Rabbi Dr Zvi Aviner
Noahidesevencommandments.com
Ó 2022
ADULTERY-3/Sin, Marriage and Adultery
- What is the primordial sin?
- What is the origin of the term “Our Father in Heavens”?
- What is the origin of our “Natural Moral Code?”
- Is marriage of non-Jews sanctified by the Torah?
- Do we need clergy to sanctified marriage?
- What are the seven forbidden sexual relationship?
In the story of Eden, Moses develops the concept of Sin,
as the most proper introduction to the entire Torah
Last class we’ve identified three levels of Sin.
Let’s review them:
1 Sin stains, damages or severs our souls
When the Torah describes the FORMING of Adam in Eden,
It says that the CREATOR, YHVH ELHM, blew
His “Breath of Life,” Neshama, a soul, into Adam’s nostrils.
Our soul, therefore, is connected to the CREATOR’S Lips
Like a spiritual Umbilical Cord.
We need to take care of it,
Make sure it doesn’t get damaged or “dirty”
Make sure it returns intact to the CREATOR
Make all the efforts that it would ascend to higher levels
Sins and merits would affect all the above
Sin would “stain” our soul,
making us look less “aesthetically” in the CREATOR’S eyes
Sin can damage our “cord”, needing repair by repentance
Sin, evilness, would cut our connection to G-d altogether
Beyond repair
On the other hands,
Our merits would “nourish” our soul and make it stronger.
In fact, our merits would “coat” our soul and protect it
and elevate it higher than before, when it returns to G-d.
And here we’ve arrived at the most basic definition of Sin,
as an action that can either stains, damages or completely severs
our souls’ connection to G-d
The Torah introduces a second level of sin as follows:
2 Sin is to Disregard our Father-In-Heavens’ ADVICE
Soon as Adam is placed in Eden,
the CREATOR-YHVH ELHM- warns him
not to eat from the “Forbidden Fruit,” saying
“The Day you eat of it You shall die.”
But Adam, at that stage in Eden,
Living under the Tree of Life,
has no clue what “to die” means
Adam therefore resembles a child,
whose parents warn him not to touch a certain tree in the garden
less he would suffer allergy or death.
The child doesn’t fully comprehend the parent’s warning,
since he doesn’t know what allergy or death are,
yet he’d stay away from the forbidden tree,
because he trusts his parents, and he feels their love for him
and he knows that they only wish good for him
Adam, at that stage, is like that child.
Although he couldn’t comprehend his “Father-In-Heavens’ ADVICE,
for he has never witnessed death
yet he’d listen to the warning for he trusts G-d
and he feels G-d’s Love for him.
We too, as G-d’s Children, should abide by G-d’s advises,
For we trust Him, and we know that He would
tell us only what is good for us
So here we have ’ve arrived the second notion of Sin:
Sin is to disregard our Father in Heavens’ advice.
The Torah introduces a third level of sin:
-
3 Sin is Rebellion Against G-d’s Kingship
When YHVH ELHM warns Adam about the Forbidden Fruit
The Torah says that in addition to advising him,
YHVH ELHM also Commanded on him
On the same Forbidden Fruit.
By this, G-d elevated His Advice to a Command
Hence, giving an advice is not enough.
Adam resembles here a growing child,
a boy, whose parent’s advice wouldn’t be sufficient
to keep him away from misbehavior.
The growing boy would need now an authoritative voice,
such as by a school teacher or a school principal,
or a king, to keep him on track
The boy needs a set of rules, commands,
That clearly instruct him what to do and what not to do
Sin, therefore, is not only to disregard our father’s advice
But also to transgress the King-of-the-Universe’ Command
Henceforth, Adam would have to –
listen to his Father-In-Heavens’ ADVICE, and
obey the KING’s COMMAND,
In short, listen and obey
“Our- Father-Our- King” (avine malkeinu).
Let’s recall that we refer to G-d by that Name,
Our Father, Our King
Only once a year, on Rosh Hashanah,
The annual Anniversary of the creation of Adam
4 Sin is IDOLATRY
Tradition says that in addition to command Adam on the Forbidden Fruit,
YHVH EHM also gave him a set of Six Commandments, namely
IDOLATRY, ADULTERY, BLOODSHED, THEFT, JUSTICE AND BLASPHEMY
Which are henceforth known as Adam’s Six Primordial Commandments
(Noah would latter add the seventh)
So, let’s ask: Which of the six was relevant to Eden?
Out of the Six, only the first one, IDOLATRY,
had any meaning in Eden. For Adam could, by his Fee Will
obey or disobey G-d’s Command about the Forbidden Fruit
.
And by definition,
disobeying the KING’s Command, is a form of IDOLATRY
AND SO IS ANY OTHER SIN!
In summary so far: if Adam eats from the Forbidden Fruit,
1 He would stain his soul,
2 He would disregard G-d’s advice
3 He would rebel against G-d’s Command and Kingship
4 He would commit a sort of IDOLATRY
But at that stage, in Eden, besides violating IDOLATRY,
Adam could not yet violate any of the other Five Commandment
He could not violate ADULTERY when there was no woman,
He could not violate BLOODSHED when there was no death,
He could not violate THEFT where there was no private ownership
He could not violate JUSTICE where there was no society
He would not commit BLASPHEMY living so close to YHVH ELHM
You may ask, then, why did G-d bother to give Adam
the entire Six Commandments in Eden?
The answer is that they were given as potential laws
In case Adam would be driven out to live on Earth.
There, on Earth, the entire Six Commandments would become
fully relevant, and seen by us as our Natural Moral Code
shared by all Mankind
The rabbis also said, that G-d gave Adam the entire Six Commandments in Eden
As a Torah to be learned.
This is what the verse says that Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden
To “till it and preserve it.” It means to lean the positive and negative
G-d’s Commandments, what to do and what not to do.
Now the Torah introduces even higher level of Sin:
5: Sin is illogical, foolish
After Commanding Adam about the Forbidden Tree,
The Torah describes how wise Adam became.
G-d presents him the animals in the garden
and asks Adam to name them.
As it is said –
“And out of the ground YHVH ELoKiM FORMED
Every beast of the field and every bird of the air,
And He brought it to Adam to see what he would call it.
And whatever Adam called every living creature,this was its name…” (Genesis 2:19)
So wise was Adam, the Torah says,
That every name he gave, was the right name,
the very name that ELHM had intended for it
That, of course, is not a surprise to us,
as we remember that ELHM had Consulted
His own Wisdom and Science and made
Adam’s mind according
Indeed, naming and categorizing issues are
the first step in every science, in particular
Biology and other natural sciences
Adam therefore resembles here a growing young teenager
who becomes smarter, whose interest and libido
turns away from his family to the outside world.
Such a young adolescent – around 13 –
tends to immerse himself in science,
like biology and astronomy, watching the sky for hours
reading avidly entire scientific encyclopedias.
To such teenager, giving orders, regulations
and commandments in an authoritative fashion
would meet with denial, rejection,
and would not be as effective as ever before.
The teacher needs now to explain the logic
behind these rules and regulations and commandments,
why keeping them is good for our lives
and why violating them is bad for our lives
The teacher knows that the young teenager
Has become smart enough to distinguish
between Good and Bad, Right and Wrong,
Between Truth and Lie
Adam, at that stage of the story, has reached that level
where he knows Right from Wrong, Truth from Lie
So that he could now withstand a meaningful trial.
And to the wiser Adam, violating any of G-d commandment
Such as IDOLATRY, ADULTERY, BLOODSHED, THEFT
INJUSTICE and BLASPHEMY,
are not only a rebellion against G-d’s Kingship,
or a rejecting our Father in Heavens’ Love,
But rather a wrong, foolish action that would certainly
result with bad consequences, to his own detrimental.
Violating the Commandments are perceived now as inherently bad
destroying the person’s life as well as the entire society
On the other hand, aboding by G-d’s Laws is perceived
as a right thing to do, the smart way to live with.
And here we’ve arrived at the fourth aspect of Sin:
As an illogical foolish action, that a wise person
Should avoid for his own goodness
The ancient Greek, for instance, based their moral code
On that notion. To them, a sinner is just a fool,
Unworthy of association with the philosophers.
6 Naming the CREATOR
Tradition also says that at that point,
When Adam proved himself so wise,
the Attribute of JUDGMENT, ELHM asked him
“My son, what name would you give me?”
Adam said:
“Since You are the All-Mighty JUDGE, I’ll call you EeLoHiM.”
Which indeed, is the Hebrew term for a judge, even a human judge.
ELHM was pleased, since, as the verse says,
Every name that Adam gave on that day
Was the right Name, the one that ELHM
had intended for Himself
Next, the Attribute of MERCY asked Adam:
“What name would you give me?”
Adam said:
“Though you appear in the story of Genesis only once
and only as an Acronym, I would tell everyone that
“You were here before everything
that You are here now,
and that You will be forever.”
“In short, I will call you by the acronym YHVH–
Which stands for He was, He is, He will be.”
And as the verse attests, YHVH was pleased,
since that Name that Adam gave was the right one
the very Name that YHVH had intended for Him/Herself.
7 FORMING THE WOMAN
AND INTRODUCING ADULTERY
Now that the concept of Sin is established,
The story of Eden continues to unfold.
Adam enters a new phase in his life-
puberty. He is longing for a spouse, as the verse says
And YHVH ELoKiM said,
it is not good for Adam to be alone,
I’ll make him a help to match him…
G-d, YHVH ELHM as two cherubs
Wing touching Wing In “Heavenly Love”
Understands Adam’s loneliness and forms him a bride
as it says:
And YHVH EloKiM caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept
And He took one of his SIDES and closed up the flesh in its placeAnd YHVH ELKM built a woman out of the SIDE which He had taken from Adam
And He brought her to Adam, and Adam said:
This is now a bone from my bones, a flesh of my flesh
She shall be called a Woman for she was taken from Man” (Genesis 2: 21-23)
The Woman, not yet called Eve,
was F0RMED from Adam’s side, tzela,
as a ‘helper against him.’
The Hebrew word tzela is translated as ‘a rib’.
But tzela is the Hebrew term for a side,
Such as the “side of a building,”
Like the “tzela of the Tabernacle.”
Indeed, the rib comprises the side of Adam’s chest
The Midrash says that Adam was originally bi-sexual
and G-d “split” him into a male and a female
Today we may say that
Adam, as a male, was made with XY chromosome,
And G-d split it into XX and made the Woman
And, as the Woman is FORMED,
G-d, YHVH ELHM, immediately introduces Marriage
And with it, the ADULTERY Commandment in details
as it says
8 MARRIAGE
“Therefore, Man leaves his father
and his mother,
cleaves to his wife
so that they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24)
The verse says that Man clings to his Wife
and they become “One Flesh”.
Here, “one Flesh” also refers to “The One G-d”
who dwells between a man and a woman,
so that they become a family
Hence, If G-d is not present in their marriage,
It would fall apart
Hence Marriage, for all Mankind
Marriage according to Moses is not merely
a social contract between a man and a woman
but rather a sacred institution blessed by G-d.
9 ADULTERY:
The Seven Forbidden Sexual Relationships
The same verse that introduces Marriage,
also introduces ADULTERY
As it says:
“Therefore, Man should (sexually) leave…”
1. “His father” and his father’s wives (…..even if she is not your mother)
2. “And his mother…. (and her mother and sisters)
3. “And his sisters ….(from his mother)
4. “And his daughters … ( and her daughters and so on)
5. “And cleaves to his wife,” …(not to someone else’ wife)
6. “So that they become one flesh,” …(No homosexuality)
- “One flesh,”… (No bestiality)
By this, ADULTERY becomes relevant to their life in Eden.
Adam and the Woman would henceforth need
to abide by two Commandments:
IDOLATRY – refrain from eating the Forbidden Fruit,
ADULTERY – if another potential attractive partner is available
Such as the ultimate Seducer, the Serpent