Community Magazine October 2019

20 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Home&Stone FIXTURES FAUCETS HARDWARE ACCESSORIES 1663 Coney Island Ave Brooklyn NY 11230 Valet Parking Appointments Welcome 718.787.1000 homeandstone.com @homeandstone לעילוי נשמתם של משה בן עליזה, יצחק הלל בן עליזה, והנרייט לאה בת עליזה, דוד בן גילה, רבקה בת גילה, יהושע בן גילה, משה בן גילה, שרה בת גילה, יעקב בן גילה, ואליאנה בת גילה. ולרפואה שלמה ליוסף בן אהובה מסעודה, שילת אהובה בת עליזה, ודניאל בן עליזה. the way Gd had intended from the outset. It seems that the ground betrayed Gd when producing its trees, producing trees with inedible bark – but it made one tree the way it was commanded, and this was the tree that Gd forbade upon Adam and Havah. The peculiar quality of this tree got Havah thinking… If this is the single tree that Gd forbade, and this is the single tree that has edible bark, then maybe the snake was correct. When Gd said that she and Adam should not eat “from the tree” – maybe He meant that they must refrain from the special bark of this tree. After all, why else would Gd single out this tree? And why else would Gd not mention the word “fruit” in announcing this tree’s unique prohibited status? She started putting two and two together…and tragically concluded that the snake was right, that Gd forbade eating only the bark of this special tree. And so, she ate its fruit, and shared it with Adam – bringing great suffering upon mankind forever more. Punishing the Ground This explains also another anomaly of the story of the forbidden tree. Returning to Rashi’s comments on the creation story, Rashi concludes that the groundwas punished for disobeying Gd’s instructions. After Adam and Havah’s sin, Gd placed a curse not only upon mankind, but also upon the earth. He pronounced to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you!” (3:17). The ground here received its due punishment for deviating from the command to produce trees that would be entirely flavorful. The question is obvious. Why wasn’t the ground punished immediately? If Gd felt the ground was worthy of being cursed for producing the wrong kind of tree, then why did He delay this curse until after Adam and Havah’s sin? In light of the Arizal’s analysis, we have an answer. The ground was partly responsible for this catastrophe. Had all the trees been created the way Gd had wanted, with flavor in the bark, the snake would not have been able to confuse Havah. The confusion arose only because she noted the special quality of the forbidden tree – that its bark had taste. If all the trees had this quality, she would never have made any mistake, and would have assumed – correctly – that Gd forbade the entire tree, both its bark and its fruit. And so, it turns out that the ground’s disobedience is partly to blame for Adam and Havah’s sin. While it might not have seemed like much of a big deal to have tasteless bark, it was a VERY big deal – because it caused Havah to misunderstand Gd’s command, leading to tragic consequences from which we still suffer even today, thousands of years later. The Spies’ Fateful Arrogance Part of the reason why the Jewish Nation was created was to correct the sin of Adam and Havah, and thereby eliminate, at least in some way, the devastating curse that befell the earth after this sin. By strictly obeying Gd’s commands, we correct Adam and Havah’s disobeying the single command they were given. We then help bring the world back to “Eden,” to the serene, peaceful, blessed condition that was lost. To achieve this purpose, Gd