Bereishis 5784

At a time like this, it can be difficult to see the good and to see G-d as a loving Father. But as Jews who cherish life, as we aspire to be the ish hachafetz chaim who lives to emulate our G-d, the Melech chafetz bachaim, we will benefit greatly by opening our eyes to the good and blessing in our lives, by being oheiv yamim lirot tov, seeing the good and blessing that Hashem is always seeking to give us, seeing the good and blessing in the people around us, and speaking generously and positively of Hashem and of His children. 

The first slanderer, the first baal halashon, was – according to our Sages – the snake of the Garden of Eden. The snake came to Chava and tried to get her to defy G-d’s command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, a tree that could have accurately been called the Tree of Death, as G-d had warned that eating from it would render them mortal.

But the snake did not represent G-d quite that way. Instead, the snake said to Chava, “Didn’t G-d tell you to refrain from eating from any of the trees of the garden?” That would have been hard. After all this was the Garden of Eden, Paradise. The trees were attractive and delicious. But G-d does not want you to enjoy them.  

G-d is out to get you.

“No”, responded Chava, “He wants us to eat from those trees. He wants us to enjoy the beautiful world he created for us and told us to eat from those wonderful trees. It is only this tree, the Tree of Death – that he warned us to avoid because he wants to protect us from harm.”

The snake did not accept this. “No, you will not die if you eat from it. Actually, if you eat from it you will become even greater than you are now, and in fact you will become like G-d Himself. G-d does not want you to have it because He wants to hold back from you that which is most precious.” If the snake could not get Chava to see G-d as withholding from them everything, at least he could get her to see that he would withhold from them the really good stuff.

That was it, the first bit of Lashon Hara. The snake slandered G-d. The snake took a relationship of giving and goodness and twisted it in Chava’s mind, so that instead of seeing herself as blessed to live in Paradise, provided by G-d with everything wonderful, she would see herself as cursed for not having the one thing that was withheld from her. And her loving Creator became instead – in her mind – the insecure villain. That perspective - that G-d and religion deprive us of opportunity rather than provide us with endless possibilities - has led so many away from following Hashem's word.

And that perspective saps from anyone the desire for life. Because life is nourished by a sense of gratitude, of satisfaction, of feeling like you are in a good place, blessed, cared for, nurtured. But when you see yourself as stuck and manipulated, limited and deprived at every turn, when the cup is always half empty because the host kept the other half for himself, well – then life is not sweet, and the host is nobody you want to be around.

Yes, on the day they ate from that tree they would die. Not because its fruit was poison. But because if they ate it, it was because they were feeling cheated without it. If they ate it, it was because they felt that G-d was really out to get them. Their kishkes were eaten up by worry and insecurity, by a sense of being deprived and cheated. That kind of thinking does not spell life.

To truly live we must recognize and cherish the gift of life.