Let Us Make Man
Why would the Creator
need any help to complete the work of creation? Surely, the One who formed the
world out of nothingness, who created all the hosts of the heavens and the
teeming life of the earth, was perfectly capable of creating anything He chose
to create. And yet, on the seventh day of creation, He said, “Naaseh adam. Let
us make man.” Whose help was He seeking? And why?
The Sages explain that
Hashem was consulting with the angels, inviting their participation in the
process of creating mankind. Although He obviously did not need their
participation, Hashem was teaching us to be sensitive to protocol and proper
behavior. Before undertaking a major project, consult with others.
The questions,
however, continue to baffle. The angels were created on the third day, yet
Hashem did not consult with them until the sixth day when He created mankind.
Why didn’t he invite their input when He was creating the mountains and the
valleys, the tress and the flowers, the animals and the fishes?
The commentators
explain that the creation of mankind was indeed the most appropriate setting
for teaching the lessons of proper etiquette. How do we measure the worth of a
person? On the one hand, every person is infinitely valuable, worthy of having
the entire universe created for his sake, as the Sages tell us. On the other
hand, there are people who are undoubtedly a disgrace to their purpose and
design.
How then do we evaluate
a person? We see if he is attuned to others or if he is totally egocentric.
Only a person who recognizes that there is much to be learned from the
knowledge and experience of his peers, who is sensitive to the feelings and
sensibilities of others, truly has the potential for growth and fulfillment as
a sublime human being.
Therefore, it was in
the context of the creation of man that Hashem teaches us this important
lesson. A tree is a tree and a flower is a flower no matter what, but a human
being who has no use for other people’s advice is not much of a human being. He
is not a mensch.
A young lady came to seek the advice of a
great sage.
“I am so confused,” she said. “I have many suitors who have
asked my hand in marriage. They all have such fine qualities, and I simply
cannot make up my mind. What shall I do?”
“Tell me about their qualities,” said the sage.
“Well, they are all handsome and well-established. I enjoy
their company, they are so entertaining. Why, I can sit and listen to any of
them for hours and hours.”
The sage shook his head. “These are not the qualities you
should be seeking. It is all good and well if a man is handsome and wealthy,
but does he have a good character? Is he a fine person? As for their being so
entertaining, it is far more important that your husband be a good listener
than a good talker. Look for a fine man who knows how to listen. He will bring
you happiness.”
In our own lives, we must learn to differentiate between self-confidence,
which is an admirable quality, and egotism, which is not. It is all good and well to believe in one’s own talents and
abilities. The truly wise person, however, knows that all people have
limitations, and there is always someone of value to be learned from other
people. And even in situations where other people do not have anything
worthwhile to contribute, the wise person will be sensitive to their feelings
and make them feel involved and helpful. If we can find it in ourselves to
overcome our egotistic tendencies and behave in the sublime manner of which
human beings are capable, we will reap not only spiritual rewards but material
and emotional rewards as well.
In the Garden Where We Live
Parshas
Bereishis
Posted on October 4, 2018
(5779) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah | Level: Beginner
And
HASHEM G-d planted a garden in Eden from the east, and He placed there the man
whom He had formed. And HASHEM G-d caused to sprout from the ground every tree
pleasant to see and good to eat, and the Tree of Life in the midst of the
garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil… And HASHAEM G-d commanded
man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the Tree
of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you
eat thereof, you shall surely die.” (Breishis 2:8-9/16-17)
What
are we to make of these two trees? What do they mean to us? That is the
question? How are we to relate to the test of Adam the first man and his
situation in the Garden of Eden? That was then and now is now! No! If the Torah
is telling us about these trees then they apply equally to our life and our
immediate situation.
At the
risk of oversimplifying this is what we can get from these two trees. The Tree
of Life is Torah, objective knowledge. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil is subjective. Ah you might say that both provide knowledge so what’s the
difference between them. One adds life while the other diminishes life. How so?
Someone
asked me recently what happened to the strong admonishment that “on the day
that you will eat from it you will surely die”? Adam did not die that day. He
lived for another 930 years. My answer was that death was not man’s destiny
until the terrible sin of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil. It’s like lighting a candle that now begins to melt. It does not
disappear like flash paper and evaporate immediately. Rather it melts slowly.
The timer of life has started and the inevitable is death-finiteness.
The Tree of Life is like a school
that teaches wisdom in advance of entering a zone of test. It is the test
preparation for every situation in life. It requires toiling in study and an
abiding trust that the guidance is most reliable. It promises and delivers
increasing clarity. That is the advance price to pay for the entering the
school, the Yeshiva of Torah Knowledge. It is what the Talmud calls “the long
way which is the short way”.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil is the opposite. The tuition is free at first. It is the school of hard
knocks. It is learning by experience. Sure there are many lessons to learn from
our mistakes but they can be costly in terms of times, and life, and health,
and relationships.
A person could have saved himself
years of hardship and pain and sorrow by simply following the instructions.
This is “the short cut which is the long way.” “I’ll figure it all out on my
own”. The price is free at first and very costly in the end.
It’s
worse than that too because the quality of the knowledge is not increasing
clarity but rather greater confusion. It produces a mixed mental baggage of
indistinguishably intertwined good and bad. Its waters are muddy and murky
rather than lucid and clear. About this the Mishne states, “The older a Talmud
scholar gets the more clear his mind becomes while the older an unlearned
person becomes the more his mind is torn from him.”
Death
may seem like a terrible punishment but the option of living forever in such a
confused and sordid state is even worse. It’s actually quite merciful, if you
think about it, and even if you don’t think about. It seems those trees are
alive and well in the garden where we live.
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