Freedom - Divesting ourselves the weight of living in the past.

Hello cherished reader,

      Well, this is a very late post on my part. I hadspent the weekend in the field with my Army Hospital Company and my beloved 4th Platoon (Operating Room shout out). We had a very successful weekend of firearms training, and I played range safety, and ZERO-er the bulk of the time. By ZERO-er I mean a person who provides an expert eye when helping a soldier set up their iron sights on their rifles. I always have a great sense of pride when I zero a soldier, and they in turn go and qualify with fantastic scores moments later. It tells me that what I am doing, and what information I am passing on is effective.

      At the end of the wonderful weekend, I went and had a wonderful time with my Aunt and Uncle at their home after they picked me up form my Unit. We had a splendid talk concerning dialogue, and divestment. We explored Rashi a little bit together which was exciting, and compared Hebrew linguistic commentary with the commentaries of their Christian books, and had a great time of it. I will share what I had learned, and what I was able to pass on to them through my precious Torah...while I listen to my Matisyahu playlist.

      The first point of order would be something that touches on probably one of the most important Commandments that have been given to us:

Deut. 4:2

      Now that we have established the base line to operate from which is "Do not add to, or take away from", or in simpler terms, "Do not change G-d's Word", we can now touch on the first bit of order concerning Adam and Eve. Actually, Eve is the person of interest for this moment. Let us begin.

In Genesis 3:1 we have the following direct translation of the serpent talking to Eve:

"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that HaShem G-d had made. He said to the woman, "Did, perhaps, G-d say: "You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?" "

       I would like to introduce you to the oldest "bait and hook" trick in the book. Did you notice anything odd about the way the serpent worded is question? When we want to enter into any dialogue that could get someone thinking I believe it may be safe to assume that we would never something like, "Didn't G-d say that you can't eat of any of the trees here?". Why do you suppose that is? I would say that it is because it puts the listener on the defensive just a touch, and generally when people go on the defensive they tend to recall information a bit better, especially concerning laws. However, the serpent attempted to create small dialogue thus creating an atmosphere that does not seem threatening. So instead going on the attack, and challenging Eve he chose instead to engage her, bring her into dialogue where she might think that she is the person that the serpent is seeking counsel from by using the word perhaps. I had never really thought about it until recently, and Rashi explains to usage of "perhaps" in the dialogue as follows:

  אַף כִּי-אָמַר   "Did [G-d] say..."    This means,  שֶׁמָּא  אָמַר לָכֶם  - Perhaps He said to you, "You shall not eat of any [tree] ect.?" - Even though he [the serpent] saw them eating from other fruits. He [the serpent] increased words upon her [Eve] i.e., he asked broader questions than were appropriate to the situation, - so that she would answer him, and he would come to speak of that tree [The Tree of knowledge of Good and Bad]

      So here we see that the serpent is trying to pull Eve into a conversation, and eventually lead her into talking about the true tree in question. She responds with the following answer:

"Of the fruit of any tree if the garden we may eat. Of the fruit of the tree which is in the center of the garden G-d has said: You shall not eat of it and you shall not touch it, lest you die."

      But what did G-d say ACTUALLY? Most of you know this story already, but I figured we could take a trip down memory lane for a moment. In Genesis 2: 16-17 G-d tells Adam the following after placing him in the The Garden of Eden:

Genesis 2:16-17

      Now what I have done for you is pointed out that Adam was the one to whom G-d was speaking. This is very important to understand because it was from Adam that Eve got her information. As a result, due to her negligence and lack of attentiveness she added a new commandment. What was the commandment she added? "...and you shall not touch it". Because of this simple slip she had made we will find that it became very easy for the serpent to trick her, as Rashi explains:

You will not surely die - He [the serpent] pushed her until she touched [the tree] - He [the serpent] said to her - "Just as there is no death through touching it, so there is no death through eating."Bereshis Rabbah 19:3

      By having the events explained we can see very easily why it took hardly any effort to escalate Eve from touching to eating. Already as far as she was concerned, had violated a commandment and saw no truth in it [the warning from G-d] although she had believed that the commandment against even touching the tree was in fact a real one rather than an addition she had made to what G-d had already conveyed to Adam. Therefore it was easy for her to be pushed into escalation from one violation to another. And of course Adam saw Eve still alive and offering him the fruit [from The Tree], and he ate from it as she had. So let us move into the point of interest that happens immediately after. What we have is that Adam and Even realize they are naked, let is delve into this event and see what the Torah has to reveal to us:

Genesis 3:7 Rashi's Torah pq 32

      Rashi points out a very interesting point of interest in this passage, and that is "...and they realized that they were naked.". It goes without saying that this is a truly strange passage because they were always naked since their inception and planting in the garden. What exactly about their nakedness did they realize? Furthermore, why the use of fig leaves? Wait a minute... fig leaves? Did anyone notice that out of all of the fruit bearing trees of the Garden of Eden, this is the only time a specific genus of tree is mentioned?

These people own this picture, not me. :) 

      Rashi explains with the following:

A FIG LEAF - That is the species of tree from which they ate. By the very thing through which they came to ruin, they were corrected. But the other trees prevented them from taking their leaves. And  why was the name of the tree not publicized? Fir the Holy One, blessed is He, does not desire to perturb and creature. He therefore did not state explicitly the species of the tree for which they sinned so that [people] should not humiliate it, and say "This is the one through which the world was stricken." - This is found in Midrash R' Tanchuma.

      So Rashi, and the Midrash shows us that this was the way for G-d to show us by which their sin was committed while preventing hate and disgust to plague a tree that is a creation of G-d for no creation of G-d such as this tree should be despised. It was not the fault of the Tree, but the fault of Adam and Eve.

      Now if we backtrack a little bit we still have the question of the nakedness to deal with, and if we explore Rashi a little further we will have this query answered:

"...and they realized that they were naked..." - Even a blind man realizes that he is naked. But what is meant by "and they realized that they were naked"? There was one commandment in their hand, i.e., G-d held them responsible for one commandment, not to eat from the tree  and they became naked of it. i.e., they had divested themselves of the commandment by breaking it.

      What we are being shown is is that Adam and Eve were now divested of the one responsibility that they were given and therefore were "naked". So the question then arises, why the sewing of leaves into garments to cover themselves? Was it to cover their nakedness, or their nakedness? The answer is really simple if you think of it. Imagine if you would a curious child who is captivated by a beautiful and priceless blue Chinese vase that is a family heirloom. The child has been told to never touch it due to its great worth and fragility. However, the temptation overcame the child and he took the vase from its placement and tested the weight carefully in his hands. The child became careless and it slipped from their hands.One of the first things a child would do (admit it, you've done something like what is coming next) is search for the super glue, and vainly work to putting the pieces back together.

      Now look at what Adam and Eve did. They broke a vase [Ate from The Tree], and attempted to piece it back together [By sewing the broken 'pieces' back together], and wear them as vestments. They thought through their child-like behavior that they could mend what they had broken. What is even more profound is that they had reacted in such a way. This shows you how spiritually in tune they were. They understood that they had lost something they could not easily retrieve.

      We know that G-d enters into dialogue with them, asking where they were (though He knew anyway), and had asked what they had done (though He had seen it). Why the entrance into dialogue? Have you noticed a common theme between this story, and Cain and Abel? G-d seeks to enter into dialogue in order to give those who had committed offenses to repent. To perform teshuvah. Instead Eve blames the serpent, and Adam... actually Adam takes the blame game further by blaming G-d by saying, "The woman who you gave to be with me - She gave me of the Tree and I ate.". The sheer audacity of Adam to blame G-d for his stumbling was certainly not lost on Him.

     By this lesson, what can we learn? As you can see through their simple stumbling it is easy to remove the commandments G-d has given to us through sin, and rather than seeking G-d out and asking for forgiveness with the fullness of their hearts bearing full regret. They instead sought to lay blame and not take ownership for their missteps.
     G-d seeks to enter into dialogue with you in order to give you a chance to admit and repent your failings in His eyes. To say that G-d seeks to mete our judgement and vengeance against sinners as a hobby to pass the time, you're mistaken. For one, the dude is eternal. Last I checked eternal means He has a LOT of time. I'm sure He'd rather play Assassin's Creed or something rather than punishing people. He does not seek to punish. He seeks to be merciful and forgiving. However, a responsible parent [like G-d] cannot just dole outs hall passes like confetti to everyone. A responsible parent makes sure you understand what you did wrong, this way you can learn form the mistake and go the way of righteousness. G-d shows us the standard through Torah. It is up to you and I to learn from it. Learn form the stories, the laws, and the Prophets.
      Do you dear reader, really think they the Jewish people were stiff-necked hard-nosed stubborn people the whole time? Our Sages of blessed memory teach us that G-d gives us this side of Jewish history for a reason. By seeing our ancestors backsliding, we can then learn from them. The concept of history being cyclical is a very old and Jewish concept, meaning that bad history is doomed to repeat at one level of intensity or another. Be it a small event, or something global. Regardless of how small or great the affect may be on a given populace, the simple lesson of learning from our mistakes should not be lost on us. We see more mistakes rather than great achievements and glorification in our Torah so that we might learn from previous sins.
      A great Rabbi by the name of Rabbi Ken Spiro who I think still teaches history in Jerusalem likes to say the following, "History is the testing ground of ideas.". I have always found this to be very profound. We can see how various people have tested various things and know what works and what does not work. Through the diaspora of the Jewish people we can see that not following and studying the Torah does not work.

      So back to the main topic at hand: Freedom - Divesting ourselves the weight of living in the past.
Many of us, myself included, look back constantly at the things we have done and wonder, "can I ever get out of this?", "can I really move forward.", and my favorite, "How did I get so far?". We as human beings are really good at living in the past rather than learning from it. And I have another teaching for later concerning the problems of looking back. However, this post is more about getting out, divesting the garments of sin and regret, and donning new garments of holiness. By repenting, by praying teshuvah we can find that replacing the tattered rags of iniquity with the white garments of the upright is in fact a very easy thing to do. No where does G-d say in all of our great Torah that your stumbling's are too great for Him.He just tells us to reach out to Him, and He will be your G-d. His mercies and forgiveness's are endless, and forever. If you truly want them, they are yours for the taking. And as soon as you ask for them, then your sins will be forgotten, never to be remembered. I will do another teaching dedicated to this later as well.

      I hope I was able to provide you with some insight. I know I came away form it knowing more now than I did a couple of days ago.


      Lilah tov and be well.,