Noahide Seven Commandments Torah classes
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ADULTERY-2/Building the concept of the Primordial Sin
1: The Primordial Sin is a prototype for all sins
When you ask an average person on the street what was the Primordial Sin? You’d most likely get the following answer, accompanied with a giggle: “Sex, of course!”
How inaccurate!
But the Primordial Sin is something else.
Eden, as we remember, is a virtual Garden where everything is FORMED as a ‘shape’ or a prototype of everything on Earth. Thus, Adam was FORMED there as a ‘shape’ or a prototype of all Mankind. His Sin likewise is the prototype of all sins. It can’t be just sex.
In fact, as we’ll soon see, the story of Eden introduces Sin in a gradual fashion, step by step. Sin is more than a mere transgression of the law. Sin takes different meanings at different age, pending on our libido, attractions and fascinations. A child’s sin is different from the sin of a teenager; and the latter is different from the sin of an adult. We grow in life and and change, and so does our notion of sin.
In the story of Eden, as we’ll soon see, Adam is presented as born, raised and mature in the Garden. As he grows and changes, so does his sin grow and change, taking on different meanings. . At the end of the story we’ll be able to identify at least seven ‘levels’ of Sin, encompassing our entire life from birth to death .
After describing ‘when and where’ was Eden ‘formed,’ the Torah describes the ‘forming’ of Adam. Eden, as we’ve seen, is like a Heavenly Womb formed when the two Attributes, YHVH ELKM, flew together like two Loving Cherubs, Wing against Wing,consolidating the world. ‘Parking’ on the THIRD Day, before there was any grass or tree or rain on real Earth, they formed Eden and then formed their “:child” Adam and placed him there. Never again, in the entire Torah, the |Attributes appear so close to each other, in Love, as they appear here in the story of Eden. And remember: eden in Hebrew refers to fine, sensitive SEXUAL LOVE.
2: Forming The Adam
The forming of Adam is described as follows:
”And YHVH ELoKiM FORMED the Adam from the dust of the ground,
And He blew (singular form of the verb) in his (singular form) nostrils a breath of life, Neshama,
And Adam became a Nefesh Chayah (a living soul)…” (Genesis 2: 7)
Adam is formed from dust like a “dummy in the ground” (Midrash) His soul, however,is formed by YHVH ELKM blowing ‘His’ Breath (in Oneness) of Life into Adam’s nostrils, or by an Heavenly Kiss. Adam’s souls is a product of an Heavenly (‘sexual’) Love. You may say: the Cherubs kisses and formed Adam’s soul.
Although the Torah is against materialization of the concept of G-d, and forbids any image in the Holy Temple, yet she prescribed the making of the two golden cherubs, with a face of a boy and a girl, and ordered to place them above the holy ark, their wings touching each other.
The text uses here three Hebrew terms to describe Adam’s soul. They are Cha-yah, Ne-fesh, Neshamah. What’s the differences between them?
The rabbis said: Think of a ‘glass maker’ blowing his breath into a glass tube to form a glass vessel. This is how YHVH ELKM blew His Breath into Adam’s body. The Breath formed three segments:
The Cha-yah (‘life’) is the part of the breath pressed down the tube
The Ne-fesh (‘breath’) is the part of the breath at the middle segment of the tube
The Ne-sha-ma (‘breathing,’ soul) is the part of the breath close to the blower’s lips
Each of these segments ‘controls’ a particular part of our body:
The Cha-yah controls the basic element of life, the cellular functions , the nucleus, the DNA. We share the Chayah with all living creatures, large or small like viruses, bacteria and vegetation.
The Ne-fesh controls our bodily functions, our heart, kidney, bloodstream, that we share with the animal kingdom.
The Ne-sha-ma connects our soul to the CREATOR’S Lips. We do not share it with the animals.
You can say that
The Cha-yah controls the basic elements of life introduced on the THIRD Day
The Ne-fesh controls the animals created on the FORTH, FIFTH and SIXTH Days
The Ne-sha-ma controls the soul of Adam, created on real Earth before the Sabbath.
These three souls’ levels form a spiritual ‘Umbilical Cord’ that connects our soul to our CREATOR’S Lips.
3: Sin damages our connection to the CREATOR’S LIPS
By this, the Torah establishes the most basic damage done by Sin: it severs our connection to our CREAOT’S LIPS.
We need to think about this aspect of Sin before committing it.
Some sins would damage the Cha- yah,
Some sins would damage the Ne- fesh,
some sins would damage the Ne- sha- ma.
Sin therefore causes damage that needs repair For that, the Torah would prescribe (to Israel) different types of offerings like Guilt, Sin, Peace, Burnt, and more. These offering, when accompanied with confession and repentance, would restore the integrity of our Umbilical Cord to the CREATOR’S LIPS. Now that we have no more a Holy Temple, the offerings were replaced by prayers.
But Adam continues to grow in Eden. A moment comes and he is an embryo no more. He is, rather, like a toddler growing in his parent’s garden. And that Garden are many good trees, even though there is not yet any shrub or tree or rain on real Earth.
4: Many good trees in the Garden
The Torah continues to introduce new levels or aspect of Sin. What sort of trees grew in the Garden?
Formed Trees
There were many trees in the Garden, from which Adam could eat as he wished. The Torah does not elaborate on them, but today we ‘discover’ them in the text by our Biblical Computer Code.
As it turns out, the Computer Code reveals the name of many trees hidden in the text. There is one commonality between them: these trees are known to grow in the Holy Land. Among them pomegranate, olive, vine, fig, palm and more.
This finding by the Biblical Code supports the tradition, that the Garden of Eden hovers over the Holy Land of Israel.
Imagine! For thousands of years no one knew about these hidden names of trees in the text. We feel therefore that it is as if Moses wrote this for us, expecting us to be able to read it by our computers.
Yes, Moses speaks directly to us, through the thousands of years separating between us, .
5: Two special Trees
Two Trees stood out:
“And out of the ground, YHVH ELoKiM made to grow
Every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food
And the TREE OF LIFE also in the midst of the garden
And the TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL…” (Genesis 2:9)
The “Tree of Life,” protected Eden’s inhabitants from the Angel of Death
The “Tree of Knowledge Good and Evil” endowed its eater with KNOWLEDGE of ‘Good and EVIL.’
The term EVIL in the Torah, as we’ve learned, is an aspect of YHVH eyes. Evil is anything that the Merciful YHVH hates. .
Let’s pay attention to the Hebrew term selected here for KNOWLEDGE, ‘Daat.’ It refers to an INTIMATE awareness or knowledge of something Like in the verse:“Adam knew (daat) his wife and she conceived.” He ‘knew’ his wife intimately, passionately, not theoretically, and she conceived.
Hence whoever eats from the “Tree of Knowledge of good and evil” acquires an intimate, practical, first hand awareness of Evil, including Death, something that Adam did not encounter in Eden before ,living under the protection of the Tree of Life. Eating from the forbidden fruit would cause Adam (and his wife) to be chased out of Eden to live on Earth, where Evil and the Angel of Dear reigns.
The key to understand that lies in the three types of Wisdom:
The kho-khma refers to a theoretical, general grasping of a concept
The Bi-nah refers to the above in detailed, still theoreticallyThe Da-at refers to the practical, technical implication of the above.
Hence the Daat of Evil infers the awareness of it in a practical, real terms. It can be achieved only on Earth, outside the reign of the Tree of \life. .
6: Till the ground it and preserve it!
“And YHVH ELKM took the Adam
And He placed him in the Garden of Eden
To till it and preserve it” (Genesis 2: 15)
There was no free lunch in Eden. Adam had to do something (till it) and prevent himself from doing other things (preserve it.) it also means that if Adam would win and preserve the Garden, he would merit entering the next Day of CREATION, the Sabbath, straight from there, without ever living on real Earth. .
What were the things he had to avoid in the Garden?
7: Our son, do not eat from this poisonous fruit!
Soon after placing Adam in the Garden, the ‘Parent’ YHVH ELKM (in Oneness) warned him:
“And YHVH ELoKiM Commanded (‘single’ usage of the verb) on the Adam, saying,
Of every tree of the Garden you may freely eat,
But of the Tree of Knowledge Good and Evil you shall not ea t of it,
For on the Day that you eat of it YOU SHALL DIE!”.” (Genesis 2:16-1
Now the ‘tilling’ and ‘preserving’ the Garden takes a shape.The Parent (YHVH ELKM) warns His child Adam not to eat from that particular Tree, lest something terrible would happen to him: he would die. .
Adam does not yet know what “to die” means. Living under the Tree of Life he had never exposed to Evil and Death. Yet he would listen to his Parents’ ADVICE because he trust them.
Adam resembles, at this point of the story, a toddler child growing in his parent’s backyard. The loving Parents warn him: Our child, you may play everywhere in our garden and eat of any fruit in it, apart from this poisonous one out there. Beware, for the moment you eat of it you’d get an allergic attack and even die!
Now the toddler doesn’t know yet what allergy and death are. He has never seen them happening . Yet he trusts his Parents and stay away from the poisonous fruit
Adam at that stage in could not and did not KNOW, in practical term of Daat, what Death means, since no one died in Eden under the Tree Of Life. Yet Adam was expected to follow his Heavenly FATHER and MOTHER (YHVH ELKM) ADVICE and stay away from eating the forbidden fruit. .
Thus we’ve arrived at a new, still basic notion of Sin, as “Disobeying our Heavenly Father’s Advice.”
. . So far we have two aspects or levels of Sin:
- An act that severs our Spiritual Umbilical Cord to our CREATOR’S lips
- Disobeying our Heavenly FATHER’S Advice
8: Adam’s limited awareness of YHVH in Eden
If Adam awareness of Evil was limited, so must his awareness of YHVH be limited.
Evil, after all, is an aspect seen in YHVH eyes; it is everything that YHVH hates. .
Once he has encountered Evil, Adam would also appreciate YHVH. .
Once he has eaten from the Tree of Knowledge Good and Evil, he would also appreciate YHVH.
Meanwhile before the eating of the Forbidden Fruit, his perception of YHVH is theoretical, not practical on the level of Daat.
Adam resembles at that stage a toddler who is protected by his mother, yet as long he hasn’t encountered the evil outside home, he would not appreciate in full the protection that his mother offers him.
Note that The Heavenly MOTHER YHVH wouldn’t mind if Her beloved child Adam would remain n Eden forever, never exposed to the evil on Earth. She would love to see him in Eden forever, even if the cost of that would be a limited perception of her.
But Adam continued to grow in Eden, and with this his notion of Sin changes.
. .
9: Sin is violating the FATHER-KING Command
As Adam grows in Eden, the Parent’s advice does not hold him back from sin anymore. His fear of them diminishes. A greater authority is needed to to inform him THE LAWS and WARN him to keep these Laws .
It is like a child growing in his parent’s home. At a certain age the parent feel that he need a school to teach and prepare him for life outside home. There, in school, he would meet a greater authority, like a teacher or a principle, who would take over from them and guide him as he is growing up..
In the same token, as Adam grows in Eden, the former advice of his Parent would not keep him at bay. YHVH ELKM therefore changes His tone and speaks to Adam in a different capacity: As His KING, or better said as his FATHER-KING.
A clue for that change is given in the verse that says:
And YHVH ELKM Commanded on the Adam saying
From all the trees in the garden you can eat
But from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat
for the day you eat of it you shall die
The word “Command on the Adam saying” is redundant. It infers that IN ADDITION of saying about the fruit, the Parents YHVH ELKM also Commanded something on him. The Rabbis said that here the CREATOR gave Adam the primordial Six Commandments that are:
I IDOLATRY
II ADULTERY
III BLOODSHED
IV THEFT
V JUSTICE
VI BLASPHEMY
These Six would become part of Noah’s Seven, after the Flood. (He added the prohibition to consume blood and a limb torn from a living animal.)
These Six Commandments are primordial, engraved in our souls. They are :the nature moral code” shared by all peoples.
.
10: Which of the Six Commandment was relevant to Eden
COULD Adam commit IDOLATRY in Eden, living so close to the CREATOR? Of course he would not bow to foolish idols, but he could and did disobey his FATHER’s advice Adam COULD he transgress ADULTERY in Eden? Only with the advent of the female Eve.
COULD he commit BLOODSHED in Eden? Not as long he lived under the Tree of Life.
COULD he commit THEFT in Eden? Not as long they had no society and private ownership.
COULD he commit INJUSTICE in Eden? Not as long they had no society.
COULD he commit BLASPHEMY in Eden? Certainly a not , living so close to the CREATOR.
Thus out of the Six Commandments, Adam could violate at this stage in Eden only IDOLATRY. Later, with the advent of the ‘Woman’ and the introduction of Marriage, ADULTERY too would become relevant to their lives in Eden.
The rest four Commandments would remain potential. They would become meaningful on the PRACTICAL LEVEL of Knowledge, Daat only on Earth. ,
11: Sin is to transgress our FATHER-KING Command
With that new tone, YHVH ELKM introduced a new notion of Sin: As a transgression of the KING’S Laws. So far Sin is:
(a) Sin is something that damages or severs our connection to our CREATOR’ lips
(b) Sin is disobeying our FATHER IN HEAVENS’ advice
(C) Sin is also transgression of our FATHER-KING’S Commandments
Our Father Our King
The Rosh Hashanah Holiday, as you know, is the annual anniversary of Adam birthday. We therefore relate to G-d in our prayers on that day as “Our FATHER our KING”, avinu malkeinu. Now you know why. We keep calling Him this way for ten days till Yom Kippur.
But Adam continues to grow in Eden, and his notion of Sin keeps changing. On that we\ll dwell next class.