Let Us Make Man

Parshas Bereishis

Posted on October 11, 2023 (5784) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

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.

 

 

Reality Check

Parshas Bereishis

Posted on October 11, 2023 (5784) By Rabbi Pinchas Avruch | Series: Kol HaKollel | Level: Beginner

Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden with but one command to follow: do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. When the snake came to entice Chava (Eve) to eat from it, he steered the focus to the one forbidden tree by inquiring if G-d had forbidden eating from ALL of the trees. “The woman said to the snake, ‘Of the fruit of any tree of the garden we may eat. Of the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden G-d has said, “You shall neither eat of it nor touch it, lest you die.”‘” (Beraishis/Genesis 3:2-3) Indeed, G-d had never said anything about touching it. Rashi explains that the snake pushed Chava against the tree and she suffered no harm, to which the snake responded, “Just as you did not die when you touched the tree, nothing will happen when you eat from it.” Rashi notes that her effort to embellish G-d’s command led to its diminishment.

 

But why did her coerced contact with the fruit convince her that eating was without risk? After all, G-d does not hold people accountable for violations of the Divine will caused by outside forces. Sifsai Chachamim (super commentary on Rashi by Rabbi Shabsai Bass, 1641-1718) clarifies that Chava, in her effort to understand the punishing power of the fruit, rationalized that the fruit was toxic, from which she assumed that the toxins killed by any contact, internal or external. She was so invested in this rationale, concludes Sifsai Chachamim, that when touching the fruit caused no harm, she concluded that there must be no poison – G-d must not have been forthright in his warning, just as the snake told her – and, therefore, nothing would come of eating it.

 

How could Chava make such an egregious error? She knew that G-d said nothing about toxins, that it was her own assumption, contrived to make sense of the situation, and that she further invented the danger of any – even accidental – contact. When she saw that she did not die, she should simply have realized that her hypotheses were WRONG. How did she suppose that G-d was not truthful in His warning such that she felt free to eat without fear of consequence?

 

Rabbi Alter Henach Leibowitz (Rosh Yeshiva/Dean of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Kew Gardens Hills, New York) observes the destructive power of haughtiness and unbridled self assuredness.

 

Chava was so confident in her comprehension of the tree’s power that the undoing of her assessment discredited the ENTIRE warning, to the point she lost faith in the basic Divine caveat to refrain from eating. So great is the challenge of recognizing and admitting one’s own failings that the normal human reaction is cognitive dissonance, the unwitting manufacture of a preposterous fact pattern in the simple effort to lend credence to – and avoid retraction of – one’s original assumptions. Chava could believe G-d was less than truthful, eat from the tree, and introduce death to the world, but she could not be wrong.

 

True humility is difficult to attain, but the Mishna (Eduyos 5,6) advises that it is better for one to be called a fool by his peers for his entire life than be construed as evil by G-d for one moment.

 

Orchos Tzadikim clarifies the corrosive nature of pride. G-d Himself warned us (Devarim/ Deuteronomy 8,14) that haughtiness causes such self overconfidence that one eventually forgets G-d and His role in guiding our daily affairs. With this comes dereliction to mitzvos (Divine commandments) and laziness toward chesed (kindness) opportunities, because his primary focus is himself. Conversely, continues Orchos Tzadikim, humility is the root of Divine service, because it is the recognition that our strengths and weaknesses, our successes and failures, are all ours as gifts from the Orchestrator of the Universe. Humility does not mean denying our talents. It means accepting that we are not the true source of those talents; accepting that the true source gave us those talents so we may fulfill a mission; and accepting that with those talents came a number of flaws, too.

 

Life is about choices. One of G-d’s greatest gifts to us is our freedom to choose…and one of our most important choices is: Whose will do I serve? Whose mission plan do I follow? Who is really “number one”? G-d or I?

 

Have a Good Shabbos!

 

Eve of Life

Parshas Bereishis

Posted on October 11, 2023 (5784) By Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha| Level: Beginner

Doom and despair and destruction. It all happened so fast after the promises of an idyllic life.

 

And all from two bites of the forbidden fruit. Man, who was promised eternal bliss in the Garden of Eden is now cursed with a plethora of misfortunes. He must toil by the sweat of his brow, work an earth that will produce thorn and thistle. His wife must bear the pain of childbirth with all its physiological implications. All these are crowned with the most powerful malediction that “you are of dust and to dust you shall return”.

 

But it seems that Adam takes all the news in proper perspective. In the verse that immediately follows the curses, Adam does not spread blame or lament his fate. He continues developing civilization exactly where he left off. Prior to his meeting Eve and partaking of the forbidden fruit, Adam began classifying all living things with names that appropriately described their attributes. After the curses he continues. He names his wife.

“Adam called his wife Chava because she was the mother of all life.” (Genesis 3:20)

 

Isn’t it unsuitable for Adam to name his wife Chava — the mother of all life — immediately following the curse of death? What message is the Torah sending us with that juxtaposition?

 

Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev was known for his love and good will toward his fellow Jews always trying to assess the good in people rather than expose the bad.

 

Once on the Fast of Tish’a B’av he saw a Jew eating in a non-kosher restaurant. He tapped lightly on the window of the establishment and summoned the man outside.

 

“Perhaps you forgot that today is a fast day?” Rav Levi Yitzchok queried.

 

“No, Rebbe,” the man replied.

 

“Then perhaps you did not realize that this restaurant in not kosher.”

 

“No, Rebbe, I know it is a traife (non-kosher) eatery.”

 

Rav Levi Yitzchok softly placed his hands on the man’s shoulders and looked heavenward. “Ribbono Shel Olam, Master of the Universe,” he exclaimed. “Look at how wonderful your children are. They may be eating on a fast day. In a non-kosher restaurant to boot. Yet they refuse to emit a falsehood from their lips!”

 

Adam heard the curse bestowed upon himself, his wife, and humanity for eternity. His immediate reaction was not scorn or criticism. He named his wife Chava, derived from the word life. He viewed the woman whom he had once blamed for his downfall with a different perspective. He saw only the eve of life — and thus named her so. After tragedy and defeat there is enough blame to share and spread. Adam picked up the pieces and cherished the beauty of what was left.

 

He did not see himself on the eve of destruction. He saw himself standing at the dawn of life. And he appreciated that life dearly.