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A second trenchant point that the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden teaches us is that human beings cannot hide from the consequences of their behavior. Eventually the piper must always be paid. When man‘s plans go awry, when his ideals turn into false idols, when he realizes the disastrous consequences of past hopes and policies, when he is literally stripped naked before the bar of history and suffers from the unforeseen consequences of his past behavior and decisions, most humans follow the example of Adam and attempt to hide from their mistakes. Adam hides in the vegetation of the Garden of Eden and naively believes that he can avoid the necessary confrontation with God. He also believes that somehow he need not confront himself either. Then the voice of the Lord is asking the question of all questions - "Where are you?" This is not a question that refers to Adam’s location on earth. Rather it is the deep probing question of self-assessment that governs all of life’s actions and vicissitudes. Every moment of our waking lives the question "Where are you?" is directed to us. And hiding in the bush does not help for the question eventually emanates from within our deepest being and cannot be wished away or ignored indefinitely. After centuries of secularism - "Where are you?" After decades of peacemaking and unilateral concessions - "Where are you?" After the pursuit of material goods to the exclusion of all else - "Where are you?" There is no hiding place from that question. It is what guides and informs our personal and national lives.
And as a final insight that certainly can be gleaned from the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden concerns the clothing the Lord made for them, so to speak, to cover their nakedness. In the Torah the clothing made from them was from material called ohr - spelled with an ayin and meaning "hides/leather." The Talmud records for us that in the Torah written by Rabbi Meir, the great scholar and scribe of the second century CE, the word ohr was spelled with an aleph instead of an ayin. Ohr with an aleph means "light/radiance." Human beings have the choice as to how they wish to cover their nakedness and their base and wrongheaded behavior. They can cover it with hides and leather, furs and satins. But eventually these materials fray, tear, decay and/or are no longer considered to be fashionable. Rabbi Meir’s option was to cover them with light - with Torah and faith, commitment and tenacity, repentance and good deeds. The original light of creation still exists in our universe and world. If humans are wise enough to envelop themselves in its radiance our shameful nakedness cam be covered and we will not be doomed to repeat past errors of judgment and behavior. We should attempt to retain as much of our physical and spiritual Garden of Eden as possible in this good new year that has now begun for all of us.
Parashat Hashavua The Strength of His Actions He Told to His Nation
Harav Shaul Yisraeli – from Siach Shaul, pp. 6-8
Rabbis in Midrash
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Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part II
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
Parashat Hashavua Happiness for the Right Reasons
[With painful longing, we share these divrei Torah from our co-Rosh Kollel for close to 40 years, Harav Moshe Ehrenreich zt”l.]
