His latest post
Adam and Eve
is now available http://jewishvaluescenter.org/jvoblog/Adam A link is also up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JewishValuesOnline/
While comments are most welcome at both these sites, as we also would like to develop a discussion on this topic here at Nishmablog, we also present the article below
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What Do You Really Know About Adam and Eve?
At this time of year, Jews around the world are
beginning again their yearly communal reading (and study) of the Five
Books of Moses. Every week, the focus will be on a different section of
the Torah so that the entire work will be covered, in order, during the
year. The result is that a significant number of Jews have become
familiar with much of the Torah narrative. This is, of course,
reinforced by the fact that the Five Books of Moses are a major part of
any Jewish educational system, from adult education to day school to
Sunday school. It is also – and, perhaps, even more so -- because these
Bible stories are existent throughout our society. In the Western World,
who doesn’t know the story of Adam and Eve? The question is: do you
really know the Jewish story?
Most people do not recognize that there is a challenge in that our
holy books were adopted by other religious systems. Works are read
within a certain context and any narrative can be understood in a
variety of ways depending upon the perspective of the reader. These
distinctions in outlook may also not be so clear. Consider, for example,
the story of the Garden of Eden. If I asked someone to tell me the
difference between the Christian rendering of this story and the Jewish
one, no doubt, the answer will focus on the concept of Original Sin.
This is a fundamental concept of this story within the Christian
perspective while this idea has no role in the Jewish understanding of
this story. Of greater import is, actually, why this concept could not
even arise in the Jewish reading of this story. The Jewish perspective
could never yield the Christian reading of this story. Do you know why?
Then, again, the question: do you really know the Jewish story?
Of course, the words are the words; any reading has to –
at least, in some way -- fit into the text. Within any text, though,
there is some inherent flexibility which allows, within certain
parameters, a reader to understand the text’s meaning one way versus
another. The greater call in approaching a Biblical story such as the
Garden of Eden is, thus, to recognize how the presentation of the story
one is hearing is affected by such perspectives. The further call is to
know how this reading connects with one’s own perspective. Recognizing
this flexibility potentially inherent in a text, one may also wish to
find further substantiation for one’s own perspective. In the case of
the Garden of Eden, for example, do you know, that the word chet
[sin] is not found even once in this entire narrative? (This word is
actually first found in connection to Cain and Abel.) The key is to know
that just because you hear the story presented a certain way in one
venue does not mean that such a presentation is acceptable in another
venue.
So, what are some factors inherent to the Jewish
perspective of the Garden of Eden story. These, of course, would be
necessary in understanding the story from this perspective and also warn
us to be careful of other renditions of this story. Let me just state
two. One is the recognition that Adam and Even were two of the greatest
geniuses who ever lived. The challenge they faced has to thus be
recognized as a deeply intellectual one and not one that reflects simple
foolishness, pettiness and/or immaturity. There is indication of Adam’s
intelligence in that God asked him to name each of the animal species
with discernment – a challenging intellectual exercise. As such, any
portrayal of the story that misses the idea that we are talking about a
thoughtful challenge that would require contemplation has problems from a
Jewish perspective.
A second factor would be the Jewish value of growth. Of
course, Adam and Eve were created imperfect for if the value of Creation
is found in human growth, it has to start with the need for human
growth. The whole story begins with God creating human beings to achieve
and, as such, an allowance for failure in the human being -- if, at
first, he/she does not succeed -- must have been part of the plan. Any
idea that the human being has to be saved rather than given the
opportunity to improve oneself and grow has problems from a Jewish
perspective. And there are, of course, other factors that point to the
necessity of understanding the distinction of a Jewish understanding of
this story – and we often don’t know them and thus miss this important
perspective. (One interested in seeing a Jewish rendering of this story ,
please see Rabbi Benjamin Hecht, Tree of Knowledge, Nishma Journal 7,8 & 9 – see on line at http://www.nishma.org/articles/journal/tree3.htm.)
The overall point is really simple. Everyone quotes the
Jewish Bible and because we hear a story from one source, we simply
believe that that is the way everyone hears the story. What we don’t
recognize is that a story is always presented from a certain perspective
and this can yield a very specific understanding of a story which may
not be shared by all. Given the predominance of the Christian
perspective of the Jewish Bible stories within our society, it is
important that we be aware of this. Just because you heard the story one
way – after all, it’s in the movies and on t.v. – doesn’t mean you know
the Jewish story.
Rabbi Benjamin Hecht
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