Even though we have written about the sin of Adam ha-Rishon [אדם הראשון, Primordial Man] previously (see “Daat, Daat Everywhere and not a Drop of Truth” and “The Sweetness of Silence”), we are revisiting this topic because without a solid understanding of where we came from and what happened at the beginning of our history, it is practically impossible to understand history in general, our role in it, or even the purpose of our lives.
Let’s start with a few simple questions. Where was Adam when the Nachash ha-Kadmoni [נחש הקדמוני, Primordial Serpent] was seducing Adam’s wife? How did she end up in such a vulnerable situation? Why did Adam eat from the fruit of the tree of which he was explicitly told not to eat? Did he eat it because his wife offered it to him? Did he eat it bedi’eved [בדיעבד, after the fact] or was it planned l’chatchila [לכתחילה, from the outset]? What was Adam really thinking?
We know that everything Hashem does, He does for our good, but not just for our good in a generic sense, but for our best possible good. This truth is hinted at in Bereshit 1:31: וַיַּרְא אֱלֹקִים אֶת־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהִנֵּה־טוֹב מְאֹד (And G-d saw all that He made, and behold, it was very good). We also know that the intellect Adam was created with was beyond our comprehension. Describing his greatness, R’ Yehudah said in the name of Rav (Chagigah 12a): אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן מִסּוֹף הָעוֹלָם וְעַד סוֹפוֹ הָיָה (Adam ha-Rishon reached from one end of the world to its other end). And R’ Elazar said (Chagigah 12a): אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן מִן הָאָרֶץ עַד לָרָקִיעַ (Adam ha-Rishon reached from the earth to the sky). These statements are not describing Adam’s physical size (because he wasn’t physical yet), but rather his spiritual stature. Nevertheless, Hashem told Adam (Bereshit 2:17): וּמֵעֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע לֹא תֹאכַל מִמֶּנּוּ כִּי בְּיוֹם אֲכׇלְךָ מִמֶּנּוּ מוֹת תָּמוּת (And from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad, you are not to eat from it, because in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die). Even though everything Hashem created was very good, Hashem seems to have withheld something of that very goodness from Adam. We have to acknowledge that this seems rather perplexing. Adam thought it was very puzzling as well, “Why would G-d create something which is very good and yet withhold it from me?” Instead of bringing his question to Hashem, he used his tremendous intellect to work out a sophisticated answer to the question. This was his big mistake. Let us explain.
Being the pinnacle of Hashem’s creation, Adam understood what is now commonly taught in the Kabbalah, that there are two components (facets or lights) to Hashem’s keter [כתר, crown]. The deepest one, which is well beyond our grasp, is referred to as Atik Yomin [עתיק יומין, Ancient of Days]. It emerges from the Infinite and can be thought of as that aspect of Hashem’s keter which defines His Supernal Delight, i.e. what creation is all about. But a delight without a plan of action will never come to fruition. Hence, Atik Yomin is clothed in an external aspect of Hashem’s keter known as Arich Anpin [אריך אנפין, Long Countenance]. Arich Anpin can be thought of as that aspect of Hashem’s keter which defines His Supernal Will or Desire.
Adam would also have known that the command not to eat from the tree originated from Arich Anpin, the outer aspect of keter, i.e. the Will of Hashem. The question that Adam was trying to answer was: What was the real Delight of Hashem? Was Hashem’s Supernal Delight that he not eat (as the light of Arich Anpin explicitly told him) or rather, was he supposed to use his G-d-given intellectual skills to deduce that what Hashem really wanted, from the deeper level of Atik Yomin, was that he eat from the tree? In other words, perhaps Hashem wanted Adam to violate the expressed Will of Hashem in order to fulfill His deeper unspoken Delight. But if so, why would Hashem have an unspoken Desire apparently directly opposite of His spoken Will? Adam ha-Rishon would have also known another very important truth expressed many years later by R’ Abahu (Berachot 34b): מָקוֹם שֶׁבַּעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה עוֹמְדִין צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים אֵינָם עוֹמְדִין (The place where masters of repentance [baalei teshuvah] stand, completely righteous people [tzaddikim] can’t stand).
Piecing all this together, Adam could have concluded the following: If Hashem wants me to receive the greatest possible good (which He does) and for that reason He created everything, and the standing achieved by someone who sins and then repents is higher than the standing of someone who never sinned at all, then does it not follow that His real inner desire is that I sin and then repent? Obviously, He won’t command me to violate His expressed Will. He wants me to figure that out myself!”
By relying solely on his intellect, his rational mind, his finite logic, without talking with Hashem, Adam found himself contemplating a terrible crime, a crime so awful that, if he was wrong, would propel the entire world into a downward spiral from which it would be exceptionally difficult to rectify. Yet, even as great as his intellect was, i.e., that he could see from one end of the world to its other end, it was still very limited compared to the Infinite. Adam made the same mistake that we have been making ever since—thinking that nothing is beyond our intellectual and logical grasp. This was Adam’s big mistake.
Like all subsequent master criminals, he was prepared to act out his exceptionalism. But just in case he was wrong, he needed a scapegoat—a dupe, a gullible victim. And for that, he turned to his wife. He orchestrated a situation where the Nachash ha-Kadmoni was able to have direct access to her. And where was he? It doesn’t matter where he was. What matters is that he deliberately made himself scarce in order to leave her open to attack. And that’s exactly what happened. She was seduced, i.e. completely fooled, by the Nachash. She ate and then gave some to Adam who also ate (Bereshit 3:1-6). But he was not fooled. He knew exactly what he was doing (or so he thought), and everything was going according to his plan—but not for long. As it is written in the next verse (3:7): וַתִּפָּקַחְנָה עֵינֵי שְׁנֵיהֶם וַיֵּדְעוּ כִּי עֵירֻמִּם הֵם (And the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked). Not naked physically (for they weren’t physical yet), but naked spiritually. They were given one commandment to observe and they failed. As a result, they had nothing to their credit, no merit whatsoever. They were naked in the truest sense of the word.
But Adam had his backup plan. He had someone to blame. He had his scapegoat. So when questioned about what he done, he neatly replied (3:12): הָאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּה עִמָּדִי הִוא נָתְנָה־לִּי מִן־הָעֵץ וָאֹכֵל (The woman [wife] that You gave to me, she gave to me from the tree and I ate). Not only did he blame his wife, he blamed G-d as well. Not even a shred of remorse or personal responsibility. But when she was asked to explain her actions, she responded (3:13): הַנָּחָשׁ הִשִּׁיאַנִי וָאֹכֵל (The Nachash seduced me and I ate). At least she told the truth. She had, in fact, been deceived (and this fact would partly mitigate her guilt).
In describing Adam’s conduct after the crime, R’ Meir said (Eruvin 18b): אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן חָסִיד גָּדוֹל הָיָה כֵּיוָן שֶׁרָאָה שֶׁנִּקְנְסָה מִיתָה עַל יָדוֹ יָשַׁב בְּתַעֲנִית מֵאָה שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וּפֵירַשׁ מִן הָאִשָּׁה מֵאָה שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְהֶעֱלָה זִרְזֵי תְּאֵנִים עַל בְּשָׂרוֹ מֵאָה שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה (Adam ha-Rishon was very pious—when he saw that death was imposed because of what he did, he fasted [during the daylight hours] for 130 years, he separated from his wife for 130 years, and he girded himself with belts made of fig leaves for 130 years). Are we to be impressed with his response? Was this teshuvah or just depression? Yeshaya wrote (58:5): הֲכָזֶה יִהְיֶה צוֹם אֶבְחָרֵהוּ יוֹם עַנּוֹת אָדָם נַפְשׁוֹ הֲלָכֹף כְּאַגְמֹן רֹאשׁוֹ וְשַׂק וָאֵפֶר יַצִּיעַ הֲלָזֶה תִּקְרָא־צוֹם וְיוֹם רָצוֹן לַייָ (Is this the kind of fast that I desire? A day of when a person starves himself? Is it about bowing the head like a bulrush and lying around in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call that a fast, a day of seeking favor from Hashem?). Adam’s behavior doesn’t sound like teshuvah, does it? But we don’t have to guess. Did R’ Meir say that Adam did teshuvah? No, he just said that he was very pious. Do we read that he cried out to Hashem from the bottom of his heart like King Chizkiyahu did (Melachim Bet 20:2-3)? Do we read that he sang to Hashem thanking Him for His loving kindness and His mercy for giving him an opportunity to fix the damage that he caused? He may have been very pious, but he seems to have missed the boat for 130 years.
Understanding a little bit about the root of the criminal mind—for Adam was the primordial criminal mastermind—it would be shortsighted of us to stop here because when Adam sinned his soul shattered into billions of pieces. And we are those fragments, those holy sparks. Adam ha-Rishon is not some abstract historical or mystical figure. He is us: he is you, he is me. Therefore, as our Sages of blessed memory said (Eruvin 13b): נוֹחַ לוֹ לְאָדָם שֶׁלֹּא נִבְרָא יוֹתֵר מִשֶּׁנִּבְרָא עַכְשָׁיו שֶׁנִּבְרָא יְפַשְׁפֵּשׁ בְּמַעֲשָׂיו וְאָמְרִי לַהּ יְמַשְׁמֵשׁ בְּמַעֲשָׂיו. (It would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created, but now that he has been created, he should examine his actions. Some say, he should scrutinize his actions).
Since Hashem gives us everything we need, and since most of us don’t live for 130 years, we must be able to do teshuvah on this sin in less time than it took Adam. Simplicity is the path of life, not intellectual sophistication. Human logic is just not good enough.
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