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Chumash Series

Teaching Materials

Goal: To appreciate that we have an egocentric view of reality.  Instead of seeing the world for what it is, we see it through the prism of our own desires. 

Secondary Goal: Illustration of the alienation from self (i.e. – lack of true independence) and others (i.e. lack of true interdependence) that egoism causes.  When we are self-centered, we are generally unhappy.

Alienation w/o G-d

Beginning to learn Ask your class to read Genesis 2,25--3,24

1. Ask them: "Why did Eve eat from the tree?" Let them discuss it for a while, though they don't really have enough information to be able to answer the question. Suggest to them the need to gather some clues from the process of the snake's seduction of Eve, and from the consequences of the eating. Preface: Suggest to them that in the Torah no one ever lies. They say things which are duplicitous--partially true, and true in a sense other than they are understood by the listener.

2. Ask them: "How did the snake persuade Eve to eat?"
a) They may or may not identify correctly that the snake first appeals to a vague sense of limitation Eve may feel, "Did G-d really say you can't eat from any of the trees of the Garden?" The snake suggested to Eve that her life was hedged around by restriction. This appeal has its affect, because in responding to the snake Eve does in fact broaden the restriction placed upon them by G-d: "We may eat from all the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, G-d said, 'Do not eat it, and do not touch it, or you will die.'" G-d of course did not say don't touch the tree.
b) Then the snake says to Eve, "You certainly won't die," or perhaps he said, "you won't certainly die. Your eyes will be opened and you will be like god." Ask them, "if we take the words of the snake in their second meaning, that though it is a risk, it isn't certain that you will die. What would you risk your life for? Help them recognize that they wouldn't risk their life for some marginal gain like making money. They would only risk their life to escape from a situation that denied them the very meaning of living. Ask your class what Eve thought she was being denied and what she imagined she was gaining. (Important: Someone will suggest that before they ate Adam and Eve were like innocent children and that eating offered them the option of responsible adulthood--knowing the difference between good and evil. Answer as follows: Adam and Eve were clearly capable of making moral choices before they ate from the tree.  Otherwise, it would have been impossible for G-d to punish them for their sin.  Before they ate, Adam and Eve were fully mature and intelligent adults with the ability to relate to G-d and to understand His commandments. The Rambam makes this point in Moreh Nevuchim.  Furthermore, sexuality does not begin after eating from the tree.  The Midrash says that Adam and Eve had relations and gave birth to Kayin and Hevel before eating from the tree.  Their relationship to sexuality changes after they eat.)

3. Now suggest the answer: a. Tell your class to pay careful attention: Before they ate the Torah tells us that Adam and Eve were in the tzelem of G-d. A tzelem is a reflection, like a reflection in a mirror. Man is the reflection of G-d. A reflection however, is dependent, without its own existence. When you walk away from the mirror the reflection vanishes. Similarly Man's existence is dependent on G-d. The snake said to Eve, "why be a reflection of G-d when you can be god yourself. Instead of being cast in G-d's image, why don't you cast the world in your image.
Summary: The serpent said to Eve:

1. The goal of life is to be close to G-d. (This is true.)
2. Being like G-d brings you closer to G-d. (This is true.)
3. G-d is independent. His existence is not contingent on anything else. (This is true.)
4. He casts the world in His own image. (This is true.)
5. Your dependence and contingent existence are an un-G-dlike feature. (This is true.)
6. To be greater and more G-dlike you should throw off your dependence and cast the world in your own image. (This is false.)

The Rambam says in Moreh Nevukim that after eating Adam and Eve made good/evil judgments as opposed to true/false judgments. His illustration is that "it is not good that the world is round. It is true that the world is round. In other words, after they ate Adam and Eve no longer saw the world objectively, they saw it as they felt about it. They cast the world in their own image. The serpent's words were literally true, but certainly not in the way Eve understood him.  The snake was revealing the true properties of the Tree of Knowledge.

Summarize if for your class like this: All of a sudden their whole life revolves around "I."  Adam and Eve can no longer see reality objectively.  This changes everything in their life for the worse.
Demonstrate that the consequences of eating from the tree are a self-centered, unsatisfied existence.  (If you have exhausted your study time, this is a reasonable place to break.  Tell the class that you will explore the devastating effects of eating from the tree in the next class.):

Work
Ask your class to read Genesis 2,15 and Genesis 3,19.
Point out to them that Genesis 2,15 says that having work was part of being in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3,19 says that the punishment for eating the fruit was . . . work.
Ask them what the difference is. They will correctly identify that the effort (sweat) involved is a new element. Ask them why Man works in each of the two passages. Point out to them that in Genesis 2 Man serves the Garden. The work that he performs is intrinsically purposeful.  In Genesis 3, Man works to feed himself. When he works the Garden he cares about the Garden. When he works to feed himself he doesn't care about the work. He cares about himself.  The work is actually a tedious tradeoff, a means to a different end.
Illustrations:

1. What is the difference between the way a housekeeper takes care of a child and the way a mother takes care of a child? The housekeeper says in effect, "I don't care about the child, but if you pay me enough I will act as though I care."
2. A mercenary says I will act as though I cared about the cause.
3. The general approach to work is: "I'm here to make money. The way I make money is I sell shoes." By contrast, the attitude of Chanoch, "who walked with G-d" (Bereishis 5,24) was "I'm here to sell people shoes that will serve their needs. If I do that well, my reward will be that I will make money. The first guy only cares about himself. He doesn't care about shoes and he doesn't care about his customers.

Summary: In all of these cases if you were paid more not to take care of the child, not to listen to the problems, not to fight for the cause, and not to sell the shoes, you wouldn't do it, because you don't care about the work you care about yourself.  By eating from the tree, man’s relationship to the world becomes egocentric.  He is not working for the benefit of society.  He is participating in the economy for his own personal benefit.

Love
Ask them to read Genesis 2,25 and Genesis 3,7.
Ask them why eating changed the way they felt about their bodies and about their sexuality?
Someone will probably say that before they ate they were like innocent children, with no concept of right and wrong. As earlier, point out that this is not correct. In fact, before they ate they were mature and thoughtful adults, capable of moral reasoning. The Midrash says that Adam and Eve had relations and gave birth to Kayin and Hevel before eating from the Tree. Suggest the difference is that before eating Adam looked at Eve and saw Eve. After eating Adam looked at Eve and saw his own desire. She became an object to him.  (In the previous class, we mentioned that Adam and Eve believed that their bodies were completely in tune with their souls.  The sin demonstrated otherwise, so they covered their bodies.  They did not want to be misidentified by their physicality.  The point is compounded here.  After they ate from the tree, there was a greater tendency to be mistaken for their bodies.)
Illustrations:

1. At some point most men have been told by a woman, "you don't really care about me. You're just using me physically etc.
2. Even though we gave the example before of a mother's love as selfless, parents relation to their children is anything but selfless. They have enormous ego wrapped up in their children: e.g. I want you to go to college because I never went to college etc.
3. Rav Yaakov Weinberg told me that once when the Bluzhover Rav was sick someone called him and said, "I'd like to come do the mitzvah of bikur cholim (visiting the sick). The Bluzhover Rav replied, "I don't want to be an object for your performance of a mitzvah. If you want to visit me, come. If you want a mitzvah, don't get it at my expense--stay home.
4. There is a famous romantic play called Cyrano de Bergerac. Cyrano has a grotesquely large nose. He is in love with a beautiful woman named Roxanne. Cyrano tells a handsome young man, Christian de Neuvillete the words that he should say to win Roxanne's love. So moved is Roxanne by the beauty of Christian's soul (she thinks) expressed in Cyrano's words, that she tells him she would love him even if he were ugly. Before it can be revealed that it is in fact Cyrano's words and soul that Roxanne loves Christian dies. Roxanne retires to a nunnery where she spends the rest of her life, and only discovers that it was Cyrano she had really loved when Cyrano himself is dying. Why didn't Cyrano tell her 50 years earlier that he was really the one? It would have been "ignoble." In fact Cyrano only cares about himself. Roxanne is no more than an object to him. He is prepared for her to waste her life so he can appear noble.

Important Teacher's Note: Tell your class that the change introduced by eating from the Tree of Knowledge is not irreversible, though the means is subject of another class. The Midrash says that when the Jewish People said "naaseh vnishmah, psak zuhama shel hanash (the snake's poison ceased.) The cure for the radical subjectivity of the Tree of Knowledge, is total mesiras nefesh. Rav Yaakov Weinberg explained to me that even ahavas Hashem is "self-oriented," that is there is an awareness of me and my having pleasure in G-d. Only yiras romimus involves real loss of self and total engagement with G-d. The next two classes will explore how a person can transcend his ego.

4. Point out that everything we have said explains why Eve ate. Ask them why Adam ate.  They will probably be at a loss. Ask them to read very slowly and carefully Genesis 3,6 and 3,12. The Torah says "Eve gave the fruit to her husband with her . . ." Adam tells G-d "the woman you gave to be with me, she gave me and I ate." Adam ate to be with Eve. Eve said to Adam, "I'm going to die and you will marry another Eve. You should eat too. So he ate.
The Torah suggests that Adam was not seduced by the power and properties of the tree itself.  Adam's mistake was that he thought being intimate with Eve was his first priority. (The Chofetz Chaim makes this point in his commentary on the Torah.)  Ask your class whether they think that this is a mistake that men commonly make.
This will set off a lot of discussion. You can probably let it run without comment. You can offer for discussion the following story, also without comment: There is a short story by Frank Stockton called The Lady and the Tiger. A man is caught having an affair with the princess. Her father, the king takes the man and puts him an arena with two doors. Behind one of the doors is the most beautiful of the princess' ladies of waiting. If he picks that door he will immediately marry the lady. Behind the other door is a hungry tiger. If he picks that door he will immediately be eaten. He comes into the arena and looks up at the princess for guidance. She gestures to the right. He opens that door. At this point the story stops and the narrator asks: "Which did she tell him? Did she send him to the lady or did she send him to the tiger?" (The Midrash says clearly, she fed him to the tiger.)

5. Ask them why G-d drove man out of the Garden and denied him access to the Tree of Life.  Here your class will correctly identify that for some reason it is now better for man that he should be confronted with death. Help them to understand that confrontation with our own death is the most powerful challenge to the egotism which warps us. Death shows us that we'll never be a god, and helps us accept being a tzelem.

 

Rabbi Nachum Braverman studied philosophy at Yale University. For many years he served as Educational Director of Aish HaTorah Los Angeles, and is now Executive Director of Aish HaTorah's Jerusalem Fund for the Western Region. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children.