Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Bereshis - Pleasure Principle

The Chumash explains that when G-d made the world no plants had in fact grown. This is because there had been no rain and this was because there was no man to work the ground. Rashi implies that everything in the world was in anticipation of man.  When G-d breathed life into man then everything sprung up. After that G-d planted the Garden of Eden and placed man in it.

This is also the first time in the Bible that the four letter name of Hashem is used. During the story of the six days of creation only the name used is Elohim. The Tetragrammaton tends to be the essential name of the holy One blessed be He. It is often associated with the characteristic of mercy. The name Elohim literally means “powers” and is associated with the characteristic of law. The gematria of Elokim is 86 which is the same as the gematria of nature. The implication is natural law; for example chemistry, physics, and to a lesser extent biological instinct.

Mercy is a higher cerebral characteristic. It starts with consciousness and includes emotions such as kindness, love, concern, and fairness. If patience is added, one arrives at mercy. These are the attributes that man adds to this lower world. So to speak these are the qualities that Hashem really wants in the world. These are the breath of Hashem which gives a man life. For this there is rain. For this there are plants and animals. Without man all of the potentials concealed in the physical world are never truly realized.

The Chumash continues that man was placed in the Garden of Eden to work it and protect it. The Ibn Ezra comments that this means to water the garden and guard it so wild animals do not enter and dirty it. The word Eden (עֵדֶן) basically means delights but also includes connotations of being refined, polite, and tender.

Tikkuney HaZohar expounds on this idea commenting that it is a merit for a man to keep the faith in his heart and in word and that this is the craft of Israel. It is a unification of Hashem and particularly a merit when in exile. It notes that the Hebrew word for garden גן has a gematria of 63 which is the number of tractates in the Talmud. It also explains working the garden refers to the 248 positive commandments and protecting it refers to the 365 negative commandments. It comments they are the garden and delights of the Torah.

One learns from this passage that the focus of the world is the development of man. The vehicle for development is pleasure. However it is a pleasure which comes from bringing out the best in our surroundings as well as protecting them from harm. The tree of life is mentioned before the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From this we can infer that the first things a person should learn about are the things which make him physically and mentally healthy. At some point later it is appropriate to focus what is abstract right and wrong. The pleasures we enjoy should be pleasures that are refined and come along with being polite and compassionate. And the ultimate pleasure is knowledge of the breath of Hashem that is in us and seeing the beauty from above that surrounds us.




לע"נ הדוד מאיר בן חיים ז"ל נלב"ע כה בתשרי תשנ"ב

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