© 2020 by Rabbi Zvi Aviner
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ADULTERY-6/Adam, Where Are You?
1: A new perception of YHVH: Forgiveness.
Officially Adam and his wife has lost Eden. Had they not been warned by YHVH ELKM that “the day you eat of it, you shall die”?
And yet they were still in Eden, under the Tree of Life.
Yes, the eating had opened their eyes and they “gained” the “knowledge of Good and Evil,” which are perspectives in the eyes of YHVH. They acquired the basic notion of standing before YHVH – Shame from their nakedness, shame from their sin, shame from ADULTERY and IDOLATRY. Shame from having disappointed our MOTHER IN HEAVENS’S expectations. They also acquired the sense of YHVH’S Modesty and Her loath of Sexual Promiscuity and ADULTERY.
But they had to learn one more feature of YHVH’S reaction to Sin- FORGIVENESS.
2: Adam! Repent!
After their Sin, it says:
And they heard the voice of YHVH ELoKiM
Walking back and forth’ ‘mit-ha-lech’ in the Garden, in the breeze of the day.
And Adam and his wife hide themselves from the presence of YHVH ELoKiM, among the trees of the Garden.(Genesis 3: 8)
YHVH ELoKiM approached and departed from them
It is difficult to translate the expression “YHVH ELoKiM mit-alech in the Garden.” It describes a process, where the subject- YHVH ELKM- “brings itself” to walk back and forth in the Garden, as looking for something. The PARENT was looking for the children Adam and his wife, expecting them to come out and REPENT.
Repentance is NOT a feature of the All Mighty JUDGE ELKM, who pays back “measure for measure.” But Repentance is a feature of the Merciful YHVH as She joined the Heavenly Court.
And the Merciful Attribute YHVH would love to have Her children – Adam and his Wife- remaining in Eden forever, without being exposed to Evil and Death on real Earth.
So despite the Sin, YHVH ELKM allowed Adam and his wife to remain in Eden, offering them a chance to Confess, Repent and receive FORGIVENESS. .
When the Heavenly Court depart from us, its gates are closed.
The expression “went back and forth” also means that the Heavenly Court of YHVH ELKM went closer to Adam and his Wife, then departed away, then again came close and then departed. It was like a dance.
During the annual anniversary of Adam creation, the Rosh Hashanah Holiday, the Heavenly Court of the FATHER -KING, avinu malknu, comes closer to us , expecting to hear our repentance. We have “ten days of atonement” till Yom Kippur, to repent, and then the Court would “depart” again for the rest of the yer. During these 10 days we address G-d as Our FATHER-KING. We re-stage the scene in Eden, this time with our repentance. .
Failure to admit a sin
But Adam and his wife ‘hide’ in the bush, instead of coming forwards with confession. So the PARENT called them up –
“And YHVH ELoKIM called Adam and said to him,
Where are you?” (Genesis 3: 9)
This call, “Adam, where are you?” is the motto for all repentances. .
But Adam and his Wife failed to grab the opportunity , and instead of confessing their sin they pointed fingers at each other: Adam at his wife, and she at the Serpent.
That last episode in the story of Eden- our failure to repent- would be the base for the entire institute of the Holy Temple, its offerings and prayers. The whole purpose of the Temple was to encourage people to confess, repent and ask forgiveness. The person who brought the offering had to confess in the priest’s ears, yet his wards were directed to G-d. After the Golden Calf, G-d made a concession to Israel that the prayers and confessions would be done through the vehicle of animal offerings.
After the Temple destruction by Rome, the rabbis said that the offerings had never been essential and the prayers can be directly straight to G-d without any intermediate offering or even a priest.
3: Eden’s Verdicts
Adam and his Wife learned at that point all the aspects of Sin.
- Sin severs our soul’s connection to the CREATOR’S lips
- Sin is to disregard our FATHER IN HEAVENS Advice
- Sin is to violate our KING OF THE UNIVERSE’ Command
- Sin is a FOOLISH, illogical act that can destroy our society as well as the individual life
- Sin is an act that shame us in the eyes of our MOTHER IN HEAVENS
- Sin CAN be FORGIVEN by CONFESSION and REPENTANCE
They have also learned
- YHVH’s perception of HOLINESS
- YHVH’s MODESTY, He disgust from nakedness and sexual promiscuity
- YHVH’s readiness to FORGIVE
Now there was no point for keeping them in Eden anymore.
They would be driven out of Eden, to appear on real Earth.
But since Eden Trial took place on the THRID Day of CREATION, before there was any grass, shrub, tree or even rain on earth, The Heavenly Court would start seeding Life on Earth and then develop Adam through the entire Evolution, so that Mankind would appear on Real Earth on the Sixth Day, before the Sabbath.
The Court’s Verdicts
The Serpent, as a virtual creature, was condemned to disappear. On Earth it would develop into a regular snake,
Some say, however, that the Serpent has entered Man’s heart as an eternal driving force for sin.
The Woman was punished severely as follows:
“And to the woman He said,
I will greatly multiply the pains of thy childbearing,
In sorrow you shall bring forth children,
and yet your desire shall be to your husband
And he shall rule over you…” (Genesis 3: 16)
Having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge Good and Evil, the Woman would be exposed on Earth to Evil, namely the pains of menstruation and child delivery and possible death at labor
As bad as it sounds, it carried a blessing – not only the childbirth, but the spiritual enlightenment that comes with labor, as we’ll see with Eve giving birth to Cain.
Eve would be the first human to feel the full Glory of YHVH.
On their way out, something important happened. On that we’ll focus next class.
END OF ADULTERY CLASS 6