Yeshivat Hamivtar - Orot Lev - Parshat Beshalach

Parshat Bereishit
Rabbi Chaim Brovender

Parashat Bresheit

Let us learn a posuk with Rashi.

Not Good

"It is not good that Man be alone, I will make him a helper against him..." (2: 18).

The use of the Hebrew "lo tov-not good" in this position is jarring. It seems to indicate that the original creation of man was improper, unfulfilled in some way. Further, we know that the word tov is used again and again in the story of the creation to indicate that G-d's will has been done. Creation is usually as good as could be imagined. Why here, when the creation of man is discussed, is it suddenly "lo tov"?

Man as ONE

Rashi quotes an answer from the Medrash (pirkei d'rabi elazar chapter 12), which says:

"They should not say that there are two different authorities in the universe. They might have said: 'Hashem is unique in the higher realms, and has no partner, and this man, in the lower realms has no partner!' "

According to Rashi, the words lo tov do not refer to the creation of man himself: that was, presumably, tov. "Lo tov…" refers to a mistake that would have been made had Man been created singularly, as ONE. Had one Man been created, someone, like us only single sexed, would have concluded that since both Man and his creator possessed the quality of "oneness," Man was equal to his Creator. This potential for hubris or arrogance would have been like a trap set for Man had he been created as a single being.

Rashi implies that creation was to produce a world in which the choices of Man would not be compromised: he should not be led by the structure of creation itself into arrogance and self-worship.

To avoid this problem male and female had to both be created-Man would have to be TWO.

ONE and TWO

Granting that "Man as ONE", introduces the problems above, why wasn't man created as a pair-as were all the animals? Indeed, if as the verse in the first chapter seems to intimate, man was created "male and female,"-TWO from the start- why does the Torah then relate to this temporary, intermediate, lo tov position? Man was created as a pair in the first chapter; eventually, Man will be a pair in this chapter as well. If Man will certainly be TWO, why tell us about Man as ONE?

This question is answered in the gemara as follows:

R Abahu says, "At first G-d considered creating man as TWO; however, only ONE was created." (Brachot 61a)

According to R Abahu the ONE option and the TWO option were both considered. Our pasuk (2: 18) which speaks of Man in his "lo tov" circumstance indicates that the ONE option was chosen, at least in some sense. If that is the case, then "the lo tov moment" must be important. We have not been denied the opportunity to learn about the potential problem of creating Man as ONE.

Man As TWO

Let us look at the earlier pasukim that deal with the creation of Man and Rashi's comments regarding them.

"Let us make Man in our image, and after our likeness..." (1: 26)

Rashi explains the use of the plural naase ("let us") as follows: "In order to direct us to the quality of humility, G-d asks permission from the angels. From this, we learn that the greater should ask permission from the lesser."

There was a "lo tov" problem, which Rashi following on the words of a medresh, understood as having to do with Man's potential for arrogance. Here, another pasuk describes the creation of Man, and Rashi stresses the importance of humility as shown by G-d's involving the angels in the creation of Man.

The problem of "lo tov" was resolved by the creation of Man as TWO. That solution involved introducing "humility" into Man's creation. The importance of "humility" in the creation of Man is indeed stressed, according to Rashi's comments, in the initial mention of the creation of Man.

Rashi seems to understand that the essence of the first verse (1: 26) is about "humility" from its continuation. The "our" of "In our image, in our likeness…" is taken as a reference to the angels the heavenly court and therefore as a reference to humility. On this reading, the consulting with the angels becomes fundamental to the form of the man/woman ultimately created.

The next verse poses something of a difficulty for this reading: "So G-d created Man in his image, in the image of G-d he created him: male and female he created them" (1: 27). It seems that the obvious intention of the statement is that Man was created as TWO, a man and a woman.

Rashi however, quotes a medrash which says that they were created a kind of Siamese twin, "two faces, one side male and one side female"; this is the creation of our verse though later on they were divided." According to Rashi Man was created as ONE but the potential for the creation of TWO existed from the very beginning.

The mentioning of the Lo tov moment was necessary in the creation of man in order that we understand the importance of "humility" in our existence.

[For further study. See Rashi's comment on the bracha for the chatan and kalla yozer haadam, cf. ketubot, 8a and the comment by the maharsha, beginning with the word veda.]

Gut shabbos!
Chaim Brovender

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