Goings-on in the Garden (Sheet 1, Summer 2015)

(5) Rabbi Simon said: At the time when the Holy Blessed One came to create the first man, the ministering angels formed themselves into groups, some saying 'man should not be created' and some saying 'man should be created.' As it says: "Chesed and Truth met; Justice and Peace kissed" (Psalms 85:11). Chesed said: man should be created because he does acts of lovingkindness, and Truth said: man should not be created, because he is all lies. Justice said: man should be created because he does just acts, and Peace said: man should not be created because he is all quarrels. What did the Holy Blessed One do? God took Truth and threw him to the ground, as it says: "And Truth was thrown to the ground" (Daniel 8:12). The ministering angels said before the Blessed Holy One: Master of the Universe: why are You disgracing the chief of your court ceremonies - bring Truth back from the ground! As it says: "Truth will grow from the ground" (Psalms 85:12).

The Rabbis said [the following] in the name of Rabbi Hanna bar Idi, and Rabbi Pinchas and Rabbi Hilkiyah in the name of Rabbi Simon said: "Very" refers to man, as it says: "And God saw all that God had done, and behold it was very good" (Genesis 1:31), behold man is good.

Rabbi Huna Rabbah of Tzippori said: while the ministering angels were reasoning one with the other and engaging one with the other, the Holy Blessed One created man. God said to them: what are you arguing about - I already created man.

(5) What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou thinkest of him? (6) Yet Thou hast made him but little lower than the angels, And hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar said: When the Holy One Blessed Be He created the first man, He created him androgynos, as it is written: "Male and female created them" (Gen. 1:27). Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahman said: When H''KBH created the first man, He made him with two fronts, then He sawed him in half and made him two backs, one here and one there. Someone objected: Isn't it written, "And He took one of his ribs"? (Gen. 2:21). He replied: It may also mean "his sides" as in the verse, "And for the second side of the Tabernacle..." (Exod. 26:20).

Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar says: To what may this be compared? To a man who marries a convert. He used to command her, saying: "My wife, don't eat bread when your hands are unclean, and don't eat fruit that hasn't been tithed, and don't violate Shabbat or break vows, and don't go around with another man. If you transgress one of these, you will die." What did this man do? He went and ate bread before her when his hands were unclean, he ate fruit that hadn't been tithed, he violated Shabbat, he broke vows, and he divorced her. What did this convert say to herself? "Everything that my husband commanded me from the beginning, it was all lies." She went and transgressed all of it.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says: To what may the first man be compared? To a parable of one who had a wife at home. What did the man do? He went and got a cask, and he placed within it a few figs and a few nuts. And he caught a scorpion and placed it at the opening of the cask, which he sealed with a lid and placed in a corner. He said to his wife: "My wife, all that is mine in this house is given into your hands, except for this cask that you shouldn't touch at all. What did this wife do? When her husband left for the shuk, she went and opened the cask and reached her hand inside, and the scorpion stung her. She went and fell onto the bed. When her husband came home from the shuk, he said to her: "What is this?" She said to him: "I reached my hand into the cask, and the scorpion stung me, and here I am, dying." He said to her: "Didn't I say to you from the start, all that is mine in this house is given into your hands except for this cask, which you shouldn't touch at all?" Immediately he was angry with her and divorced her. This is like the first man. When H''KBH said to him, "From every tree of the garden you may surely eat, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil which you shouldn't eat, for on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die" – when he ate of it, he was banished. This fulfills what is said: "Man does not dwell in glory; he is like the beasts" (Psalm 49:13).

As it is said: To man He said, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife [and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it'], cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it... Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you, and you shall eat the grasses of the field" (Gen. 3:17-18). When Adam heard H''KBH say to him "you shall eat the grasses of the field," immediately his limbs shook. He said to Him: "Master of the Universe, shall I and the beasts eat from one trough? H''KBH said to him: "Since your limbs shook – 'By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread [until you return to the ground — for from it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.]'" (Gen. 3:19).

Our masters taught: When Adam on the day of his creation saw the sun sinking in the sky before him, he said, "Woe is me! Because I acted offensively, the world is darkening for me and is about to return to darkness and desolation – indeed, this is the death that Heaven has decreed for me." So he sat down to fast and he wept all night, and Eve wept k'negdo. When dawn broke he said, "This is the way of the world." He stood and offered up a bull...

(18) And the LORD God said: ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper k'negdo.’