Parshat B'Reishis
We find the snake tricking Chava into eating from the Tree of Knowledge, and she proceeds to get Adam to eat. Hashem comes looking for them. He comes to Adam in the Garden of Eden and asks him why he ate from the Tree he was not supposed to eat from?
Adam blames it on Chava. She made me do it.
Hashem approaches Chava and asks why she did it. She blames the snake. he made me do it.
Hashem approaches the snake and tells him off. he then curses the snake, goes back and curses Chava and then Adam.
This is a good lesson. I said to my kids - What happens if Tzvi writes on the wall. I come to him and scream at him, "What's going on??!! Why'd you do that!!??"
Tzvi says, "Mickey told me to do it."
I go to Mickey and ask what happened. He blames it on Nachum.
So I go to Nachum. In the end they all get punished.
It does not help to blame others.
It is the natural reaction. Adam blamed Chava who blamed Snake.
But it got them nowhere. They all got punished.
I wonder what would have happened had Adam just said, "Sorry God. I know I did something wrong. Please forgive me. I will try to do better next time" instead of blaming others. Would he have gotten the same punishment? Would Hashem still have chased down Chava and the snake? I do not know.
But I do know that they all tried to blame someone else and in the end they all got punished for it.
Showing posts with label breishit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breishit. Show all posts
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Breishis: coincidence?
Parshat B'Reishis
It is very rare to find in the Torah two people with the same name. In Breishis we find two people named Lemech. One is a descendant of Kayin, and the second is the descendant of Shes.
The Lemech of Kayin had a child named Naama. The Lemech of Shes had a child named Noah.
Noah eventually married Naama and the two of them (and their children) were the only people to eventually survive the flood that destroyed the world.
I am sure it is not a coincidence that they are both children of two different people named Lemech, a very rare occurrence on its own. That they both had a father named Lemech and they married each other and survived the flood makes the whole thing even rarer.
What is the significance of both having a father named Lemech?
Anybody?
It is very rare to find in the Torah two people with the same name. In Breishis we find two people named Lemech. One is a descendant of Kayin, and the second is the descendant of Shes.
The Lemech of Kayin had a child named Naama. The Lemech of Shes had a child named Noah.
Noah eventually married Naama and the two of them (and their children) were the only people to eventually survive the flood that destroyed the world.
I am sure it is not a coincidence that they are both children of two different people named Lemech, a very rare occurrence on its own. That they both had a father named Lemech and they married each other and survived the flood makes the whole thing even rarer.
What is the significance of both having a father named Lemech?
Anybody?
B'Reishis: bad birth control
Parshat B'Reishis
The passuk says that Lemech married two wives, Ada and Tzila. Rashi tells us that in that generation they would marry two wives, one for the purpose of having children and the second for her beauty and for sexual relations. They would give the second wife a "kos shel ikrin" (some form of birth control) to make her sterile.
Ada was the wife for having children and Tzila was for her beauty.
My question is: two verses later we see Tzila having children. What happened to the kos shel ikrin that made her sterile? How could she have children?
The only anwers I have is that 1) it was birth control that did not work or 2) Tzila said she took the borth control but really she did not.
Anybody got anything better?
The passuk says that Lemech married two wives, Ada and Tzila. Rashi tells us that in that generation they would marry two wives, one for the purpose of having children and the second for her beauty and for sexual relations. They would give the second wife a "kos shel ikrin" (some form of birth control) to make her sterile.
Ada was the wife for having children and Tzila was for her beauty.
My question is: two verses later we see Tzila having children. What happened to the kos shel ikrin that made her sterile? How could she have children?
The only anwers I have is that 1) it was birth control that did not work or 2) Tzila said she took the borth control but really she did not.
Anybody got anything better?
Sunday, October 15, 2006
influence
Parshat B'Reishit - 5767
In 1:16 the Torah describes how the sun, moon and constellations were created. The Torah calls the moon and sun, "את שני המאורות" and then again calls the moon, "את מאור הקטן".
Rashi goes into a nice explanation using the midrash to describe how the moon complained that they were created equal (moon and sun) but they cannot function like that, so Hashem shrank the moon and that is why the sun is call "מאור הגדול" and the moon is called "מאור הקטן".
But there is a fundamental question here. Why is the moon called a Maor at all? Maor is a source of light and the moon, as we all know is a big rock. It does not shine forth any light of its own, rather the light we see is simply a reflection of the light from the sun. So why is the moon referred to as a source of light?
I think it is related to the sphere of influence. For example, When a rebbe teaches a student, he is sometimes referenced as a father, as his sphere of influence is similar to that of a parent and if the student learns and follows the rebbe, the influence can change the character of the relationship to that of a parent and not just a rebbe.
The moo n shines forth no light of its own. Yet it reflects the light of the sun, to the point where it can light up the night sky. The moon is receiving the influence of the sun and has made itself subservient, in a way, to the leadership of the sun, which is also described in the midrash Rashi describes.
Because the moon accepted the leadership of the sun and dedicated itself to the influence of the sun, it is described as a מאור even though technically it is not.
In 1:16 the Torah describes how the sun, moon and constellations were created. The Torah calls the moon and sun, "את שני המאורות" and then again calls the moon, "את מאור הקטן".
Rashi goes into a nice explanation using the midrash to describe how the moon complained that they were created equal (moon and sun) but they cannot function like that, so Hashem shrank the moon and that is why the sun is call "מאור הגדול" and the moon is called "מאור הקטן".
But there is a fundamental question here. Why is the moon called a Maor at all? Maor is a source of light and the moon, as we all know is a big rock. It does not shine forth any light of its own, rather the light we see is simply a reflection of the light from the sun. So why is the moon referred to as a source of light?
I think it is related to the sphere of influence. For example, When a rebbe teaches a student, he is sometimes referenced as a father, as his sphere of influence is similar to that of a parent and if the student learns and follows the rebbe, the influence can change the character of the relationship to that of a parent and not just a rebbe.
The moo n shines forth no light of its own. Yet it reflects the light of the sun, to the point where it can light up the night sky. The moon is receiving the influence of the sun and has made itself subservient, in a way, to the leadership of the sun, which is also described in the midrash Rashi describes.
Because the moon accepted the leadership of the sun and dedicated itself to the influence of the sun, it is described as a מאור even though technically it is not.
Rule book and history book
Parshat B'Reishit - 5767
The first Rashi in the parsha is relatively famous, as far as Rashis go. The parsha begins in 1:1 by saying "In the beginning Hashem created the heavens and the earth."
Rashi comes along and tells us that the reason the Torah begins with all this history of the world and of the Jewish nation rather than simply beginning with the first mitzva (החודש הזה לכם...), is to let it be known that Hashem created the world and can give the land to whomever He desires. So if/when other nations come to claim the land of Israel from the Jews as having been unfairly captured, the Jews can say God created it and gave it to us, as has clearly been delineated in the Torah that He has the right to do so.
This is a wonderful explanation and should be read in Rashi by everyone. It was clearly written for Jews to internalize the lesson rather than non-Jews, as they likely will not accept such an argument. Rather, we Jews need to internalize the idea that we have the right to the Land of Israel.
However, I would like to offer another suggestion to explain why we begin the Torah reading how Hashem created the world and the history of the world, our forefathers, the Jewish nation, etc.
If the Torah was simply a book compiling all the mitzvos, it is unlikely it would be read by many. Nobody would feel obligated to adhere to the mitzvos and nobody would feel connected to them. Hashem had to begin the book by showing how He created the world, how the forefathers came to recognize Him and commit their lives to His way and how the Jewish nation began and was sustained by Him.
Only after reading all this history and explanation, only after all the raging debates about science and Torah, only after delving into the actual history and stories that made us into the nation we are, only after all that can Hashem delineate the Mitzvos for us. Once we are committed to Hashem and His way, then we can read and study the actual mitzvos and follow and perform them.
Without the history, it is just a bunch of rules nobody would be interested in keeping. The point of the Torah is not just tio give us these rules, but to allow us to dedicate our lives to Hashem. For that we need to mitzvos, but we also need the history.
The first Rashi in the parsha is relatively famous, as far as Rashis go. The parsha begins in 1:1 by saying "In the beginning Hashem created the heavens and the earth."
Rashi comes along and tells us that the reason the Torah begins with all this history of the world and of the Jewish nation rather than simply beginning with the first mitzva (החודש הזה לכם...), is to let it be known that Hashem created the world and can give the land to whomever He desires. So if/when other nations come to claim the land of Israel from the Jews as having been unfairly captured, the Jews can say God created it and gave it to us, as has clearly been delineated in the Torah that He has the right to do so.
This is a wonderful explanation and should be read in Rashi by everyone. It was clearly written for Jews to internalize the lesson rather than non-Jews, as they likely will not accept such an argument. Rather, we Jews need to internalize the idea that we have the right to the Land of Israel.
However, I would like to offer another suggestion to explain why we begin the Torah reading how Hashem created the world and the history of the world, our forefathers, the Jewish nation, etc.
If the Torah was simply a book compiling all the mitzvos, it is unlikely it would be read by many. Nobody would feel obligated to adhere to the mitzvos and nobody would feel connected to them. Hashem had to begin the book by showing how He created the world, how the forefathers came to recognize Him and commit their lives to His way and how the Jewish nation began and was sustained by Him.
Only after reading all this history and explanation, only after all the raging debates about science and Torah, only after delving into the actual history and stories that made us into the nation we are, only after all that can Hashem delineate the Mitzvos for us. Once we are committed to Hashem and His way, then we can read and study the actual mitzvos and follow and perform them.
Without the history, it is just a bunch of rules nobody would be interested in keeping. The point of the Torah is not just tio give us these rules, but to allow us to dedicate our lives to Hashem. For that we need to mitzvos, but we also need the history.
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