Parshat Bereishis 5777
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week's parsha about the sin of Adam HaRishon and his banishment from Gan Eden. When Hashem first takes him into the Gan the pasuk says (Chapter 2, Pasuk 15), Vayikach Hashem Elokim es Ha'Adam Vayanicheihu B'Gan Eden L'Avdah U'Leshamrah. Hashem took Adam HaRishon into Gan Eden to work it and to guard it. Rashi comments that Hashem took him with nice words i.e. He needed to convince him to enter Gan Eden. Why did Rashi need to explain that Adam had to be persuaded to enter Gan Eden?
The Maharal in the Gur Aryeh on Rashi explains that the verb to take something typically applies something that has no thoughts of its own. But a human being with "da'as", with his own knowledge and understanding, can't be taken. Therefore Rashi explains that when the pasuk states Vayikach Hashem it indicates that Hashem persuaded Adam to enter.
This explanation fits with the teaching of the Sfas Emes. He explains that when it says Vayikach Hashem it parallels the pasuk of marriage in Devarim (Chapter 24, Pasuk 1) Ki Yikach Ish Ishah, When a man takes a woman. A marriage requires full consent on the part of the woman as well. And the comparison to a marriage expresses the level of closeness and intimacy involved in Adam HaRishon being brought into Gan Eden. Chazal teach that when the pasuk concludes that Adam was put into the Gan to work it and guard it, L'Avdah U'Leshamrah, it is actually a reference to positive commands and negative commands. The intimacy of the marriage is expressed through the prism of involvement in Torah. Adam HaRishon was like a son in the treasure house of his father, i.e. keeping the mitzvos of the Torah.
When Adam sinned and was exiled from Gan Eden the Torah says (Chapter 3, Pasuk 24), Vayegaresh es HaAdam, He chased out Adam. Chazal teach in the Medrash Rabbah (19,9) that it was like a divorce, a gerushin. If originally when Adam was brought in to Gan Eden it was like a marriage, after he sinned and was banished it was like a divorce. And when he was banished he was told (Chapter 3, Pasuk 19) B'Zei'as Apecha Tochal Lechem, by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread. If when he was brought into Gan Eden he was like a son in the treasure house of his father, when he was banished he was like a slave working the land.
This exile from Gan Eden and reduction in relationship with Hashem from the father-son to the master-slave relationship continued until through the efforts of Adam's descendants, the Avos and Moshe Rabbienu, Bnei Yisrael received the Torah from Hashem and returned to the treasure house of Hashem, to the connection of the father-son relationship.
What did this reduction in status entail? As we explained, in Gan Eden Adam HaRishon was surrounded only by good. His job was to be fully connected to Hashem through the Torah, positive commands and negative commands. But when he sinned the good became mixed with the bad. He could no longer remain in this pure, idyllic state of Gan Eden. Instead he entered a world mixed with both good and bad and his job became to find all the good he could and remove and refine all the bad. This was his personal galus and this became the galus of Am Yisrael in Mitzrayim. And it wasn't until Bnei Yisrael left Mitzrayim and received the Torah at Har Sinai that the sin of Adam HaRishon, albeit temporarily, was rectified.
The Ohr Gedalyahu adds that this struggle of Adam HaRishon to attempt to return to his status of before the sin, kodem hachet, relates to all of us as well. Even though we never experienced the pristine state of Adam HaRishon kodem hachet, we have a similar situation. For us, the bad exists and it is potentially part of us, but it was not originally an essential part of us. When we sin and pick up bad habits we incorporate the bad as an essential part of who we are. Our state of kodem hachet is to remove the bad and distance it from us.
The Sfas Emes explains a similar idea in the parsha of the Metzora. Chazal teach that the impurity of Tzara'as results from speaking Lashon Hara. They also teach that the word Metzora comes from the words Motzi Ra, takes out the bad. The Sfas Emes teaches that we all have bad within us; we are living the reality today of Adam HaRishon after the sin. But for most of us the mixture of good and bad is such that the good nullifies the bad. The bad is covered and hidden by the good. But when we speak Lashon Hara, we are being Motzi Ra, we are reaching in and taking out the bad and giving it concrete expression. Instead of letting it lie dormant and be nullified by all the good within us we express it the outside world around us. This is the struggle of Adam HaRishon that we maintain today; we need to keep whatever negative tendencies we have hidden away and not make it part of us by giving it concrete expression.
Good Shabbos
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