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.