Bereshit
Gen. 1:1 - 6:8
PrĂ©cis: The first Book of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis, literally “in the beginning” or “When God began to create”) begins with the familiar story of creation. The world is created in six days and God rests on the seventh. The stories of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are included, as is the story of Cain and Abel.
Gen. 3:22 “And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.”
Rabbi Dan Moskowitz (10 Minutes of Torah 10/20/19) points to this iconic scene of Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden after eating of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of knowledge.
Before partaking of the fruit, they did not know that death existed. God has expelled them from the Garden, which we can easily see as a punishment. In fact, Moskovitz argues, it was a blessing. Why? If one has eternity, there is no urgency. Citing German existentialist Martin Heidegger, to truly live authentically we must confront death head-on. But even though we know that we are all going to die, we don’t always believe what we know to be true.
Our tradition has a different take. Instead of denying death, we are instructed to live each day as if it is our last because we don’t know, it very well may be (BT, Shabbat 153a).
Considering the freedom of the hostages from Gazan captivity this week, this thought has added poignancy. The hostages did not know whether they would survive another day, let alone reach freedom. We thank God for their release and offer our prayers for their refuah schleimah. We mourn with those who lost their loved ones to baseless hatred.
As Moskowitz asks, where is the true paradise? Is it in the Garden of Eden where no one ever dies and time is limitless? Or is it East of Eden, outside the garden, where every moment is precious, every decision is life changing, and the fruit, sometimes bitter, compels us to appreciate the sweet? Above all we can seek the sweetness of peace.
