Monday, June 25, 2012

Adam HaRishon, Chava and the Nakedness

The RAMBAN


B"H

Each of us knows the famous Pasuk in Parashat Bereshit where it says that Adam HaRishon and Eve (Chava) "opened their eyes". Suddenly they became aware of their nakedness and started to be ashamed. This happened right after the two ate from the "Tree of Knowledge - Etz HaDa'at Tov veRah". And, as we all know, that the Torah is telling us many things in a symbolic language. Thus, commentators (including the Talmud) state that it wasn't an apple the two first humans ate. The fruit they consumed was either a fig, wheat or grapes.

The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194 – 1270) commentates that Adam and Eve didn't just, out of the blue, realize that they were naked. What the Torah is trying to teach us is that the intellect of the two had changed. "The opening of the Eyes" refers to their way of understanding rather than to their nakedness. 

Jewish kabbalistic writings see a further hint in the worldly clothes they received from G - d. It is not about their new kind of clothes but about various higher soul levels leaving them. For instance, the highest level, YECHIDAH, had left them and thus Adam and Eve became mortal.  

Everything about Adam Ha'Rishon  HERE !

No comments:

Post a Comment