They thus real-
ized that they were naked, i.e., stripped of the one commandment
God had given them, which was precisely to descending to this level of con-
sciousness. They were ashamed of having been stripped of their original Divine
consciousness, and instinctively expressed this shame by trying to reverse the pro-

counteract their new self-exposure by covering their naked bodies.237 Toward this
end, they tried to pluck leaves from other trees in the garden, but found that they
could not; these trees refused to be involved in this subterfuge. Having no other
choice, they plucked from the Tree of Knowledge,
and made themselves loincloths. The Torah does not explicitly disclose the iden-
tity of the Tree of Knowledge in order that people not disdain the type of tree in-
volved in Adam and Eves sin.
-
states of existence. As stated above, this ascent is made ally begin with looking where we should not look. We
possible by the descent into subjective knowledge of rationalize that there is no harm in only looking, but
evil, which in turn serves as the impetus for greater looking leads to desire, desire leads to action, and ac-
tion leads to misleading others into misdeed, just as
6 The woman saw that the tree was good for eating:
She was fully aware that the purpose of her existence how spiritually advanced we are, we must not delude
was to make a home for God in the lower realms, and ourselves into thinking that we are immune to the lure
understood that this would be possible to a far more of sight: are any of us purer than Eve, who was created
profound extent if she would follow the serpents ad- directly by God? Let us rather direct our eyes to posi-
vice. tive and holy sights, and teach our eyes to focus only
on the good.238
The woman saw: This demonstrates how important it
236. , vol. 3, p. 158. 237. Rashi on 2:25, above. 238. , vol. 2, p. 612.

55
~ THIRD READING
X ONKELOS W
L q
q ] jQr q_ o qj
n V n k~aa r jw
b ~ j v q 8
p Yj n
rq ~r
j o r r u r j z u
s qj n~r u j nu j jo q
~r j sn k~ _ o Q j
O n k~ ] r j To j n R j ~n j W r ~r v r ~o b q nj q
r j r m n u o ju ~n j r ~r q u q u ~n j
r j~r j u ~r u j nn q~
n
s
uj sn k~ rvp ~
q Q p~s_ q L r ~r w
v r ~
p Q n k~_ r j~Vr j n q 9 vr q

ju ~r ~r u o q l~ q r ~r j sn k~
n r j z j r
j o r r q l~ q n Q s ~r
s _ owv n ~ s v ~p p~qPs 10
V r ~vn r L r q n j Q q r _ jw
~ qn j q o l~ n o
j u ~r u j nu j
n q ~q q l~ q n r u q u ~n j ~r l~ wn l Lr ~r sQ o _n O j ] nn Un p~qPs 11 ~v o r ~r
vo
~r r~
n n lju ~~
r q o l~ j r
qn j
ou u
n qo j~ r u j j r u j o qn
j n
p~Q sq 12 r jv r ~
r Q p w
n r l~_ n jn j
V n na
n a p l~o R r
~r ju ~n r ~r q l~ q r u j q l~
Q o rw_
n wr
n vj ~
r V n O n r n]r rq ]p l~T r~n
v r L r ~r v r
n n p p j ~n nu n ju j
q n
n r l~ q~ r r~n vo s~vr
X RASHI W
~
u
r o rr q o s pru u ~q n n{ lq u
u j r oj
u uj n rj u un q r r ~q
o z j j n z o uu j j z nu q
~
n n z r jr j n~ o j~su
pz n rj
un s u
n o r n~r ~p s z r j n ~r j z
n u r u q ~
n z o j un r
s j q
u o s u q
r n ~
r o
p p~ s q ~
r nq
uj o j ~ n u
s j u
o z n l q
r r ~q j u ~r j n p z
s u z j n ~r ~p ~
n r ~s n l~ q
n r nj r
pr o n p ~o r n z r l~
r n r jn j oj uu j j z nu q rj ~
r
q u ru r ru~r j nu
q o j
nu p p z qj q
j
n r ~l j q u sq j ou j z un r n jn uj oj n rj un rr p z ~ u j u r u z
s r q
s ~p u j r z " u j r zu q
n
l
s
r o
s
r u z os
p z q q q rr j n~q
u o r jnu n ~r r u z p
p z q
p z q
u s j us q quu j rrq u jo q j n
s ~
r
s u
q u q ~
r r n r
n r r
q
p z l~ r n j
un o r r lq q u r q p p s j n u
p z n r lq ~n s j
r z n

knew subjective knowledge of good and evil would en- Because he and Eve expressed regret: Gods earlier
tail. In other words, he succumbed to fatalism: instead 252
of focusing on how to return to God, Adam proceeded now came to mean on the day you eat of it I will pre-
to accept his fallen status as an irrevocable fact of life. vent you from eating of the Tree of Life, and thus you
12 The man replied: It is Your fault. Had you not
created us with this feminine perspective, this over- Alternatively, it still meant that they would die on the
whelming drive to manifest Your presence in the low- same day they ate the fruit, but since a thousand years
est possible realms, we would not have fallen for the 253
-
mean that they would die within a thousand years.
recognizing the female aspect of his partnership as a In either case, Adam and Eves repentance mitigated
boon to their joint relationship and mutual goal in life, the implication of Gods threat considerably. They re-
he saw it only as an obstacle.
Besides being ungrateful to God for giving him Eve, -
Adam was also not on the path to true repentance. less, repentance is so powerful that instead of dying
King Solomon said, He that covers his sins will not
250 - almost a thousand years!254 Thus, at the very beginning
deeds, he cannot completely repent. Genuine repen- of the Torah, God teaches us that regardless of what
tance is possible only when we acknowledge that we has been decreed or what punishment has been de-
have willingly and knowingly abandoned God, with- served, the doors of return are always open.255
out blaming any external factors.251
250. Proverbs 28:13. In the Midrash, this verse is applied to Adam. 251. Cf. Ikarim 4:26. , vol. 30, p. 202. 252. Above,
2:17. 253. Psalms 90:4; Rashi 254. Below, 5:5. 255. , vol. 3, pp. 151-152, 157-159.

56
8 Adam and Eve would have tried to clothe themselves further,244 but just then, at
4:00 PM,245 they heard the voice of God, which was moving about in the garden
in the direction of days end. -
ness, the man and his wife hid themselves from God among the trees of the
garden.
9 God knew where Adam was, but in order to open the conversation and give him
the opportunity to express remorse, He called to the man and said to him, Where
are you?
10 He replied, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I am
naked, so I hid.
11 God obviously knew that Adam and Eve had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge,
but in order to give Adam another chance to confess and express remorse over his
sin, He said, Who told you that you are being naked and that there is any shame
in this? Did you eat of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? You ob-
viously did, otherwise you would not have felt any shame in being naked.
12
by blaming God. The man replied, The woman whom You gave to be with me
and help meshe gave me of the tree, and I ate. I assumed that since You created
her to help me, she would not lead me astray.
-
ing him a wife. Nonetheless, because he and Eve expressed remorse, and because
Adam had at least a partial excuse, God commuted their sentence and did not
make them die on the very day they ate the fruit; He only made them mortal.246
8 They heard the voice of God moving about: Instead distance from God implied in self-centeredness and
of hearing Gods voice in close proximity, they heard
it coming from afar. They sensed that the Divine Pres- than otherwise possible.
ence was departing the world because of their sin.247
9 Where are you: God meant, Look, Adam, where These words pose an eternal question to every per-
- son: Where are you? Are you aware of the purpose of
ing the question, He intended to give Adam the op- your existence on this earth? How much of your lifes
portunity to confess his sin and atone for it. This would 248
10 I heard Your voice: Adam did not hear the implied
need for restorative punishment. Had he repented, -
lieve that it was possible for him to return to his former
state of graceat least not without the hard work he
[8] They heard the voice of God moving about: -
ment.249
244.
, vol. 1, p. 449. 245. 38b. 246. , vol. 3, pp. 151-152, 157-159. 247.

5:1;
248. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, quoted in ,
vol. 1, pp. 73-75. 249.
5:1;

57
~ THIRD READING
X ONKELOS W
T p~q
s b
L n r~w
] s
q Q r ~n V n k~aa r j p~qbs 13
v r
~r ~r ju ~n j sn k~ r j q l~ q
~r jn ~r ju ~n p p l~ q ju j q l ~r _ n k~ b r j c p~sc q 14 vo s~vr n~
* Q q n n _rr q r O ~n v r
r j q l~ q n r l~ q nq lj ~q
n~ r r u j q lo l~~rj n jsn k~ rO oj qw rn Tr ~q ^ ~r M ~s ]
r n r ]n hrr qw~v p
~r ru q o s u n u ~ r n u j r u n ju ~q
r u u o ~r j q j no u j r j q _jw
o r Q q~ s _r r j o O o ] js v jw q L p r q ] q q s Q
n
j rou o q z l~ u rj u r j r q o s
~r j
r u j ou ru j ou ~r ju ~n ou Qlqj _
o r O ~n v r ] r ~o j 15 vp q
o T jv o nR ~r * ]
u or u j q l~ q r j rn ~ j o j~ u
~ r s ju oq r o ju ju ~q jn j q ju n v o r_
p
j Q r ~q j~
s O ]
j j
v ~L
U rqj ] o
o j ~q ~r r j ~q q l~ ~r ju ~n j
n
u j n j o u q j
j nu j ~
u n n jquu n jn jq l q
j nj
pQp
j o O sv o j]] oj nT pj ~^
q r j qqR ~] v r ~v p 16
r r ~n w
~ u j u ~ n oju qu q ju
j
u n rj z n w
v r rnj ~Q jOo
r ]T
j o~w
n ~p jLn r] n jv o
X RASHI W

j r j p u q j r j u z j n z ~
s r j j
r~o r n j p oj q u
u r n j
n pj ~~
p q
n z q~ s
j nq j
n n~
q n z n
uu pu z uj r ~q j u o r n r z s uu j q j
j s s~ su ~p r s u jun n j u q j ~o
p z p z ~r n ~su
r n{r un
s o lq u uu pj z n j r
r z n ~q j s r j ~o j ~s o r n z r j
s r"~s
r u
r n{
r r r j z uu ~n
s ~r pz n o
z
r r q
p z
j p
ru q z r j uu pu z
s u uu
uj s z j p n uj ru n "n j s z n o j nu n jqu q o j n j q r o j nu
o
s s z r q
p z n j
u r n
j z n
j o z ~ u j s z j n~r u
s rrq
o o q j nr ouj
n ~ { r u q
n p q u qs un u r ou j q
poj
s j n poj z un r n z js z jq
r s z r q q
p p q uj p z r j n
u o s u q
u n kp "o p z r ~s
j
n jo pp u j u u n r q q p o s o j nr u u u n q q q n
r z q p z z r r
p z
s u u n o j
pz o q j s s uj
z n j z q jj o r u z
uj j
o z ~
n ~p j r oo
q q qp n r n z ~r r~o j u j j nj u r n q jq j oo r jsju
s
~
u ~r ~p p q u s j j
s j q o r ~o o n u q ~q j ~ q u p z j r ~r
u ~s u r p z ~r ~p ru j q q j n ~s ru ~q
j o r l~qu j o r u z uj jo n ~sj uu p n su q j r u
r z j n r n
uj r
q ~
p o u q
j ~
r ~s
r
j r
q ~~
p
{ r u n
j r n uj
r o s j
z s z j q s j ~
p s u q j j s u q u j n js u
s j s q n z r q
p z n j~r ~p

The serpent had hoped to wed Eve and father children ness that precipitated the primordial sin. As explained
through her. Instead, God promised that their respec- above, Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptations
of the snake because they lacked faith in Gods ability
In the messianic era the snakeand darkness in gener- -
alwill shed its evil shell. Only its essence, its spark of pedient way possible; they exhibited a lack of patience.
holiness, will remain.261 The pain accompanying pregnancy, childbirth, and
child-rearing all result from tension and stress, which
16 To the woman he said:

the Torah are in fact the means God provides for rec-
care and concernexactly what caused Eve to suc-

cumb to the temptation of the snake. All these types of

pain can be greatly reduced through various physical
childbirth, and childrearing is unique to the human
and mental exercises; the pain is there to remind us to
-
[ A CLOSER LOOK \
[14] Your gestation period will be 7 years: Al- fertilization and birth of seven years have also
though it is commonly observed that snakes gestate been documented.262
for only a few months, periods of time between
261. Cf. 54:1; see

, vol. 1, p. 389. 262. See , pp. 113-114.

58
13 God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? giving her the
chance to realize that it was possible to repent and repair the damage that had
been done. But the woman replied, The serpent
deceived me, and I ate.
14 God did not address any question to the serpent, so as not to allow him to ex-
onerate himself by pointing out that Eve should have had the sense to know that
Gods command should override the serpents enticements. Rather, God said im-
mediately to the serpent, I distinguished you above the other animals by giving
you the power of speech, but you misused it by enticing Eve to sin. Because you
did this, I will repay you measure for measure: I will entirely rescind your abil-
ity to speak, and thus, instead of being the most of animals, you are now
more accursed than all the livestock and all the wild beasts. Not only will you
lose your natural ability to speak; you will even lose your ability to make sounds
like other animals: your voice will be reduced to a hiss.256 Since the other animals
also partook of the forbidden fruit, I will curse them as well. They will no longer
reproduce on the same day they conceive: the wild beasts will now have a mini-
mum gestation period of 52 days, and the livestock will have a maximum gesta-
tion period of 1 year, which is seven times as long. But here, too, I will curse
even more: your gestation period will be seven times longer still, i.e., seven years.
you shall from now on move on your
belly, and you shall appear to eat dust all the days of your life. This is an idiom
for being scorned.257
preeminent of the animals, the serpent was reduced to being the lowliest animal.258
When God removed its feet, the serpent screamed.259
15 You wanted to take Eve as your wife; instead, I will plant hatred between you

you on the head, and you will hiss as you bite him in the heel.
16
in raising chil-
dren and in your pregnancy from now on. Eve already had children, so she would
experience the pain of raising them before the pains of her next pregnancy; this is
why God mentioned child rearing before pregnancy and birth.260 You will give
birth to children in anguish. your longing will be for your hus-
band, but despite your longing for your husband, he will dominate you: You will
be embarrassed to ask him explicitly to have marital relations with you.
13 The serpent deceived me: Eve here adopted the objective. Nonetheless, Eve still had free choice not to
theme of her husband, namely, that it is too late and succumb.
- 14 Accursed are you:
ior. That the serpent had deceived her was correct, of injected the venom of subjective knowledge of good
course, and since God made the serpent the cunning -
voice of the Tree of Knowledge, it was His fault that pose as the voice of this perspective and became the
Eve succumbed to his deception. Once humanity has simple creature we know it to be.
been introduced to subjective knowledge of good and
15
evil, it is no longer possible to expect us to be totally
256. , vol. 10, p. 13. 257. See Micah 7:17; Psalms 72:9. 258. Rashi on v. 1, above. 259. Rashi on Jeremiah 46:22. 260.

59
~ THIRD READING
X ONKELOS W
r u jou q o l~ q l~ r ~r ju
o O rwT
n q~q
s b M Mp j ~
n ] jh r jS q r] r ] r ~r j 17
n qR ~
~r r~n n r u j q l~ q j r ju ~n q o j T rr l~v r
^ r l~ Lp n Q~
q s ~ _ ~o
s O T
b n nn ^p l~
u o ~ r q o j j r u j o q n
q lqu j rn u j ~r j ~q ~ r n ou u n Q q j q j_ j 18vp _
q j
o r
s Q Opl~T
s v rn
j l
O p v q
j r q o s s u qu u n
n u j r j o u
r u o j j r q j q u n j ~q j Tp b ~q ^ qoj 19 v p r q p_ ow~p Q r j q~v r j L r
v q ] n j q
j r u ~q ~
j r l nu j ~ rj q~ j ru j{n
~r j ~q j u j n q ~r j q u o u w
v n r j tL r rQ p _
n n rO r l~]w
r ~T
p
j ^
v q pp O q~s ]
ju ~q ~r j q o l~ ~ r o u j j ~n qu u n j
u ~ ju r j q ju v
r Q r rw~p jr ~]
Oq r r
X RASHI W
r u l~ rj n
r ~s
z ~
uj
r u ~ r ~r r ~"
p s
j q p n u l~n r uj r j r l
q r p
u l
uq r r l~
r r u l~
4 s r n
r q ~q
j r p l~s
u
s r n r
uj p
u l
q u r r l~r u u j q j ~ os u q
r z r nr ju n z
s j q u n
u j
s j

s j q~
s s u nj
n r p r jun j j r
p z q n j
qu qu j q
j s j
s j po qr p z nq r z s j u q j s u n uj q j r r
p r{ o j{
n ~r j z u n qu j q
j n r
s j
q n j ~
qu
n r n n r j o n rr p r jun p z j p ~r r j r qn j q q j q j
s
u q j un r p ~
p z q ~q j q oq u j o~s u j r j
j r q j o j
q j s u n r q
nr k~p o j r j
u quj q
j
s
q n j qu
o u j q ~s l q~
s
n r r
j q { r u
u p q { p
o ~p r j q~r j uu n
q so
{ p
o
r ~
p n
p run q ro s q k~ pr r uj q u

has been greatly reduced. Here again, the lesson being selves, i.e., chew over the results and make sure they
taught is that of patience.
19 You shall eat bread by the sweat of your brow:
into a cohesive new way of living by mixing them with

from evil and cultivating good. Every aspect of work-
ing the soil and painstakingly producing food has its
- 266
form on ourselves to eventually restore ourselves to You shall return to dust: In consequence of the primor-
Adam and Eves spiritual status before the sin. dial sin, the physicality of the world became opaque to
As we till the soil, the lessons we must learn in order Divinity. Therefore, in order for people to experience
the Divine consciousness they earn by working in this
- world, they have to die, for only thus can the soul be freed
perience teaches us that we need to make repeated at- of the perceptual and conceptual limitations imposed
tempts if we wish to see results and that we must wait
-
the need for preparation: just as the soil must be pre- ing the body to the earth, he preferred physical death
pared to accept seed, we must prepare ourselves for 267
Nowadays, however, our proximity to the messianic
with spiritual input that promotes spiritual growth, era and the impending return of human immortality
enables us to experience the positive elements of death
complacency that renders us impervious to new ideas.
Then, just as we must select good seeds to sow in adopting earth-like humility. As we say in our daily
the ground, we must decide what areas of spiritual
growth we need to cultivate. Once we see results, we
earth and the way that it was to be experienced prior to
livestaking care to separate the kernels of truth from the primordial sin.268

266. See 2:40bc, 48bc, etc. 267.

, vol. 2, p. 191. 268. Cf. 3:159a;
, vol. 2, p.
273.

60
17 And to Adam He said, Because you listened to your wife and ate of the tree
about which I commanded yousaying, Do not eat from itthe earth, from
which you were created and therefore is somewhat responsible for your character,
will be cursed because of you. I will simultaneously punish it now for not produc-
ing trees whose bark tastes the same as their fruit.263
ants; because of this 264 all the days
of your life.
18 will bring forth thorns and thistles
, i.e., the thorns and thistles
that will grow when you plant grain, because not enough grain will grow for you
to live on. You will have to cook these weeds and eat them, too. This situation
persisted until Noah invented farming tools, such as the plow and hoe.
19 You shall eat bread only by the sweat of your brow, until you return to the
ground, for you were taken from it. For you are dust, and as you shall now be
mortal; you shall return to dust.

-
tion will occur with the advent of the Messiah; the second stage will occur with
the resurrection. At that point, all the souls of those people who lived on earth and
died will be restored to their bodies.265
relax and rely more on God. When the primordial sin 17 Because you listened to your wife: God separated
woman from man in order that each express and de-
no longer be accompanied by pain, and since it will no velop their own unique perspectives. These are meant
longer be necessary to learn patience, both pregnancy to be complimentary and both partners are meant to
and childbirth will be much shorter than they are now. learn from each other, but not at the expense of either
This will be a restoration of the situation as it was prior partners particular contributions. Adam should have
to the primordial sin, for, as was seen above, before the asserted his power of male abstraction in order to help
sin Eve conceived and bore children in the space of a Eve channel the desires she expressed in adopting the
few hours. snakes reasoning. Instead, he abdicated his role and
Your longing will be for your husband, but he will deferred to her.
dominate you: Eve had evinced unwarranted bold- These insects
propagate to excess when humanity neglects the earth
endeavor. To rectify this presumptuousness, she was and does not tend it properly. Adam sought in the for-
given a heightened sense of modesty and an acute sen- bidden fruit a shortcut to accomplishing his task on
sitivity to boundaries. Her desire to acquire subjective earth; the lesson we must learn here is the value of in-
knowledge of good and evil was an ill-advised quest dustriousness and consistency.
to intensify the passion in life. To rectify this impetu-
ousness, she was made uncomfortable about openly the snake and the earth, but not to Adam or Eve. He
articulating her passion and taught the value of pro- made their life harder in order to teach them correct
priety. These changes in Eve became part of womans consciousness, but He in no way reduced their innate
psychological makeup. Women possess more innate potential.
shame and modesty than men, and therefore, rather
than asking for marital intercourse outright, they pre- With anguish: This is the same word used above to
fer to drop their husbands hints and have them appear describe child-raising. Instead of having ready-made
to initiate relations. food as he did in the garden, Adam must now pains-
takingly raise his crops from an earth whose fertility
263. See 1:12, above. 264. , vol. 15, p. 469. 265. Rashi on 2:7, above.

61
~ FOURTH READING
X ONKELOS W
w r_~
o Q r j~
v r V
_ n L
n r q Qj ~_
n v r a r j n q 20
o V r ~r ~
rr q u o ju ~n u z r ~r ~r j u
ou j rj ~r u ~n q l ~n o l~ W n k~ b r j c qcq q 21 v r
Q _j r Vj ~n j a r ~r j
r ~r j sn k~ r j q l q ~r z r k~
j q z j q
r n n z u j u o ju ~n ju
v o n jqq
q l~ q uu
n z ou j~q j
s j j{u n
n n j r l r ~r ~r sn k~ r j
R n k~ ] rj * p~s] q 22
]q ~q j Tr r Tr ~r v r ô
q
j u
z n
u
q q n j ou u ~
n r jr j
Uq Tq r j rR ] qn
j w p * ]r q j rL r ] qQ q r p O n
q~n
o ~
q q n ju o jn z ~
s r jn
rr j oo jo
s j~rr q q v r s j_rq Qq ~r jnO q ]
v q o o
X RASHI W
s
n j ~ r r ~q o j nu z o
s s j ru ps ~r j nn qs ~z n
r s r jn j
u r
q q
r r ~r ~
r r j nu q
r
ru n j ~
s z o
j r
s
q n r u t
j u r sp u n
j n r l r
o j q p z j p qj ~r ~p n j n ~sj s
o z r ~r r
q r j q ~ u
p z n rj ~q r p p s j
s r n ~r u q r ~r ju u r p z
s j r q s r j q j n s o z ~
q n j
o l uuup n q~q uj rr uup n s j r p r
{ r r j j
o j q j r ou j qu o q q
r n j s u j pj po ~r r ~s

q u ns jp r u n r n l~
p z
s j ns u j q u q u n r ~
u z r rr
q q z r s j q
r r nu
u l p oj z
u j n qq r
pz
r oj
un o
o ~o
p z
q r r
s q q r4
s
r n j~n r ~ s ~r r j nu t l r ~
s ~r r p z j s u nu
p z r ln
s j
o l r
s j pj nn
p z n u
s j r
s qj z n pp r q j r q j r
r z lq uj p o l ~ ru u r r ~q j n
z n j z q uj n
u l
~ s j r l~q s u n uj q
u ~q q s j q j
s r ~
u ~p r q ju
p z r
q s z j q os r q r j n
j u
j u
s u z q n t
r z
j ~o r l~r r ~
q o z j j
n z o
j q
s k~ p ~s
s z jun r ~r r ps q u
p z l~q
r p
s rj

tional kindness. Toward the beginning of the Torah it is -

277
, the
These acts of kindness take place not only at opposite
ends of the Torah, but also on opposite sides of the
is the anniversary of these events, they are
spiritual spectrum: Adam and Eve were spiritually na- reenacted every
. On
we
ked; still, God bestowed His kindness on them.278 In come before God denuded of protective merit and we
contrast, Moses at his death was on the highest spiri- can only beg His mercy. In the words of the
-
liturgy: We come to You not with deedsfor
considered an act of gratuitous kindness rather than
make us garments, transforming the impure skin of the
learn that one should never despair of hope, since God snake into garments of glory.280
- 22 Now that the man has become like the Unique One
among us: As human beings, our knowledge of good
deeds, Gods kindness is still so out of proportion to and evil and our absolute freedom to choose between
them that it is still considered gratuitous.279 the two derive from Gods uniquenessthat He and

Although on the contextual level, the sin and expul- words, because our soul is a part of God, man has be-
281
Talmud and Midrash place them together with the According to this, this verse does not imply that free
[21] Skin-garments: In Kabbalah, the skin of the ties. The use of the serpents skin as a garment sym-
bolizes the recapturing of these energies and their
- subsequent elevation to holiness.282
277. Deuteronomy 34:6. 278. , vol. 19, p. 197. 279. , vol. 2, p. 1. 280. , vol. 2, p. 2. 281.
2:38b; , vol. 30, p. 203, from , Teshuvah 5:1. 282. , vol. 2, p. 2, from

67b.

62
The Expulsion
20 -
sode of the Tree of Knowledge.269
-
the
man now named his wife also Eve [Chavah], because she was and would be the
mother of all the living [chai], i.e., all future generations. She not only gives birth
to her children, but also nurtures them until they are independent, since they can-
not survive without her care.270
21 Having concluded its account of the sixth day of creation, the narrative contin-

banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, but He preceded this act of judg-
ment with an act of mercy, in order to show that even His judgments are in truth
expressions of His mercy.
271 but had not had a
chance to make garments to clothe themselves fully. God therefore made skin-gar-
ments for Adam and his wife. These were miraculously skin-tight garments that

comfortable. God Himselff clothed them in these garments, because only He could
put them on them.
animal hides and fur, and even though Adam and Eve could have made and put
on such garments by themselves, God made these garments and clothed Adam
and Eve in them as an act of kindness.272
Fourth Reading 22 God said, Behold, just as I am unique in the heavens, so are
Adam and Eve unique on earth, in that they alone know good and evil subjectively,
even though they are incomplete by themselves. Now that the man has become
like the Unique One among us, knowing good and evil, what if he should stretch
forth his hand and also take fruit from the Tree of Life and eat it, and live forev-
er?! If he lives forever he might appear to the rest of creation to be a second deity.
21 Skin-garments: According to some opinions,273 God in us. God had the priests wear garments of dignity
made these garments from the skin of the serpent. This 274 and, in our function as His emissaries
would constitute a complete transformation of evil to
good. The skin is essentially a protective layer over the considered priests. Thus, God transformed the serpent
body; it is secondary to the vital organs. It can thus be skin from serving the lowest conceivable level of mo-
rality to the highest.
the primordial embodiment of evil. Adam and Eve, in The lesson here for us is that we should strive to trans-
form even apparent setbacks into forward strides. God
of creation, fashioned directly by God Himself. Yet, as shows us here that even the cause of our downfall can
be transformed into a means for helping us achieve our
of dignity and additional beauty. On the one hand, highest aspirations.275
clothing represents a fall from our pristine innocence
And He clothed them: The sages point out276 that the

Torah both begins and concludes with acts of uncondi-
us to be to our best selves and can bring out the best
269. 2:25, above. 270. , vol. 35, pp. 138-139. 271. Above, v. 7. 272.
, vol. 1, pp. 444-445, 447-450.
273. ; , Bereishit 34. 274. Exodus 28:2. 275.
, vol. 1, pp. 385-388;
,
vol. 1, p. 236. 276. 14a.

63
~ FOURTH READING
X ONKELOS W
rO r l~]w Q n k~ _ rj Vo j qjv q 23
r ~p T slv q Lp owqn
p o ~ j r u j nn
n sn k~r j u oju q z j
r u q u n n u j j ~n j ~r j ~q u j qj n j v r ~p pQr jq 24
p bp n c oqj q L r ~r w v r n tQ q _p l~
n j q jju n o j z ~q jr ~r r j o r j
qj z r j ~rr q u u j r p o j ~r u j n j pp O qj n q Tp p b q q^ q ~ob j Rn tj qw~p p wq
o W j
q ~r
s q u n j~ rj u q j n ~ j ru j q
r qr q jr ~r j ~rrq q q~n vn q _
v q op w
Q p ~
p s P j n
nq r q o n ~ q n q j u o ju ~n
r j r m n ~r j q o n j p p l~ q nw ] o T qqb q L j ~n ] r qw~p rQ q O r ~]r r j 4:1
O q ~p p q
r n u l~ r qo j qn ~ s j
r l nq j~r r o r p p r l q pr
Q n ~w
r ~ s ] 2 v
p p Op r pq r jw~
p ~
Q n _
n n
r p~q
sP
n s s u n r l q ~r j ~q u j qr u
v r r l~ _ o s Qr r nP q j ~s O os ] T pw
p b jv
n q pLw
r ~p
~rru ~ ju r j ~q ~ j ru ~n o nq n j~q j
r jr m v
r
v q Q r jV
n r r l~
v r a n j
n n ~ n jQ n q 3
W q ro b q rL n ] o
X RASHI W
s u q j~
u
n z ~
n ~p
j n ~~
s r r u
p z

j
n s j
~p rr q
u p
o
q
p z
s r jn uj p
o q jp p n
n ~r ~p nq ~p
s u n
u ~r n ru
t z pr u r l~
u ~r r uj q q u rj pp q j nu q p pq rr u q o l~ jq u n t uj q
r ~s uj
p z o qj o n u u n n ~
p sz r z pr ~p ~
u
j q
jz q quu j
q u r qo
s r n u
n r
r o ~q j
q k~p j r j nqu j z
u js p p n j nq n r js
r r ~
q u ~q qs z j~
o z j j n n u r r j z
j z q s j
q r r r l~r rj u q j n
z p z n j ~s so sp u q rj rq r ~r r j
s u z j n~r ~~
p r n~
o n l~ qz o

r r ~
q z o
j q
u r
q n r r l~
r n j u n u r r
s l
o
s p o q n q j n j ~r r p z sp rj q p z rj n r sp
p~o o n j u
n o~q rru rr ru j z n u q p p p ~
s
pz r j z n r ~r q o q q r ~n
p z
r o q j s r oq oj
r j ~s
t
j ~s
s
s r j~r u
pz ~p
n n
r
o z
q n
q n
r u
s u p z q ~q j u
r q j n pz

-
be corrected, humanity will return to the spiritual state ences the pristine Divine consciousness it worked for
in which it existed before the expulsion. during its lifetime in the physical world, unencum-
bered by the spiritual limitations imposed by the self-
N awareness and self-orientation it acquires upon incar-
nation into this lower, physical world.290
were expelled from it. According to Nachmanides, 3
the Garden became a spiritual realm; according to Although the Talmud records that Adam also brought
Maimonides, it remained a physical location but was 291
concealed and will remain so until the future redemp-
tion.288 told their children the story of their creation and expul-
The fall of consciousness that humanity experienced sion, and raised them to dedicate their lives to restore
reality to its former innocence. Presumably, then, Cain
well.289 The spiritual constitution of the material world
- -
ented. Before the sin, materiality did not constitute an
obstacle to Divine consciousness, but from that point that their work serve to rectify their parents sin and
on, partaking of the physical world began to reinforce restore humanity to its original closeness to God. The

,
The one exception to this general fall of reality was the essential facet of feeling close to God is the need to ex-

and Eves sin. It remained a realm of innocent Divine

consciousness, and as such, became the abode of the purpose.292
288. , vol. 17, p. 206. 289. See above, on 1:26. 290. 15a. 291. 28b. 292. Based on ,
vol. 22, pp. 1-5.

64
23 God thereupon banished him and his family from the Garden of Eden, to
work the ground from which he was taken.
24 He drove the man out,
of Eden.283 God stationed to the east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim, angels
of destruction, equipped with the revolving sword blade, which appeared to be
to guard the path to the Tree of Life
against entry.
Cain and Abel

4:1
eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.284 But, as mentioned above, the man had
known his wife Eve carnally prior to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden,
and when he did so, she conceived and gave birth to twins,
a son and a daughter. This phenomenon of short pregnancy will again become
the norm in the messianic age. She named the son Cain [Kayin], saying, I have
acquired [kaniti] a man together with G. She expressed her delight in being a

occurred, for she and Adam had been created solely by God Himself.
2 she conceived and gave birth
againto his brother Abel and two twin sisters.
were born that the serpent succeeded in persuading Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree
of Knowledge and God banished Adam and his family from the Garden of Eden.
When they matured, the boys married their twin sisters. Although incest was for-
bidden to Adam and his descendants, God made an exception and allowed Cain
and Abel to marry their sisters in order to perpetuate the human race.285
Although God intended the human race to be farmers, Abel instead became a
shepherd, since the ground had been cursed due to Adams sin. In contrast, Cain
was not fazed by this curse; he became a worker of the soil.
3 In the course of time,
Cain brought some of the inferior
produce of the choicest species the ground 286 .
possible, while the

and live forever: Once Adam and Eve internalized
Adam and Eves Divine souls were given to them as evil, it became imperative for them to not eat from the
soon as they were created) but rather that our knowl- Tree of Life. If they would have, the evil would have
edge of good and evil has become subjective, and in remained internalized forever, negating any chance of

Behold, now the man has internalized his knowledge upon which the redemption is contingent.287
23 God thereupon banished him: Banishment from the
What if he should take from the Tree of Life and eat,
283. Rashi on 4:16, below. 284. Rashi on 4:25, 5:3, below. 285. 58b. 286. See above, 2:11; below, 41:42. 287.

, vol. 2, p. 277, from 5c.

65
~ FOURTH READING
X ONKELOS W
o un qu n ~ u ~q n j~q p p j
q] nq Lp o j p V ~_ n o pp b j 4
v o Q~s _ sj n ~wq
n ~ r lq q l q o s nu q z n u ou r
nq j u ou ru j u j u p pu j r j r m Q r jw _ q ~p j 5 v r jw
n ~p j nw n ~p j pQw
p ~p O r j
o j u ~ r lq q l ~ r ou ru j u j u
n s u ~q u z n uj j ~n j ~r l q nq j r j p~s_ q 6 vr r Qj nvq ~s O j Tn b q j ^q nq L r r ~]
Q
j r o ju ~r j nr j r j q l~ q
~~ n r l j r u ~
q u z n uj j ~~ n r ju w~n ~ ^ l 7 vp r _vj r Qr r j r O ]r r r Ur nw
L r ~p
~ r~n j j r oju j z nj r r s n s u
~r j p ~ rn s j j r r s n s T bp~o jLs~]
o r
q q Q p q
On ~
o ]T~n j~oO
j T
n o
~n rj u n ~r r j u j ~n j n lu q n j
j r oju j z n u ju ~n j u j ~ r w
v rj
n Q r ~q jO
r ]j
X RASHI W
~r q p z r p~o j
s ur u z uj u r z r ~
j r q r j j n s r j n ~p r r z ~s oj p nn q
rr ~s q z nu q
r
r ~q j pn z j q j p ~q j n
u o s
z n
ru r
r p o~u ju
o rr j z o
o o j u j n~
q j oj
u j z n~q
r
r o u qj
un pj
un ~n s u
r z j un ~n ~
s l
s r jn r l nj z ~o r j r
q z nu q rr o
q p j os ~r q q p q s s u u j q j
z u o n o

ation disappear and become meaningless. of his crop, God would have accepted it. God here tried
- to teach him that if an individual learns from his errors,
onstrated that his relationship with God was not an af- his slate can be wiped clean. However, Cain refused to
terthought but rather the focus of his life. Maimonides admit his error. Convinced of the rightness of his per-
spective, he felt that if Abel were eliminated, his own
view would necessarily prevail.
should make it nicer than our own home. When we But you can dominate it: Though we might never suc-
- ceed in removing our base inclinations from our heart,
est delicacies of our table. When we clothe the naked, we can control them, for the mind rules the heart.299
we should give him our best suit.297
4-5 emotions, we can control their means of expression,

Although the
deeds. We can think, speak, and act in a positive way,
success and only then of Cains failure. Cains true regardless of our natural drives.
failure was that he did not learn from Gods positive This verse is a balm to those of us who are frustrated

- by their inability to rid themselves of their mundane
instincts and feelings. Our mission in life is to focus
298
7 If you improve yourself, you will be forgiven: Had keeping these pure, our soul can reach a greater inti-
macy with God than it could otherwise.300
[7] Sin is crouching at the door: The Torah is the holiness that does not allow the intrusion of non-
blueprint of creation. The Torah was given while Divine consciousness. The regular mem thus indi-
mem
mem, which has alludes to the reality of the messianic era, when evil
). will be obliterated. The capacity for sin is thus al-
The regular mem
mem.301
tzimtzum) that allows unholy powers to draw sus-
mem is Cains sin caused the Divine Presence to retreat
closed on all sides, symbolizing a state of absolute 302
297. , 7:11. 298. , vol. 15, p. 22. 299. 3:224a; cf. The 3:8.
300. Tanya. 301.
, p. 407. 302.
5:1;

66
4 In
-

of whatever species was selected. He was correct, so G paid heed to Abel

5

face fell.

that he had not acted properly.293 True, Cain was no longer in the Garden of Eden,
and the spiritual atmosphere of the world at large was not conducive to repen-
tance. But because he was born in the Garden of Eden, he still retained a residue of
its spirituality and could be expected to exercise his free choice properly.294
6 G said to Cain, consoling him, Why are you grieved? Why has your face
fallen?
7 your actions, you will be forgiven for your previous,
misguided behavior. But if you do not improve yourself during your lifetime
and clean your record, sin is crouching at the door of your
. Your
evil inclination continuouslyseeking to make you sin, but you can
dominate it. But Cain still refused to admit that he had acted wrongly.
Cain brought some of the produce: Cain was not a exalted though it may be, the consciousness of Gods
jealous murderer, but an idealist of the highest order, oneness prevents the individual from descending into
the world of plurality. This explains why God did not
an expression of his idealist philosophy. Cain assumed -
pose for which the world was created, to make a home
for God in the lower realms. Our mission is rather to
draw from the oneness-consciousness and apply it to
- the pluralistic world we inhabit.295
4
-
an allusion to and expression of the singular nature of knowledge that everything we own really belongs to
God. This singularity is not a unity of many parts but God; that is why He deserves the choicest portion. This
a simple and intrinsic oneness. When we focus on this notion is not limited only to the superior species. When
level of Divinity, God is not simply one with the world;
there is no independent worldeverything is God and we demonstrate that every species of our possessions
- not only the choicestbelongs in essence to God.296
ciesthe one that expressed the oneness of Godbut In contrast, giving a nondescript portion of the choicest
purposely did not bring from the best of his crop, since species implies that Gods sovereignty extends only to
- -
age, and worst. Thus, Cain had reason to believe that cept it; that God is too holy to permeate anything other

did not. -
His mistake was his failure to realize that the pervad-
ing consciousness of the world we inhabit is not meant that context the consciousness of God is so great that
to be that of Gods absolute oneness. Sublime and there is no other reality and all distinctions within cre-
293. , vol. 15, pp. 20-23. 294. , vol. 15, p. 53, note 41. 295. , vol. 15, p. 25. 296. ,
vol. 15, p. 25.

67
~ FOURTH READING
X ONKELOS W
n
V q _r _ r q O p r q]
r j T
v n n jv
q L n ~
r p]w
p ~ Q q p~s_ q 8
p n
r l q n u l~ p p j nq q l~ q
p pu j nq r j ~ rj qu j s o kp u j p]
p ~
Q o nw p r j p~s^ q 9 vo j qvq q Q n ~
O q ~T r p_w
p ~p
~ r nq jr jq l~ q u oj q jn u l~
q r l~rj rq ~ rq l~ q j u l~ p p p~sQ q 10 n sv ~r Q n ~r _o s l n j rO q ~] T p~qbs L n ~r
r r u j q l~ r q l~ q ~ r l~n ~r
j u l~ n q u n jn n l q n qj q v r r l~w
v r n Qq ~o l_ n s v On ~r ]o j U
r L n r ]p
q j u ~r j ~q n q r m nj r
r qq j n ~r j ~q n ju ~r n rw
On ~]
p r j ]
v r p l~Tr r l~w
v r
n Lr ~ r Q r q j 11
r ] ~
j r jn j u l~o r j qu n q ju q u t u
n s ~ r ~r j ~q u j qj n o l~ rO r l~]w
r ~T v q n 12 rv p
p sl^ n Q n ~_
r o w
j ~
p q V q r
o ju o r jq jq u n j ru q oq u n j
n q r j r m nq q l~ q ~r j ~q j
r u j o r ~r ru j z n jju n n s
p~s_ q 13 p ~v r r_ p j Q
v n rr _ rL rQ r sw_
v o o sw~v
~r j ~q o u ~q q o o ~r s rn
~r r u q u ~n j q z j ~p o j r r m n u
R qW n s~r j ob q c o 14 ~v jQ
n n sl r_ L r jw~
p n Q q
o n ~r j ~q j o r j q jq u n o~o j
q l~ q nqu nj j n nqu n uj j z nj r u
p ~Or r Tr r ^ r W
n n r j Lo r~Q
p p r
n rO r l~]
v r oT
j q o
~r j q z j n q s j nj r u oru j j u o
nq j r j nn q z j ou u n q j u j n n r
] o sw rT o rR r j ] p~a sa q 15 nvo j qvq ~Q n j w
s v r_ r r j
r u u r o q j n j ~ rj n u j ~r ~r
r m n nq q ju ou u n uj j z nj
wv q_ n jn j~T
O n b q j^ rj pr b q tL r nQ q rj n
n O q
q jq u n u o r ~r j ~q u j
n j q jju n n s l ~
o n r j
r n l r l q
wp ~v p
j p_ o q L r j] oj n Q q o_ o q 16 ~v j w
n n ~ s v r Q s~
p o ~
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vp w
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n
X RASHI W
r l~
s
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o
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r
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q j p p n o j z q q q k~pp p z p o q n z q s u
p z j n ~r su r r j s z jn
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s
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q r n ~
uj j u
o~s pz

68
8 Cain then had words with his brother Abel, and it happened that when they
He
stabbed him all over his body, for he did not know which blow would prove fatal.
9 God knew what had happened, but in order to open the conversation and give
Cain the opportunity to confess his sin and repent, G asked Cain, Where is
your brother Abel? Cain did not take advantage of the opportunity God was giv-
ing him. He replied, I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper?!
10 God said, What have you done? The voice of your brothers blood and the
blood of the souls who could have been his descendants are crying out to Me from
the ground!
11 So now you shall be cursed by having to work the ground even harder than
you have to already.303 The ground will be cursed more than the ground has al-
ready been cursed, because it opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood
from your hand.
12 When you work the ground, it will no longer give you its full fertile strength.
you shall be a perpet-
ual wanderer in the world.
13 Hearing this, Cain repented somewhat, and said to G, Is my sin too great
for You to bear? Can You not overlook it?
14 Behold, today You have banished me from the face of the earthbut can I be
hidden from Your presence?! I am to be a perpetual wanderer in the world, and
whoever among the future inhabitants of the earth because
they know that I murdered my brother, making me liable to the death penalty.
And moreover, whoever among the animals , because when I
sinned, my Divine image was diminished and the animals no longer fear me.304
15 G said to him, Therefore, because you are afraid of what people will do, let
it be known that whoever kills Cain will be punished! No one should take it upon
himself to punish Cain for his sin, for vengeance for this sin will be exacted only
To publicize this oath, G placed a mark
His Nameon Cains forehead, so that whoever found him would not kill him.
As for Cains fear of the animals, G placed a mark on CainHe restored his Di-
vine imageso that whoever among the animals found him would not kill him.
16 Cain
s presence with feigned humility. Wherever he went, the earth trembled
-
stead of wandering the earth as he was commanded to, Cain [from
nad, to the east of Eden-
ing banished from the Garden of Eden. God had designated this place as a refuge
305
13 Is my sin too great to bear? On a deeper level, the not elevate my misdeed and transform it into an impe-
tus for good?306
307 But since Cains repentance was only
303. Above, 3:17-19. 304. See above, 1:26, and below, 9:2. 305. , vol. 7, p. 81, note 16. 306. As above, on 3:7. 307.

141.

69
~ FIFTH READING
X ONKELOS W
pT
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u o u j u z uj ~r u j q j ~r j z ~r j u
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Or r T q~q v r ô r
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z ~n n q ~r p z p
u nq ~p q r j n n j z
ou q j pj
q u s
p z jz sp
ru z os n j
s r n q oj u u q
q s u r j
p z r j qu r r r n z o j z
s
j n j n j
z o
s
n o sz j n
r s
j pj q
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p z
s z n j z q jq ~q
j rj n
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q
r u ro l
pz u s z j~r ~
o s p u s z j
sp s ~o r q j p
p z t j u o r o u
p z o j n r n
p z s u u r j z q
oj r q oj qj u ou q j q s lq j r r
s j r q j rr j~q j r o l~ q r
u j u ru j p l q n q lq u rn l~q u
sq
p z s u j z ~~
n
n r lq pj
q u s
p z j
u r ~t ~s rr j~q o r r lsp s u ~
j o~s n z o o
p z p
u j

er, as will be seen. penitence and contributed to the building of society by
17 Cain knew his wife: Cain repented by bringing an- constructing a city. All this demonstrates that repen-
other life into this world to replace the one he had cut tance must involve more than beating ones chest in pi-
ous regret; it must also translate into deeds that undo
the harm caused by the sin.312
312. , vol. 35, p. 8.

70
Cains Descendants
17 Cain knew his wife, his twin sister, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch
[ . Cain wished to demonstrate that even though God had
punished him to be a perpetual wanderer, this punishment did not extend to his

world and contribute toward the building of civilization. So he became a city-
builder and, with his relatives,308.309 In order to further cement
the permanence of his bloodline, he gave the city he built the same name as his
son, Enoch.
18 To Enoch was born Irad; Irad was the father of Mechuyael [wiped out by
; Mechuyael was the father of Metushael ; and Metush-
ael was the father of Lemech. In contrast to Cains hopes, the names his progeny

life.310
19 By this time, societys mores had degenerated to the point that
men were objectifying female beauty and depersonalizing women. It became cus-
tomary for a man to marry one woman solely for her beauty, consorting with her
continuously, and a second woman by whom he would have childrendischarg-
-
traceptive drug in order that pregnancy and childbearing not mar her beauty. In
accord with this custom,
Adah
. The name of the second was Tzilah
[from
she accompanied him everywhere and in this way was always in his shadow.
20 Adah gave birth to Yaval; he was the forerunner of all those who live in tents
and keep herds, periodically moving to new locations in search of new pastures
for their herds to graze.
311
21 His brothers name was Yuval; he was the forerunner of all those who play
for idolatrous purposes.
22 Even though she took contraceptives, Tzilah also gave birth to a son, Tuval-
Cain , who sharpened all copper and
iron tools. Tuval-Cains sis-
ter was Naamah .
partial, Gods forgiveness could also only be partial. ing so. God therefore mitigated his punishment. Al-
Although he did not repent fully, Cain, like his parents, though Cain never retreated from his original stance,
- he did try to make amends for having killed his broth-
308.
, vol. 1, p. 441. 309. , vol. 38, p. 118, note 24. 310. Below, 6:5. 311. See below, v. 26.

71
~ SIXTH READING
X ONKELOS W
r R j pp W p~qbs 23
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honored them by making them His servants, we should praise them and honor

them and prostrating themselves before them in order to ascertain Gods will, or so

prophets also fashioned idols, declaring them to be images of the heavenly bodies,

idolatry spread throughout the world and people eventually forgot about God,
serving only idols.317 Adam managed to preserve and convey pure monotheism to
only a few select individuals among his descendants.
God, allowing humanity free choice, did not actively counteract this process, but

72
Sixth Reading 23

his children were the seventh. Once Lemechs children were born, it was time for
vengeance to be exacted from Cain.313314 God again
removed the Divine image from Cain, giving him the appearance of a beast.315
Lemech was blind and his son, Tuval-Cain, would lead him. Once, Tuval-Cain saw
Cain and was frightened, so he told Lemech to shoot an arrow at him; Lemech did
so and killed Cain. When Lemech learned what he had done, he clapped his hands
together in grief, but in doing so, he struck his son and killed Tuval-Cain, too. His
wives, in anger, refused to cohabit with him anymore. Lemech said to his wives,
Adah and Tzilah, hear my voice; wives of Lemech, listen to my speech. Did I
kill a man [Cain] by my wound and a child [Tuval-Cain] by my bruise?! Did I kill
them intentionally?!
24 If Cain
then for Lemech Gods postponement of
punishment should surely be many times seven generations! You therefore do
not have to worry that your children will be punished on my account.

requirement to have children for another reason, as well: they were aware of Gods

meant that all of their children would be killed, and they did not wish to keep
having more children just to see them die. To this, Lemech replied, [23] Did I
kill Abelwho was a man in maturity and a child in yearsby my wound and
my bruise, that I should be punished?! [24] If Cain, who murdered Abel, was to
, who did murder him,
Gods postponement of punishment should surely be many times seven genera-
tions!
Seth and His Descendants

25 Lemechs faulty reasoning did not impress his wives; they understood that such

-
ing Cains descendants. So Lemech complained to Adam about their refusal to co-
habit with him. Adam told them that they should not concern themselves with the

relations unconditionally. In response, they took him to task for having separated
from Eve ever since the sin, that is, for 130 years316directly contradicting his own

So Adam knew his wife car-
nally againnow with greater passion than beforeand she gave birth to a son.
She named him Seth [], saying, because God has granted [shat] me other

26 In the year 235, a son was also born to Seth; Seth named him Enosh. Then,
during Enoshs lifetime, the name of G was invoked profanely. The people
of this generation, including Enosh himself, reasoned, Inasmuch as God created

313. Above, v. 15; Rashi on v. 19. 314. As evident from 5:3, below. 315. See above, vv. 14-15. 316. Rashi on 5:3, below. 317.
, 1:1-2.

73
~ SIXTH READING
X ONKELOS W
n k~ ~s^ j Rj L r ~r sQ jv po O ] p 5:1
O r ~r T
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26 The name of G was invoked profanely: As has
been seen,325 the source of sin is the misconstruction or the Torah to always remain cognizant of the fact that
perversion of some idea that is in itself entirely holy.326 -
The source in holiness for idolatry is the plurality of
opinions in the Torah. The fact that it is possible to in- Gods unity.327
- 3 Adam lived 130 years: By recording the years of
tually lead us to feel that there are numerous powers at Adam and his descendants, the Torah provides us
work in the world. with the exact age of the world. The importance of this
This is only possible, however, if we approach the To- information is that it articulates one of Judaisms most
rah mistakenly, that is, if we lose sight of the fact that all basic beliefs: that the world was created and did not
the various opinions recorded in it originate in Gods always exist.
wisdom. If we mistakenly understand the fact that the The Midrash328 relates that in the second century, a
Torah encompasses various opinions and approaches Greek named Aquilas observed of the Jewish people
that even the least of them knows how many years
this can lead us to legitimize our own interpretations
of the Torah, even if they are not solidly grounded in such a strong impression on him that he converted to
- Judaism, and later authored a Greek translation of the
ate further and view the apparently diverse forces at Torah. He was deeply impressed by the fact that our
work in the world as deriving not from the one God, belief in creation is not an abstract article of faith; we
but from an entire pantheon of gods or natural forces. know when it happened, down to the day.329
323.
5:1;
324. , vol. 20, pp. 25-28. 325. On 3:1, above.
326.
327. , vol. 11, pp. 150-152. 328. 30:12. 329.
, vol. 20, p. 28.

74

318 But hu-
manity did not heed Gods warning, nor did they take advantage of the ample time
He gave them to realize that idolatry was false and to reverse the associated degen-
eration of morals that has been described and will be described further. Eventually,
humanity became so thoroughly convinced of the truth of idolatry that it would
have been impossible to convince them of its falsehood. It thus became necessary
to radically cleanse the world of idolatry. The Torah therefore now details the lin-
eage of Noah, the individual whom God would select to reestablish the human

5:1 The following is the record of the descendants of Adam. On the day that God
created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Adams descendants lived extraordinarily long, relative to later generations. This

regard to human merit.319-

er.320
2 He created them as an androgynous being, male and female.321 He blessed them
and named them together Adam on the day that they were created in this form.322
Eve was then separated from the male half of this being, who retained the name
Adam.
3 Adam lived 130 years, and he had a son in his likeness and form, and he named
him Seth.
4 other sons and daughters.
5 All the days that Adam lived came to 930 years, and he died in the year 930.
6 Seth lived 105 years, and in the year 235, he had a son, Enosh.
7 other sons and daughters.
8 All the days of Seth came to 912 years, and he died in the year 1042.
9 Enosh lived 90 years, and in the year 325, he had a son, Keinan.
10 other sons and daugh-
ters.
11 All the days of Enosh came to 905 years, and he died in the year 1140.
[26] The name of G was invoked profanely: The caused the Divine Presence to retreat from the sec-
practice of idolatry
p y that began
g in the time of Enosh 323
[ A CLOSER LOOK \
[3] Adam lived 130 years: - months short of his xth birthday. So when the Torah
logical genealogical list in the Torah. It is important says so-and-so was x years old when he had a son,
to note that the numbers of years given in these lists that son could have been born any time during a
are approximate, in that a person can be considered span of eighteen months.324
to have lived x yyears even if he is as much as sixth
318. Rashi on 6:4, Deuteronomy 32:7. 319. , vol. 15, p. 54. 320. 321. Above, 1:27. 322. Above, 2:7,
1:28.

75
~ SEVENTH READING
X ONKELOS W
] n q 13 ~v o j q lw
j v q ~p
p Qq L r r] n j Q
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j r rVn n jn j Pp p wjn v q 18
a q
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r
j u n
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s j n
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s o s r u s l q rs v q L r r~Q o_q
j r O rTn n j
j s j nu q j n
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s o j rq ~r u j qq u j
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~r j q p z u j ~r l q r j u r o
j p rr n~ s j nj z qj z u nj q j w~p ] nv To l~v q v r ~p W l o b qnj q 22
Rn k~w
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o u j q j nj q j~r j q j z j p pr
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n u n j z q z j u
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p R j ] n j q 26 pw
w~p ] nv To l~v q q v r ~p pQq
p_q L r r ~Q o _q
j r O r Tn
j n^q j pp O
Tn n j qô q
p O j ]jw
o r Tvj qn 27 v r Qn r
rs v q L r r~Q o_q
j r O r
X RASHI W

j s u q joj ns
s s ~q r
un r s ~s
jz u q j r s r u u z r s u j q uj q j rr un q j l
s jo q j nu q
r p
q ~p r ju
o q j n q so n j
n
s n k ps jj u n ~
j
u j u
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s r
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upu ~o s
j u j n
s
r n
uj
u r
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p z p j s u q
u j sp

76
12 Keinan lived 70 years, and in the year 395, he had a son, Mahalalel.
13 other sons and
daughters.
14 All the days of Keinan came to 910 years, and he died in the year 1235.
15 Mahalalel lived 65 years, and in the year 460, he had a son, Yered.
16 other sons and
daughters.
17 All the days of Mahalalel came to 895 years, and he died in the year 1290.
18 Yered lived 162 years, and in the year 622, he had a son, Enoch.
ters.
20 All the days of Yered came to 962 years, and he died in the year 1422.
21 Enoch lived 65 years, and in the year 687 he had a son, Methuselah.
22 Unlike the rest of humanity in this era, Enoch walked with God, i.e., he was
righteous. He lived other sons
and daughters.
23 All the days of Enoch came to 365 years in the year 987.
24 Enoch walked with God, but because God saw that he was no longer able to re-
sist the temptation to sin, God rewarded him for resisting temptation until this point
in his life by removing him from the world earlier than he have would otherwise
died. Thus, although he did not die as did the rest of humanity, he was no longer
in the physical world, because God had taken him
Seventh Reading 25 Methuselah lived 187 years, and in the year 874, he had a son,
Lemech.
26 other sons and
daughters.
27 All the days of Methuselah came to 969 years, and he died in the year 1656.
22 Enoch walked with God: Enoch was a shoemak- Torah, when spirituality and physicality were unable
er.330 Yet because of his holiness, his mundane stitching 333 In this mode of re-
of leather did not distract him from his service of God. ality, there were almost no means by which an indi-
On the contrary, we are taught that with every stitch he vidual could sanctify himself or his environment; the
brought about a further degree of harmony within the most someone aspiring to spirituality could do was to
spiritual spheres.331 remain open to Divine inspiration. Thus, Enoch was
only able to withstand temptation to a certain point,
So it is with all righteous individuals: even their mun-
since his righteousness was not self-developed, but
dane actions have cosmic repercussions. We, on our

own level, can mimic the righteous: our earthly activi-
analogous to a teacher who conveys a concept to a stu-
332
dent but fails to teach the student to think on his own.
24 God had taken him: Such a student will be lost without his teacher.334
righteous even in the midst of the most corrupt society In the merit of his righteous behavior up until that
in history. However, he lived before the giving of the point, he was spared further temptation, which God
330. . 331. Emek

, , 94. 332.
, vol. 1, p. 247. 333. This was especially true before
334. , vol. 15, p. 86.

77
~ SEVENTH READING
X ONKELOS W
pQq L r r ]~q
j Qr r Vn s a q j pPp wn jvq 28
j n
j j p p~r l q
o u j q j nj q j~r
u o r
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ru n~
s j nj z Tl
o b v q v n ô lvq j Y [p ~ j ~p ~a r j n q 29 v o
L o q Q s V w
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o
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sO ~p ] nv To l~v q pRp
n
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o
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q^
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n z o j
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s
o z o l q p
j r
r z ~r o j

knew he did not have the capacity to withstand.340 Of the three sons of Adam, it was Seth and his descen-
When God took Enoch, he was transformed into an an-
gel whose purpose was to unify various distinct spiritu- Yet both of them had descendants named Enoch, their
al energies by revealing in them their common essence antithesis. Enoch, son of Cain, was a Seth-like per-
within Divinity.341 Thus, in this capacity, he continues sona city is built in his name. Enoch, descendant of
- Seth, was a Cain-like person who shuns the world and
er scale what he did in this world. The reason that even abandons it.
in his angelic state he is described as a shoemaker is to
This teaches us that while both ideals are necessarya
teach us that even a shoemakers ultimate purpose in
person must yearn inwardly to soar to spiritual heights,
life is to reveal Divinity in the world.342
yet remain conscious of the fact that Gods purpose is
Both Cain and Seth had descendants named Enoch. served in expressing Divinity in this worldeach must
Cain and Seth represent paradoxical elements of our cross-fertilize the other. The ultimate concern of the
Divine service: Cain embodies transcendence and re- mystic in us must be the practical application of Torah
jection of the physical. He lived in the physical imper- in this world. And the pragmatic servant of God in us
- must also yearn for transcendence.343
29 This one will bring us relief: Technology is thus
the ideal of accepting the reality of the physical world, seen as one of the tools man can use to rectify sin.
while using it as a conduit for expressing the Divine.
340. , vol. 25, p. 42. Thus, his removal from this world did not constitute a denial of free choice, since it was not in his
capacity to overcome further temptation. This also explains why he was taken from the world while the rest of society was forced
to stay: the rest of society did not merit this removal. 341. 1:37b and 56b. 342.
, vol. 1, p. 304. 343.
, vol. 35, pp. 11-13.

78
28 Lemech lived 182 years, and in the year 1056, he had a son whom God would
.
29 Lemech prophetically named him Noah [], saying, This one will bring
us relief [yenachameinu] from our work and from the anguish of our hands caused
by the soil that G has cursed. Noah invented the plow, and thus enabled hu-

cursed it in response to Adams335 and Cains336 sins.
ters.
31 All the days of Lemech came to 777 years, and he died in the year 1651.
32 In the year 1556, when Noah had
lived 500 years, he began to have
children. Although people usually
began having children in those days

from the previous lineage list), God
kept Noah infertile until this age for

beganfor had they been wicked,
they would have been wiped out with
the rest of humanity, and had they
turned out righteous, Noah would
have had to build many arks to save

337 and thus
not be legally culpable.338 Noah had a son, Shemwho was the ancestor of Abra-

brother, Ham, and his older brother, Japheth.
1556; Shem was born second, in the year 1558; and Ham was the youngest.339
Prelude to the Flood

6:1 The Torah now backtracks in order to recount additional details about how the
world became increasingly corrupt during the ten generations from Adam to Noah.
Now when humanity began to increase on the face of the earth and daughters
were born to them,
335. Above, 3:17-18. 336. Above, 4:12. 337. , vol. 20, p. 26, note 14. 338. See above, 2:17. 339. Rashi on 10:25, below;
, vol. 5, pp. 115-116, notes 20 and 24-26.

79
~ SEVENTH READING
X ONKELOS W
~r r z k~r r u j ~rr qj j oq j l
s q r
L o s Q s _n O r ~r v r ]w
j ~p T v r j ~^ nj q 2
n k~wo
s j u n ju u n ~n r n u q z o l~
q l~ q ~ u n j j ~n n s un n z j R r j p~s] q 3 v r r _p l~ s Q n rnO T p r ^ j n q
o r ~ r z n ~r r q q j n ~ r r j
~r j{u n uu ~n j n u j qr j q r m rrO ] r j Lr r ~ ] Qq qj r O s j Tr ~r v r
^ n rb w~v
n r j ~ rj ~q ~rr q z u n s o r s j
u u j~
uu ~n ~
n n
r r q s ~
j z n j{p j~r
u j r j ~q
j
s j
j s l~rr q ru n
M o r r] n q h p ~S r r ] r nY n j q 4 vr r Q n j p j _~r o
~r qj j q ou j nr n o u q ru ~q j
uu ~n s j r jr j ~r z r k~ ru j q j O r ~r ]
vr w
j ~T
p
n k~^
v r o~
j rs W
p b l~w
o R o l~]
v q q j
~r j z n n z r k~~r jr o ~r j r q ru n

v o q_o j~Q
q r _
v o p l~V n s n q rL
a o p rQ jvr j
X RASHI W
j n u ~
~s ~n q j n l~~
p r q r
rz n j{p
j ~r
o q
s j o
uj o~
q r run j s z q
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r u j
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p z n ~s
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r u j or j q r jr rj r s u q u ~o s u pj un ru ~q
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pz ss
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q r r ~
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p z t
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j n j
r
s p u n u n j
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p z s u z j u
o z q nn jjq q
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ur p z l~s un r n
uj u r l
s
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s r
s
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un o
r rn u uq ~
u n r ls z jn j
n s z jn u ~s r ~r r n u r
s ~s r ouj q j r rr
q ~
q q q u
q j ~r ~
uj u r n u
p z q ~q olo ~
q q j n
q o
j u z s k~ j p s~ j rs j r ~r r n j z un qr
n u n rj o q j n
r
s r
z nj z n oj s rj ~
s rr
p z z s k~ s u
pz oq j~n j n j z q j~
n un j n
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n u o
n n r

u r ~s
u r
p z l~ p o
s j n u u q q s u qj n ~s n r j p s~ j q
s j r
s j n u uj p s r pj n ~s

o z j~q
s r q u
s j n sn unu q r
s j n r l
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p z n j z un q
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o o q ~q
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u

o z j~
q o~
q r ruu z uj tj
u s un
p z r j ~
r
o z
q ~
u j j n
pz un j q
q z s ~ os u q
q p z r p pu ~
s z ~o pj n ~n
r
s
r ~p
u ju n z
p z
s r n z r z oj un j q
nu n o u q j ru ~q p z
s j r
s ju
rr uu r j q
p z
uj
s j q
q z
uj ~q ru ~q
p z
s j

world,353 they did not heed this warning, but rather persisted in their wickedness.
These princes were the mighty and rebellious ones of old, men whose depravity
was indicated by their names, which expressed their anti-Divine philosophy and
lifestyle.354 Their idolatry and sexual excesses led them into disrespect for property
rights, as well, and thus the foundations of societyhonesty, integrity, and jus-
ticewere undermined and replaced by dishonesty, corruption, and larceny. Their
behavior made the world into an uncivilized, frightening place in which to live.
355
2 Shamchazai and Azael: Later on, these angels are of the angel to be in the world and at the same time
356 When an angel enters the
- Only human beings, who are created in Gods image,
ism and arrogance of the world. It is not in the capacity can, like God, unite heaven and earth.357
353. Above, 4:26. 354. Above, 4:18. 355. Numbers 13:33. 356. , vol. 28, pp. 85-91. 357. , vol. 15, p. 15.

80
2 the rest of humanitys daughters were,

and they took themselves wives from whomever they chose. They would take
brides from their wedding ceremonies and have intercourse with them before their
grooms did. They also practiced forbidden extramarital relations: adultery, homo-
sexuality, and sodomy.
Over time, this degenerate behavior became so pervasive that God considered
wiping out humanity. At one point, when these generations were steeped in idola-
try, two angels, Shamchazai and Azael, approached God and said, Master of the
Universe, did we not tell You when You created Your world that You should not
create man?344

-
clination will overcome you and you will behave even worse than the human race

assumed physical form as extremely large giants.345 They were immediately cor-
rupted by the worlds beautiful girls and could not control their impulses.346 They,
too, took brides from their bridal chamber and had intercourse with them before
their grooms did, and practiced forbidden relations: adultery, homosexuality, and
347
Because of their depravity, humanity gradually lost their Divine image and there-
by forfeited the protection it gave them from the animals. The people of these gen-

had been previously afraid of them.348
3 By the year 1536, the situation had reached the point where G said, My spirit

and nonetheless behave arrogantly. They have 120 years . If they do not repent,
I will wipe them out. In order to encourage them to repent, God commanded
Noah to begin building an ark, as will be recounted later.349
Obviously, God knew when He created humanity that society would degenerate,
but He created it anyway for the sake of the righteous few who would resist the

of its corruption.350
4 The corrupt princes became known as the fallen ones, for they
-
deeds.351
behaved as if they were, doing whatever they pleased. They were on the earth in
those early days, i.e., in the days of Enosh and the initial descendants of Cain, and
also later, when the sons of the rulers consorted with the daughters of man and
they bore them children.352
344. Above, 1:26. 345. Numbers 13:33; , vol. 28, p. 90-91. 346. , Bereishit 44. 347. , vol. 28,
pp. 90-91. 348. Rashi on 9:5, below. 349. 350. Rashi on v. 6, below. 351. , vol. 28, p. 86. 352. Above,
v. 2.

81
~ SEVENTH READING
X ONKELOS W
q z u n ~ q nj o l~ r j ~r l q
w r j Lp ~r r Q r ~r v r _ qr Vr q _n O r j ~]j ] q q 5
rj z j ~ q r j n r j~r j ~q ~ u j r r z k~
r j ~r s r u z u n s j u ou n
wv n O r j p] r nq 6 v qw r Q q _ q O n s ] j j q T pbo
~r r z k~ r q l o l~ u o j o u j r j
qu j n j u o j o u j q l~ q ~r j ~q u j R r j p~s] q 7 v nw~Q
p o qj nqLp ~r rQ r ~r w
v r ~_
p r r
r j q l~ q u o u j un s j u j r u
q o ~ n o j n ~r z r k~ r oj ~p rO r l~v r ] oj T q o T~
n b r rw p l~ ^ r ~r w
v r ~p p b j ~p
~ r n u j q ~r r z k~o ~r j ~q o u ~q
o l~~r q j z ~ n r s q j~r z l n q n j Q q n_
n n
L r r q ]w q j pw
Q p qrO ow
j qTr ~r v o
qs j uu nu j q lo l~n j o uj n r
r jr mn l q q u j z ~q v
r j_ o o
j ~ r q sP j 8
Q o r_ v n ln _n
XJLJXJL~JXJL
X RASHI W

s q ~r "s u n ~p oo q j n q n j ~r j s q ~r o ~
s r uj
p z rr j r jr r p
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p z ns u j qu q u

s q ~r su q ~p un j q n{j un j q
{ r
s q ~r "
r n{r p r ~r r o q j nu q r u q ~
p z s u n ~ n z o j un
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un
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p z s u j
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s j j~t
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p z r ~r r u s { l
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p ~s
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r

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q r
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s
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s


God created the world through His speechand there- negative trait in the person about whom we have spo-
fore harder to revoke. Similarly, we should always be ken and make it harder for him to rid himself of it.
aware of the awesome power of speech: by articulat-
ing a negative assessment of someoneeven if he is negative judgment about anyone; on the contrary,
we should always seek to make positive, constructive
helped concretize the reality of something that pre- comments about others.363
viously existed only in the abstract realm of thought
[5] G saw how great was mans wickedness on
earth: The sinfulness of this generation caused the to the fourth.364
363. 364.
5:1;

82
5 G saw how great

was mans wickedness on earth, and that every impulse of the thoughts of his
heart was only for evil, all day long. In particular, their antinomian behavior to-

God intended the world to function in a moral fashion.358
6 G was comforted by the fact that He created humanity as earthly beings, for
at least that way they could not incite the angels to rebel against Him, as well. In
His heart, God decided to grieve for humanity. Because of their misdeeds,359 G
changed
that He had made humanity on earth: in-
stead of relating to them through mercy, He evaluated them in terms of judgment,
and found them overwhelmingly unworthy and deserving to be destroyed. But
His heart was pained over the prospect of destroying all humanity.
7 So G said, Instead of destroying humanity altogether, I will only wipe out
those who are culpable. I made human beings out of earth, so I will simply dis-
solve the errant elements of humanity, which I have created, from the face of the
earth .
in cross-species breeding, I will destroy them as wellfrom human to livestock,
reptiles, and even birds of the sky.
I would have to eliminate them, for I created them for the sake of humanity, so if I
For I have changed My mind
from My previous thought to destroy them altogether, for I created them.
Since they are My creations, they should be preserved to whatever extent possible.

360
8 Out of the entire human race, only Noah found favor in the eyes of G. He
and his family were righteous, so Gods resolve to obliterate the guilty elements
of humanity did not apply to them.361 God therefore had to provide a way for this

The
for may be found on p. 335.
7 G said: When God initially evaluated humanitys
moral condition, He did not articulate His initial reac- check our initial impulse to articulate our judgment of
tionHis decision to wipe out the entire world. Only -

362 This will silence our
did He pronounce His revised decision to only obliter- negative thoughts or words about him.
ate the culpable. The reason God did not articulate His initial decision
This teaches us that when we encounter a person who is because when an idea descends from the more ab-
stract realm of thought into the more concrete realm of
358. , vol. 35, p. 73; vol. 15, p. 73. 359. Rashi on 8:1, below. 360. , vol. 15, pp. 52-53. 361. ,
vol. 16, pp. 27-31. 362. Isaiah 60:21.

83

(Machar Chodesh)
This is superseded by the
of the First Sabbath of Chanukah (below, p. 377).

This
20:18 King Saul, noticing how Davids pop-- O r j q j bn j p s L ]r r r Q r jv _w p~qvs 20:18
ularity was increasing with his successive

~s O j ] o o T r j qn j 19 v p rv Q o rn _n
of challenging his authority, and therefore ]j Q r r _j q j nw p l~ O r qw~p ~ T r r
Pn l~vq 20 p~v r r p_~p r p~ Q o O r j q] r j Llp v q v q
Jonathan, was Davids friend and knew that
he was loyal to the king. He had recently v r rq jw Q n q q j~ Lp ] r
n Q n n v q p _j
convinced his father not to kill David, but w~p ~]r j Qo qq O qw~p ] qj ~p To n j 21

tried again to kill David. Jonathan found * ]n n v q _ on qq W q qb s~ c s~w r ~n Ln n vq
this hard to believe, so they devised a test _~o j V j _ rwv n ~r r s V ap r rro R ]j n
-
_ on pp O r Tq s~ w s ^ ~n j 22 vj r w q Q r r

- vj
r Q lv q v n _n o P ~r jLrr ]j n Q n n v q
than would note Sauls reaction. Jonathan a on L r ~rr ]n l~ j Q q n _p l~ r O r q b j 23
said to David, Tomorrow is the new
moon, Qn r _o rnq 24 w vr q Q j v o _ n o V rj
of the kings inner circle to dine at his table )w~+ p pVp q pa o q p s O q ] n j q L p r q
You will be
remembered
W rwb q p p [ q[ p] o q 25 v k~vp pQ p q
where you are, for your seat will be vacant. r Or ]j Tr r b q On q T qw~p qq R j * q]q j
19 into vn r _ j Q o rnq ~L r ]q n Q oj ~q p_ o q
a hiding place and hide very well, for in

You shall come to the hiding place where you hid today, which is a day of work, and you
shall stay beside the travelers stone. 20
pretend to practice shooting arrows. I shall shoot three arrows to the side, as though I
shot at a mark. 21 Behold, I shall send the youth, saying, Go,

take them and come, for it is well with you, and there is
lives. 22 But, if I say thus to the youth, Behold, the arrows
are beyond you, then go! For has sent you away
. 23 Concerning
have spoken, I and you
1behold, is the witness between
me and you that we shall honor it forever. 24
new moon, Saul sat down to the meal to eat. 25 The king sat upon his seat, as at other
1.
HAFTARAH FOR THE 29TH OF THE MONTH
times, upon the seat by the wall. Usually, ^n ~L q ] q r~Q j ~V r _ pw~ n v j 26
David sat next to Saul and Jonathan next
to David, because it was disrespectful for ~ _wn ~Q V r _ n jn ~O ]p j n T q~r
Jonathan to recline next to his father. But, Q o rnq On o q Tp s b q ^ q mv r n R n jq 27 v r

no one intervening between Saul and Jon--
qW q O] j rr v j w~T p ~ r p~s^ q L n r ] j
athan. So Jonathan arose, rather than re-- pv r qw~Q p qwq _wq j Vnw q p~aw~ r
cline while seated next to his father, and
V nr _~q j n ~s b j n ~L rw~p r Q r v j q_ q q 28
did not sit down again until Avner, Sauls
general, sat down beside Saul. In any case, ~r \ n]o j q p~q\s 29 pv r _w o q Q n r nv o
Davids place was vacant. 26 Saul did not
O n ~T r nw r~ n ^ jRn r r W rb rj c n qcp ]n
say anything about this on that day, for he
thought, It is probably due to an incident ~Q r r j_r ~n Op oj T o ~^ n r w r ~n Rr q j
; Q q jtw~p ~w~ rO ] ow q Lr ~w p ~p ]~p j ~p j
he is probably not pure since he did not
.2 He did O p~s] q rOr ] T n ~ r^~w q vq qn 30 pv p q
because he is not pure and does Tr ~^ q o sw n n j rR q ~ ] lL j q qQlq w v q v p
. 27 It
was, on the next day, the morrow of the ]n 31 v p ~n _ qj p ps Q j O j j r b j n q O w p j
new moon, the second , ~_ rO r l~w v r q ]q T qnw p ^p l~ rRn qw r
that Davids place was again vacant, and
Saul said to Jonathan, his son, Why has T s~ ^ q j q b j R r q j L p j q ]r ~q Qn
not David, the son of Jesse, come to the w~p rOr ] j T qq b q 32 ~v pw Q r p _n q O ~o
meal either yesterday or today? 28 Jona--
than answered Saul, David asked leave v r r_ p Qq r_ rV r~ o p~sa q L n ~ r ~Q r
of me to go to Bethlehem- Tq o b q L s q jQ r rVn lw v q ~ v p ~a r pr b q 33
ily lives. 29 He said, Let me go away now,
w~ p _ n r jQ n ~_ r n o~ V n r_ rw n rOr ]j

and Eliav,3 my eldest brother, commanded L~w r n m v r Q r jt q_n oVrr v j r a r q 34 vn r
me Now, if I have found favor in
T qpj ^n pOp T n o q p s ^ qw vj q Y ~w~ r v j
your eyes, let me slip away now, just for
one day, and see my brothers. He, there-- ~a ooq p s O q ] n j q 35 v n ~ r Q nj _ n O
n n w r ~p
fore, did not come to the kings table. v n sQ r q_ q j L nr ] o j Q p r q Vrr v j
30 Saul did not believe this. His wrath was
kindled against Jonathan, and he said to
him, You son of a parading woman, deserving of punishment! Dont you
think that I know that you choose to be loyal to David the son of Jesse,
to your shame and to the shame of your mothers nakedness? -
31 You should realize that as long as the son of

Jesse is living on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send
and take him to me, for he is condemned to death. 32 Jonathan answered Saul
his father, and said to him, Why should he be put to death? What has he done? 33
Saul cast the spear upon Jonathan to strike him, and Jonathan knew that his father had
indeed decided to put David to death. 34
He did not eat any food on that day, the second day of the month, for he was grieved
concerning David, for his father had put him to shame. 35 In the morning, Jonathan

2. See Leviticus 15:16. 3.

HAFTARAH FOR THE 29TH OF THE MONTH
36 He said to the boy, Run ahead, and On ]n w q ~p T~r ~ rj t R lO v q j p~s] q 36

boy ran; and he shot the arrow beyond
n Q o q r_ r w~v j O r q] q q L p Q n s~v r _p l~
him. 37 The boy came up to the place _ p l~n o O q] w j qT qq b q~rs ^ q 37v ln v q j
where the arrow that Jonathan had shot
p~qOs T qq b q^ o l~
v q rWr jv ~b r j n q Lrr jv rQ r

and said, Isnt the arrow beyond you? Tr r jv ~^r j n q 38 ~r jr v r _j n n Q o q ~ _ l
38 Yo qj q l s L w
v q ~v q r Q _ r oj qq O q ] o l~v q
Hasten; do not stand still! Jonathans boy
gathered up the arrows, and came to his w~p ~rs Q q )On ]n + q w~p Tr r v j q^ q
master. 39 The boy knew nothing; only Tr r v j ^~ q r ~L j r] q w~ v qQq q j39 vsr l~

40 Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy w~p Trr v j ô nq 40 v r r qw~p Qvj r On r j
who accompanied him, and said to him, ~_ o r Qo O p~s] q Lw p l~ qQq qw~p r O o
Go, bring into the city. 41 The
boy departed, and David arose from the
pp O q p]~o o Ur Rn r j M ~ r S qSq q 41 v n r
toward the south. He fell upon L n rj ] r Q q j nq rVj ~q _r ~q j n s b q
his face on the ground three times, and
o O w o ~p ~] n Tnj q o R w o ~p ~] n * ] nv j q
prostrated himself three times. He and
Jonathan kissed one another and wept ] o Qn r j Vrr v j p~sa q 42 v n jn Qn w r q
one with the other, until David exceeded Tr j ^ o j j q R l~Wo
j j q b j nc p l~ L r j
Jonathans weeping. 42 Jonathan said to
David, Go in peace! that _ o V n qj _
o p R o ]n o * ] p j n v Y r j ~ s O o
we have sworn both of us in the name of w
vr q Qlqj
, saying, May be between me
and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.
Dedicated in honor of our children
Nathan, Yitzchok,
Moshe Lev,
and Gilana
May you continue to grow in the ways
of our holy Torah
Yuri and Deana Pikover

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The Book of Genesis

For personal use only. All rights reserved.

Kehot Publication Society

T he word Torah means teaching,1 and as we should therefore expect, much of

any explicit Divine instructions to the Jews as a people

naturally as we are in our own homes.

sentation of Divine consciousness, in which Gods

there in the meantime.

The physical earth was

8. See 1:8, below; Rashi on 2:4, below. 9. 

          

The First Week

This conceptual division immediately implies a geo-

 according to the theory of relativity, there really is no

Zevul 19 The spiritual Jerusalem, including the spiritual Temple20

 21 Ministering angels

Right, judgment, righteousness, life, peace, blessing, souls, the dew

follows the description of Gods creative activity on

satisfaction mean that each stage of creation represents

33. 5:1. See 

74. , vol. 35, pp. 5-6.

    

   

104. , vol. 17, p. 60. 105.

also prepared Moses grave.101

Him into being. Humanitys mission, however, is to

the Torah now focuses on its creation in greater detail.116

151.  4:77a. 152. 

8 God planted a garden to serve as humanitys habitat, in

136. Above, 1:12. 137. In verse 15. 

   

164.  165. Above, 2:3. 166. 

11 river is the Nile [. It

of good and evili.e., internalizing itmeans mak- 

16 God commanded the human, saying, Of every tree of the gardenincluding

173. See below, 3:17, 19, 22-24. 174.

never fallen into sin will not pursue righteousness with

  

The Tree of Knowledge

228. 229. , vol. 5, p. 218, note 35. 230.

   

  

  

261. Cf.  54:1; see

266. See  2:40bc, 48bc, etc. 267.

    

  

and Eves sin. It remained a realm of innocent Divine

Cain and Abel

s j n j n r ~p  j uu

     

                  

312. , vol. 35, p. 8.

r u s jr ~r oq u q  s r ju ~

Sixth Reading 23 

Seth and His Descendants

regard to human merit.319-

330. . 331. Emek

Prelude to the Flood

    

2 the rest of humanitys daughters were,

     

5 G saw how great

any explicit Divine instructions to the Jews as a people

8. See 1:8, below; Rashi on 2:4, below. 9.

according to the theory of relativity, there really is no

21 Ministering angels

33. 5:1. See

74. , vol. 35, pp. 5-6.

104. , vol. 17, p. 60. 105.

151. 4:77a. 152.

136. Above, 1:12. 137. In verse 15.

164. 165. Above, 2:3. 166.

11 river is the Nile [. It

of good and evili.e., internalizing itmeans mak-

228. 229. , vol. 5, p. 218, note 35. 230.

261. Cf. 54:1; see

266. See 2:40bc, 48bc, etc. 267.

s j n j n r ~p j uu

312. , vol. 35, p. 8.

r u s jr ~r oq u q s r ju ~

Sixth Reading 23

regard to human merit.319-

330. . 331. Emek

5 G saw how great

w~ p _ n r jQ n ~_ r n o~ V n r_ rw n rOr ]j

2. See Leviticus 15:16. 3.