The Accountability of Adam
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Bereishit, the narrative of creation, introduces us to every creature in our universe, culminating with the creation of Adam, mankind, as the crown of creation. We know the lofty potential Hashem envisioned for mankind, but on his very first day on earth, Man succumbed to temptation and ate fruit from the tree God Had commanded him not to eat. The dialogue Hashem then initiates with Adam provides many insights and lessons for all of us throughout the generations.
Hashem begins with an innocent question, calling out to Adam, “Ayekah/Where are you?” No one would presume to think that Hashem was unaware of Adam’s whereabouts. As Rashi understands this opening line, Hashem was approaching Adam gently, not wanting to terrify him with an immediate, harsh scolding. In fact, says Rav Zeidel Epstein, Hashem is teaching us how we should begin our conversations with someone who may have wronged us, not in an accusatory tone but in a conciliatory, friendly tone.
While Man was the most exalted of God’s creatures, able to intuit Hashem’s presence constantly beside him, he still had the capacity to fall from that exalted position. Before the sin, Adam was with his Creator; after the sin, he distanced himself from his Creator, writes Rabbi Wachtfogel. Eating of that fruit so muddled Adam’s vision that he became blinded to the presence of Hashem, writes Rabbi Tatz in Worldmask. When Hashem interacts with man, He approaches him in the same manner and context that the individual perceives Him. Since Adam hid after having sinned, and he could no longer “see” God, Hashem approached Adam from the same perspective, as if He could not see Adam and did not know what Adam had done, “Where are you?.. Have you eaten of the tree?..” This was the beginning of doubt in Hakodosh Boruch Hu, a doubt most manifest in Amalek who would later instill doubt into Bnei Yisroel.
In Ohel Moshe, Rabbi Scheinerman suggests that Hashem was asking two distinct questions in this dialogue. First, where are you, how have you distanced yourself from Me and fallen from your exalted position to these depths? Second, since you have transgressed My explicit command, there needs to be an accounting. While Adam did teshuvah for his sin and the relationship could be repaired, the damage to Adam’s exalted stature was permanent.
The ideal form of Man as Hashem originally created him was so exalted that the angels wanted to sing his praises as they did for Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself, for they recognized the divinity within him, writes Rabbi Friefeld citing the medrash in Kohelet in In Search of Greatness, such was the greatness of Adam Harishon. And his body shone like the sun, tells us another medrash. All this changed with the first sin. But when Bnei Yisroel stood at Mount Sinai, they regained that same exalted stature. Even the angels bore witness by descending with crown to coronate each member of Bnei Yisroel as they again were imbued with the spirit and light of the Divine. They had returned to the tzurat haAdam/form of Man that had been primal Adam. When Moshe descended from the mountain, his face was infused with that same light that had infused Adam’s body. The Torah writes that when Bnei Yisroel arrived at Mount Sinai, vayichan ha’am/the nation encamped, vayichan/in the singular form, as one man, writes Rashi. As one man – extrapolates Rabbi Friefeld – as that first man, Adam.
The path to regaining the exalted from of original Adam is through the Torah. That’s why the Torah has two hundred forty eight positive commandments to parallel the number of limbs and organs in the human body, and three hundred sixty five negative commandments to parallel the number of blood vessels. It is through Torah observance that we can hope to approach the perfection of our tzurat haAdam that Hashem had envisioned for mankind.
We fall into sin so easily because we think that sin is just some dirt adhering to us externally, writes Rabbi Chaskel Levenstein in Chochmat Hamatzpun. We don’t realize that the effects of sin change our essence and distances us from God, as it did for Adam. Our souls yearn for the completion and wholeness that comes from reconnecting to our Maker. That’s why in Chasidus, the men would spend time preparing themselves for their daily prayers and that reconnection, and then spend a significant amount of time after prayers to come down gradually from that elevated state of being in the presence of the Divine. And the day after a yom tov, adds Rebbetzin Smiles, is also meant to be a day of slowly coming down from that connection, from being tied to the yom tov, a day of Isru Chag. Do we ask ourselves, as we come down from the high of yom tov, “Ayekah?” We are meant to take something of yom tov with us and integrate it into our post yom tov lives. If we do not come out somewhat changed, the yom tov experience will remain meaningless. This would be like a tailor who neglects to knot the end of his thread so that all his work will unravel, an analogy Rabbi Biderman presents.
We need to yearn, seek and work for wholeness, to ask ourselves Ayekah, to strive to approach the level of our forefathers. Hashem called out el ha’Adam/to all mankind, “Ayekah,” writes Rabbi Zaks in Menachem Zion. He is calling out to us, urging us to wholeness, to bring back the perfected tzurat ha’Adam.
Man goes through spiritual stages of growth just as a child goes through developmental stages of growth. If a child does not reach benchmark norms for walking or talking, parents take the child for evaluation and help to grow to the next stage. If a person at age thirty is praying and doing mitzvoth by rote, the same way he did at age ten, he is not growing toward his potential, writes Rabbi Ochion in Ohr Doniel. Just as we appraise a child’s growth, Hashem examines our neshama every night to see if we are growing spiritually at a proper rate. If we haven’t grown from our life experiences, writes Rabbi Pincus, we have missed the point of life, and we are like a storekeeper who works all day moving around his merchandise and interacting with people but earning no money. We need to exude a quiet sense of godliness, a tzurat ha’Adam as Hashem initially created Adam.
The Gemorrah says that Adam “goes from one end of the earth to the other.” Man was created with this thirst for knowledge of the world, for knowing the world and its wonders brought a sense of connection to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. In earlier times, man merely looked up toward heaven and felt that connection immediately, writes Rabbi Zaks. We’ve lost that ability today. Without realizing it, people look for connection by gathering news from around the world, and today we make connections through technology. Hashem has given us the knowledge to create these technologies to satiate our desire for knowledge of the world, for we’ve lost the innate wisdom. To the extent that we can disconnect from the distractions of the world, we are able to reconnect to the Source of everything and to our own essence. Where are we in the spiritual journey of our lives? Are we reaching for our potential as complete human beings? Are we doing mitzvoth that will bring us closer to our goal, or are we sinning and moving ourselves further away from the perfection that comes with connecting to Hakodosh Boruch Hu?
When Hashem created Adam, He took him around and showed him the entire creation in all its beauty, writes the Shvilei Pinchas, Rabbi Friedlander. Hashem exhorted him, as Kohelet says, “Look at Hashem’s work to fix that which was distorted,” be careful not to destroy it, for then who can fix it. As the Zohar tells us, each of us contains within ourselves all of creation. We are meant to elevate our mini worlds to Hashem’s service. Where are we in that service? Are we succeeding?
Each of us was created singly. Each of us has a unique inner essence that strives to know and serve Hashem in its own personal way, writes Rabbi Uri Weissblum in Heorat Derech. To serve Hashem in our greatest capacity, we need to identify our unique character. Often we will be drawn to a particular mitzvah, perhaps encouraging others, perhaps working on shul maintenance, and this inclination will point you to your unique service. Make your service personal. As we say daily in Oz Yoshir, “Zeh Keili ve’anveihu/This is My (personal) God and I will glorify Him.” Ayekah, what makes you uniquely you, what mitzvah excites you?
Don’t look outward to compare yourself to others and to their aspirations. If you do so, you will merely become part of the crowd, never achieving your personal destiny. Look inward to your uniqueness, discover who you are, and from that vantage point, you can start the teshuvah process. This was the message Yosef Hatzadik was conveying to his brothers when he revealed himself to them, continues Rabbi Levovitz. “Ani, Yosef/It is I, that same Yosef,” recognize that core that has always been me. Yosef was living a life uniquely his, growing in his spiritual greatness. Where are we? Are we continuing to sanctify our personal sanctuaries, or are we turning the Ayekah/Where are you to Eicha/How could it have come to this? Elevation or destruction is up to me alone, “If I am not for myself, who am I and will be for me?” Keep the vision of who you are always before you. No matter how old and battered that vision may be, it will still lead you to your inner self.
How do you access that inner self? Rabbi Frand teaches us that we get the message from the wish we give to a baby boy at his bris, “May this little one become great.” A baby is born as a completely self centered being; may he grow to consider others, to be godlike and giving in life. Give emotional support with an encouraging word or a compliment. When you are bringing in a chair to a meeting room, bring an additional chair for someone else. As Hashem is full of chesed, emulate Him and become a baal chesed in ways that you personally come across. The more you expand your world by reaching out to others, the more godly you become.
We must take personal responsibility for our actions. When Adam made excuses instead of taking responsibility for transgressing God’s command, he distanced himself from Hashem Only by accepting responsibility, writes Rav Michel Twersky in Yiram Hayam, can we correct and rectify our action, and reconnect to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.