(4) And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, (5) but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” (6) When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. (7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths. (8) They heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (9) The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (10) He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
Imagine you are Adam, the first human to become conscious. What is that like? How do you respond to such a question at such a transition? What do you hear in this question? How many different ways can you answer? What do you need to consider to be able to answer it?
איכה יוֹדֵעַ הָיָה הֵיכָן הוּא אֶלָּא לִכָּנֵס עִמוֹ בִּדְבָרִים, שֶׁלֹא יְהֵא נִבְהָל לְהָשִׁיב, אִם יַעֲנִישֵׁהוּ פִּתְאוֹם (בראשית רבה) וְכֵן בְּקַיִן אָמַר לוֹ; אֵי הֶבֶל אָחִיךָ (בראשית ד), וְכֵן בְּבִלְעָם מִי הָאֲנָשִׁים הָאֵלֶּה עִמְּךָ (במדבר כ"ב), לִכָּנֵס עִמָּהֶם בִּדְבָרִים:
*Where are you? He [i.e., Hashem] knew where he was. It was only to engage in conversation with him so that he not be too bewildered to repent if He would have punished him suddenly. Similarly, in the case of Kayin, He said to him: “Where is your brother Hevel?” Similarly, in the case of Bilam [He said:] “Who are these people with you?” for the purpose of entering into conversation with them.
(א) איכה שאינך נראה בגן כמאז שנחבאת עתה ולא עשית כן מקודם:
(1) *Where are you. Why do you not show yourselves openly as before?
ואמר רב יהודה אמר רב אדם הראשון מין היה שנאמר (בראשית ג, ט) ויקרא ה' אלהים אל האדם ויאמר לו איכה אן נטה לבך
*And Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Adam the first man was a heretic, as it is stated: “And the Lord called to the man and said to him: Where are you”? (Genesis 3:9), meaning, to where has your heart turned, indicating that Adam turned from the path of truth.
*How do these teachings change and/or support your understanding of what Ayeka means?
"The evidence demonstrates that the myth is about growing out of the childhood world of the garden (infancy [2.7-9], childhood [2.16-20], adolescence [2.21-3.12], early adulthood [3.13-21] and into the adult world that Adonai Elohim created to be populated and cultivated by mature human beings [3.22-24]. It is about finding identity, which does not come from within the individual alone, but within the context of the community, including the earth and animals. It is about coming to grips with the inherent oppositional forces of life created by God in the beginning, and about coping with death as a natural and essential part of life. It is about maturation."
- Lyn M. Bechtel, "Rethinking the Interpretation of Genesis 2.4b-3.24," Feminist Companion to Genesis, Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.
" . . . the creative force within Being calls out 'Where are you?' to every human being, surely a call that is not in words and comes from a place deeper than language . . . I have chosen to read this as the call of God from within, the animating spirit of the whole great evolutionary journey, calling out to every human to participate fully in it, each in our distinctive way."
-- Rabbi Art Green, Radical Judaism, pp. 92-93
What have been personal "Ayeka" moments? How have you responded that lead you to be where and who you are today?