How is this fair?

In the article from last week, it mentions that if one is presumed to have violated a commandment for he sole purpose of disobeying G-d, then they are immediately punished, no questions asked. How is this fair? We know that the Torah tries to be as fair as possible, but this does not seem right. Perhaps it was accident, or it wasn't what it looked like? A case of mistaken identity? The witness heard wrong? At least give them a trial, right? Nope. This person's fate is set in stone. While this may be a challenging concept to grasp, there are some possible explanations I can come up with. Flat out disobeying G-d is not tolerable, and so harsh punishment is neccesary so behavior like this does not become acceptab;e. If people see Jews acting in this way, what does that make them think? definitely not making a good name for themselves. this seems like a reasonable explanation for such a harsh judgement.

Teshuva

I think that right now is the perfect time for us to be learning about the sin of Adam and Chava, because it is very close to Rosh Hashana where we are supposed to do teshuva and ask for Hashem's forgiveness. Like the snake (Chava's Yetzer Hara) making Chava eat from the tree, we have to try to push away our Yetzer Hara and not give in to it.When you think about how much one person can change the whole world it seems kind of scary, it makes you want to think more about the actions you are going to take. This month we ask Hashem to forgive us for the sins that we have done. If Adam and Chava had begged for forgiveness instead of just running away and getting punished, maybe the whole world would be completely different. Hashem could have rethought their punishment and our relationship with Hashem might have been much closer.

Punishment

Punishment is an important topic in the Torah. It is a way for Hashem to show us our misdeeds and we can atone for them. It's almost like training a pet: if they do something wrong, you simply make them uncomfortable. They then have no desire to do what they had done before. In the three cases in Bereshit, the sinners were punished for doing things that defied direct commandments from Hashem. The snake caused Adam and Chava to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, so his nature was changed completely, thus making it nearly impossible for him or snakes in the future to cause people to sin. For Adam and Chava, surviving changed from "easy and G-d given" to something they actually had to work hard for. Adam had to work hard to grow food. Chava had to endure pain during childbirth. For Cain, who murdered his brother out of rage and jealousy, he was forced to wander the Earth and struggle. This is a "מדה כנגד מדה" because all murder did in a world with very few humans was leave them without companions. They had to wander the world alone. Companionship is vital to human happiness. By murdering his brother, Cain ruined any kind of friendship he might have had. Instead, he had to go through life marked by Hashem, so everyone else would know about his sin and so that they would not defy Hashem by killing him.

Basically, all of these punishments are examples of the causes and effects that might lead us to defy Hashem. It is our job to take these examples and apply them to our lives. It is important that we consider the affects of our actions and how we might better ourselves by obeying Hashem's commandments.

mans nature to sin

It is in man's nature to sin, but man always has a chance to do Teshuva. When Adam and Chava ate the fruit, Hashem asked them what had happened. If they answered honestly, they would have been doing Teshuva. When they lied, Hashem saw that they hadn't done Teshuva and then He punished them. The same with Cain. When he killed his brother, Hashem asked Cain 'were is your brother'. Only after Cain lied did Hashem punish him.

The only character not given a chance to do teshuva is the snake. Since man is created in the image of Hashem, they are able to do Teshuva. The snake, who is just a small creature in nature, was not created in the image of Hashem. He is not given a chance to do Teshuva.

Nature of Sin

This talks a little about the google docs we had to fill in last week. When I talk about two examples, I'm talking about the two examples on there about the differences and similarities between Adam and Kayin.

Man is drawn to sin. It’s not always something he can help. When he does sin however, it’s his job to admit what he did rather than run from it, as it seems to be the human instinct to do, judging from these two examples. According to these examples, HaShem will not always say straight out that they sinned. He gives them a chance to lie or to tell the truth. In Adam’s case HaShem asked how they knew they were naked. In Kayin’s case He asked where is your brother. In both cases they had the option to tell the truth and take responsibility, but they chose not to. They needed to stand up, tell the truth, and accept their punishment or it would be worse for them in the long run.

A Failed Teshuvah

After Adam and Chava try to hide from G-d, you would think G-d would be so angry that before even letting them even try to explain themselves, he would punish them severely. This, however, is not the case. G-d sounds like He is mocking them when He says,"Who told you that you are naked?" and "Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?" At this point, what most don't realize is that G-d is giving Adam a chance to own up to what he did and do Teshuva. Hashem is being more merciful then we realize. He has not already decided on how He will punish them. He is giving them a chance to minimize their punishments and return to G-d. Instead of taking this opportunity, Adam blames his wife, only to make matters worse for him. Chava does the same, and instead of confessing her sins and trying to make amends, she blames the snake. This could have been the first act of Teshuva, but instead it ends in Adam and Chava receiving the first ever punishment. We also see that G-d never asks the snake any questions. The snake doesn't get a chance to do Teshuva or admit to his sins. The snake is a part of nature, and was not created in the image of G-d, like Adam and Chava were. Therefore, he does not get the priviledge of being able to repent and be forgiven.

Harry Potter and Bereishit

So last night I was rereading some of Harry Potter, and it occurred to me that some aspects are similar to ideas in Bereishit.

Voldemort is a parselmouth. This means he can talk to snakes. He also has a pet snake, Nagini, and has a snakelike appearance.

In class we learned that the snake was sneaky and cunning. He also was trying to get Chava to do something wrong, go against Hashem and eat from the tree of knowledge.

My theory is that Voldemort is snakelike and talks to snakes because he is trying to do what the snake in Bereishit did. He represents the evil in the wizarding world as the snake did in the garden. He is sneaky and cunning, and is doing his best to gain followers by convincing them his is the correct way.

Also, the snake started out respected. He was one of the more intelligent animals, and almost because of this, he became cursed. Voldemort also started out as an intelligent student. One of the best in his year. He then studied more and more dark arts and became what he was, which led to his death

Man vs. Angels

Week 3: Man used to have one rule-Don't eat from the Knowledge Tree-But man broke this rule causing him to lose relationship with G-d. Man broke the one rule and was kicked out of the Garden and had to work from out there and he was kept out of the garden by angels, which Hashem knew would never disobey him. Here we learn man is not perfect, but he can't go around doing whatever he wants and violating Hashem's rules

Change From a Sin

Week 2: We see how much one sin can affect the whole world-Causing the snake to change, man to change, and the relationship with G-d to change. The snake caused man to sin-making him the most hated animal. Man went along with what the snake said causing man to be embarrassed and realize they they were naked and lose their close relationship with G-d.

Prompt for the week of 9/20

Please read the following article and use it as the basis for a blog post for this week.
http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/parsha65/01-65bereishit.htm

A Changed Reality

We see in the end of Perek Gimmel that the reality of the world has changed as a result of the actions of the actions of Adam and Chava. The snake went from being a "respected" creature to being a hated one because he put a barrier between the man and the woman. The woman was supposed to be an "ezer k'negdo" for the man. Instead, she caused him to sin. Therefore, she will now desire him, but he will rule over her. The man was put in the Gan in order to do his job "l'avodah ul'shamra"- to work and to protect the garden, but now he is sent out because he can no longer be trusted to do what he' supposed to do in the garden and the garden has to be protected from him.

S'char V'onesh
Because of what Adam and Chava did, the concept of reward and punishment was introduced into the world. We see that the punishment that was given was a direct consequence of the actions.

1. Man needs clothing now because he realized that he was naked after eating from the Etz HaDa'as.
2. Man names and rules over his wife because she tricked him and caused him to sin.
3. The adama aspect is emphasized rather than the B'Tzelem Elokim aspect.
4. Instead of protecting and working the land in the garden, man is banished and the keruvim (angels) are put there instead because they don't even have the free will to disobey HaShem. (The garden had to be protected from man because he cannot be trusted there.)

Read and comment!

The Snake

In my opinion, the word "ארור" can mean many different things about the snake. This word is the curse or punishment that Hashem gave the snake after he convinced Chava to eat from the tree of knowledge. The simple meaning of this word is that the snake will become the most hated animal and that it will have to eat dust for the rest of its life. (Before this incident, the snake was a well respected creature.) It is unclear about whether the snake's nature was fully animalistic or partially human. I believe that the snake was a "hybrid" between man and animal. The difference between man and snake was that the snake lacked the bit of Hashem that man had. This bit of Hashem gave man the capacity to differentiate between good and bad, or the "Yetzer Hatov Verah". The snake can be seen as an example of pure "Yetzer Harah" with nothing to balance it out. When the snake sinned, it was changed from "hybrid" to full animal. As far as "eating dust" goes, the simple meaning of the words is that the snake will eat real dust for the rest of its life. I believe that there are more possibilities as to the meaning. It could be that the snake was able to eat human food before it sinned and afterwards, had to resort to eating "piglets". This can be learned from the reference that man came from the dust. Hashem gave man the role of ruling over the animals, so the snake must have lost its status and become a true animal. Another is that the snake lost its sense of taste, so everything it eats tastes like dust. The third is that when the snake eats, it eats a bit of dust or dirt along with its prey. This is possible because the snake hunts close to the ground. When it picks up it's prey, it might scoop up some dust with it. By sinning, the snake's punishment was that its nature would be completely changed forever.

Jealousy

Today in class we learned a little bit about the power of jealousy. Jealousy is such a strong emotion. We see by the woman (she is not given a name yet) that jealousy was so strong that it overcame her better judgement. The woman got so jealous of the divine-ness of G-d that she just had to be a part of it, and eat from the tree. Then she wanted man to be part of it. She let down her guard and allowed the snake to convince her into doing something against G-d's commandments. In addition to that she did not just simply confess to doing something wrong, no instead she hid from the all powerful G-d.

I think this poses an amazing lesson for all of us. Besides for the fact that man and woman gave into jealousy and sinned, which is bad enough, they tried to cover it up. All of us have sinned in our past. Even if its just being a little mean to someone, we have all done it. Especially now with Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur coming up in just a few weeks we need to not hide from G-d because that will just not do you any good, but rather we need to ask for forgiveness. Who know maybe if woman lived up to her sin, the punishment would not have been so bad for her.

I think it's important for us to remember that G-d is our friend. We might make mistakes and sin along the way, but in the end all he wants is for us to be nice human beings. He is here to help us and would probably rather not punish us if He does not have to.

With that I think we should use woman as an example of why we should not sin. And if we happen to do something wrong as G-d for forgiveness instead of just trying to cover it up.

Who's fault is it anyway?

As we learned in class, Adam only ate the fruit because Chava told him it was okay to eat. We learned that the snake tricked Chava, who then convinced Adam to eat. I have heard elsewhere that Hashem told Adam 'don't eat from this tree' and Adam told Chava 'don't touch the tree or eat from it'.
If this is true, was it really Chava's fault that she ate the fruit? The snake pushed Chava into the tree. When nothing happened to her, she began to doubt what she was told, but should she have told Adam before she ate the fruit?
In my opinion, Chava is partly to blame. Despite the warning, when the snake pushed her into the tree, she then proceded to eat from the fruit. Adam is also to be blamed. Instead of adding to what he was commanded, he could have told Chava what Hashem had said, and warned her not to touch the tree because there was a possibility it would tempt her.

Downfall

In Perek Aleph, the world was created. In Perek Bet, everything was given a purpose. In Perek Gimmel, Adam and Chava gained the qualities, that led to mans downfall. There are common qualities that humans have, that prevent Mashiach from coming. In this Perek, many of these qualities are introduced. Chava and Adam violated Hashem's commandment which led to them making another mistake, when they tried to hide from G-d. They don't see G-d as the ruler of the universe, who is omnicient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. They see Him as someone they can hide from, and if He can't find them then they won't be punished. The quality of embassment is also introduced this Perek. After they eat from the Tree of Knowledge, they become embarassed that they are naked. Though, at this time the embarassment didn't cause any major sins, today embassment causes people to do things that aren't exactly right. People don't want to be embarassed, so they succomb to peer pressure, which could mean doing drugs, drinking, stealing etc. Another new quality that is introduced here, is the childish act of not accepting the consequences of your actions. When Hashem tells Adam that he has sinned and disobeyed His orders, Adam quickly blames Chava. Chava then blames the snake for tricking her into sinning. These actions cause a lack of respect and trust between Adam and Chava, and between Adam, Chava and Hashem. Desire is introduced when Chava suddently wants the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. All of these qualities that were introduced in this Perek not only led to the downfall of Adam and Chava, but these are issues we are still dealing with now, and that we have still not been able to get rid of.

does the punishment fit the crime?

when adam and chava got kicked out of the garden of eden, they messed up, and it seems like they knew, too. however, did they know the extent of their crime? they were, like, a day old. when this happened. we don't get a young child in as much trouble for, say, kicking someone than an older person. the younger child doesn't really know better, but the older one does. therefore, the older one gets in the most trouble. getting kicked out of the garden of eden was a serious punishment, along with their other punishments. is it possible that adam and chava were not really aware that what they were doing was so bad? or did they, but they did it anyway?

adam: can he be blamed?

we all know the outcome of what happened with the snake in the garden of eden. but is any of this really adam's fault? from what we have learned in class, chava was the one who talked with the snake, who make up rules, who made faulty decisions, and who and and then gave to her husband. but did adam really know what was going on? maybe he just saw his wife coming withgood-looking food and told him to eat? did he know what he was getting himself into? food for thought.

The Snake

One thing I've never understood is how the snake is able to trick Chava. I know that there are many explanations as to what the snake is, such as a Yetzer Harah. I'm focusing more on the snake, as if it was an actual snake. Adam and Chava were just created. They are naive and confused. They don't understand many of the important concepts in life, as seen when they try to "hide from G-d. But, this snake comes along, who also had just been created and is able to trick Chava into doing a sin. (Also, while we're on this lovely topic-how does the snake even know what Hashem told Adam and Chava not to do?) I don't understand what gave this snake the motivation to trick Chava, or why she even thought to listen to an animal, that she should be ruling over. The snake seems like its been around for a while, by the way it twists Hashem's words around and makes himself seem like he is right. As we can see, Chava who takes advice from a snake, and Adam who listens to her when she asks him to sin (without even questioning her) are clearly very naive and do not have the ability to do what the snake was able to. If the snake was "special"/sent from G-d, then why would G-d want to trick them? It would be like tricking a baby. They haven't fully learned yet how to distinguish right from wrong. Hashem knew they were vulnerable, so it doesn't make much sense to send them a sly snake who can make them think they can do something when they can't.

Sinning

This topic has always bothered me and I feel like I ask this all the time, but either have not found an answer that satisfies me or have not been answered.

G-d basically set us up for failure. Now I'm not saying He wanted us to, because I am sure He did not want us to at all. Even now a days when you tell someone not to do something, they are obviously going to do the opposite. I think it is strange how G-d gets mad at us every time we sin and punishes us, if He is the one who started the whole cycle of it.

If G-d would have never allowed/ or set up the first sin, no one would know how to or even want to because we would know nothing of it.

Setting aside the whole free-will thing, because I know he lets us make our own decisions. I just think the whole thing seems too much on the side of sinning. G-d sent the snake, who he created to be the sneakiest one. And let's not forget about him putting the tree there in the first place. He couldn't just make the forbidden thing something unappealing, He had to make it a gorgeous, fruitful, plentiful (at least that's what I have seen from the pictures) tree. G-d could have easily made the snake a nice little animal, friendly to all, likewise He could have made the tree unappealing.

My real problem here is that if G-d is the one who had us sin in the first place then I don't think He should get made at us when we do. He is the one who gave us a taste of sinning.

Man vs. Snake in Perek 3

Perek 3 is the first place in the entire Torah where we see man sin or disobey Hashem. He gave man very clear restrictions concerning the fruit and the garden in general. Man was not allowed to eat from the tree of knowledge, but they were allowed to eat from any other tree in the garden. Man lived in the garden that Hashem created for them until the snake came along. The snake was "ערום", which is a play on words because Man was called ערום in Perek 2. He manipulated the restrictions given by Hashem and made it sound like Hashem "feared" the power man might possess if he ate from the tree of knowledge. The snake convinced Eve that it would be fine to eat from the tree, so she took the fruit, shared it with her husband, and ate it. As soon as they ate the fruit, they came to the realization that they were naked and made clothes for themselves. Two very important things changed when man ate the fruit. The first is that man violated a direct commandment from Hashem. This was a sort of "Pandora's box" in the Torah. After man first sinned, it opened the door for more people to defy Hashem's commandments. Also, the tree of knowledge represents the boundary between man and Hashem. Although man was created in the image of Hashem, He is omniscient and omnipotent. Man has to realize that although we have free will and we are supposed to rule the animals, we have to recognize the all powerful one who created us and gave us a role in this world.

Perek Beis and Part of Gimmel

Ok, so basically, I'm going to go through this like we did in class.
The first thing we saw was that in פרק א it kept saying א-לוקים. In פרקים ב-ג, it calls Him ה' אלוקים. We said that adding 'ה to his name adds the trait of mercy and a close personal relationship.

פרק נ פסוקים ב-ה
Plants won't sprout until 2 things happen:
1. 'ה makes it rain
2. אדם appears לעבוד את האדמה
This is saying that the potential is there, but nothing can happen until man and 'ה work together to make the work run smoothly.

פרק ב פסוקים ו-יד:
There is a new word being used for creation: יצר instead of ברא. Creating something from nothing is ברא, but that's not what 'ה is doing here. He is shaping and forming things from what's already there.
There is no order to the creation in פרק ב. Everything is created and mentioned in relation to man.
It mentions גן עדן- the beautiful trees, the עץ החיים, and the עץ הדעת טוב ורע- we don't know yet why they are mentioned here.

פרק ב פסוקים טו-יז:
Man's mission is לעבודה ולשמרה: to work and to guard (the garden)
They get their 1st commandment. They only have one restriction and they can do anything else they want to!

פרק ב פסוקים יח-כה:
Man is given a mate, but it must be from a part of him to show his dominance over the animals.

Hashem and the Creation of the World

Hashem created the entire world out of chaos and nothing. He created the world in a way that the beings would be provided for. First, He created the land, water, and sky. These were the habitats. Then, he created inanimate objects, like vegetation. This was supplemental to the survival of all living beings. For animals, the vegetation provided nutrition and provide the energy required for life. Next came the animals, who were all created with the ability to reproduce, evolve, and therefore survive. Lastly, He created Man, who would rule over the animals. Man was also created so that they can perpetuate the race. Hashem created the world by first creating the habitats, then creating the inhabitants. These steps were vital to the survival of Hashem's creations. Without them, we would need divine intervention to survive from generation to generation. Also, on the subject of evolution, Hashem created all beings with the ability to evolve (A.K.A. natural selection) and perpetuate the species. If we did not have this, Hashem would have to recreate the race with every new generation and the world would be different from what we know today.

In response to the issue of atheists, there are some major flaws in their non-belief system. First of all, how could everything have come into being if some "heavenly force" began the process? I know about the Big Bang Theory and how the world was supposedly created by one large explosion that created the conditions necessary for life. According to Judaism, the belief is: what set this explosion into motion? My answer is as follows: We do not know why Hashem created the world in seven days. Maybe seven godly days are like several billion human years. (Maybe Hashem wanted to explain the process of creation in "human" terms so that the people would be able to relate to the One who created them.) The first day of creation may have been the Big Bang and the effects of the explosion, like the formation of planets. Then, the Torah describes how Hashem created the heavenly bodies. This could come to mean that He utilized several masses (i.e. sun, moon, planets in our solar system) and created our solar system. The Earth may have already begun to form itself into the planet we know at the same time that the solar system was aligning. Though I do not study the stars constantly, I know that there is no way that "space" decided to start creating masses within itself. The only answer is: Hashem.

Free Will

Because I can't post a new thread, I'll just post it here.

In History, we're learning about the theory of evolution. This is the story of how the modern day human evolved from an ape. How can this be when we are learning in class that when Hashem created the world he created man as he is today?

So, my theory is that evolution is completely false. I have no way to prove this, but I know that we can only find what Hashem wants us to find. If He didn't want us to find the ancient underdeveloped skeletons, we wouldn't have.

I think that this teaches us all a lesson. Hashem wants so badly to show us that we have free will. This is one of the hardest concepts to grasp, so He uses concepts we understand to show us that yes, we do have free will.

Have you ever thought about why Hashem allows us to create different theories about religion and creation? I think this is so we will realize we do have a choice in the matter, and in doing so will come to Him.

HaShem's Role in the Creation of the World

HaShem’s role in the creation of the world is, like everyone else said, to be the creator of all things and to make things able to sustain and provide for themselves. He created the world out of nothing and made it into this huge, full of life, self sustaining thing that was put together with complete order and logic. Like Alex said, HaShem is the Master over it all.

- Mirel Nechama

Hashem’s role in creating the world is that He, alone created everything in the world, out of nothing. There was nothing in the beginning, and He filled the world with nature, animals, and people. First, (in Perek Aleph) He created day, night, animals, fish, and even people. Later, (in Perek Bet) He gave them all a purpose. Everything that He created has a purpose, and He even created everything with the ability to sustain itself, by giving it/him everything they need in order to survive. I would have liked to know why G-d waited to create man, and why He didn’t create everything on one day.

HI!

i figured it out!