Adam’s Fear of a Darkening World

Bereishit By :  Abigail Treu 91快播 Alum (Rabbinical School, Kekst Graduate School) Posted On Oct 2, 2010 / 5771 | Midrash: Between the Lines

转诇诪讜讚 讘讘诇讬 诪住讻转 注讘讜讚讛 讝专讛 讚祝 讞 注诪讜讚 讗

转”专: 讬讜诐 砖谞讘专讗 讘讜 讗讚诐 讛专讗砖讜谉, 讻讬讜谉 砖砖拽注讛 注诇讬讜 讞诪讛, 讗诪专: 讗讜讬 诇讬, 砖讘砖讘讬诇 砖住专讞转讬 注讜诇诐 讞砖讜讱 讘注讚讬 讜讬讞讝讜专 注讜诇诐 诇转讜讛讜 讜讘讜讛讜, 讜讝讜 讛讬讗 诪讬转讛 砖谞拽谞住讛 注诇讬 诪谉 讛砖诪讬诐, 讛讬讛 讬讜砖讘 [讘转注谞讬转] 讜讘讜讻讛 讻诇 讛诇讬诇讛 讜讞讜讛 讘讜讻讛 讻谞讙讚讜, 讻讬讜谉 砖注诇讛 注诪讜讚 讛砖讞专, 讗诪专: 诪谞讛讙讜 砖诇 注讜诇诐 讛讜讗, 注诪讚 讜讛拽专讬讘 砖讜专.

Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 8a

Our masters taught: When Adam on the day of his creation saw the sun sinking in the sky before him, he said, “Woe is me! Because I acted offensively, the world is darkening for me and is about to return to darkness and desolation鈥攊ndeed, this is the death that Heaven has decreed for me.” So he sat down to fast and to weep throughout the night, while Eve wept beside him. But when the dawn began slowly rising like a column, he said, “Such is the way of nature,” and then proceeded to offer up a bullock.

The shock of the unexpected, the fear of change, the guilt at having done something irreversible: feelings we know all too well. When things go badly, our gut response is often, “Why me?” We then probe our actions to discover the trigger that caused it all, and bemoan our fate with those closest to us.

With the passing of time, however, we learn: it’s not all about us. This unfolds on two levels: as children, we grow up to learn that the world does not revolve around us, and as adults, we learn with each new twist of life that, while we might feel responsible for certain things, in reality we have little control. As Adam HaRishon, the first man, put it, “Such is the way of nature.” We learn to shrug and say, “That’s the way the world turns.”

What we see in this midrash is the call to turn from fear and guilt to acceptance. We see Adam and Chava react with fear to the setting of the sun, worrying from an overblown sense of personal responsibility that is at once immature and deeply sage, about their role in such a matter. As the dark night is brightened by the first rays of dawn, however, they realize: this was not our doing. They move from fear and guilt into relief and gratitude.

This, I think, is an important message for us as we begin the new year. We move from the guilt and overblown sense of personal responsibility that marks Yom Kippur into a place in which we can cope with the ups and downs鈥攖he sunrises and sunsets鈥攐f daily living. In gratitude, we offer up our daily prayers of thanks, as Adam offered up a bullock. And with the sun rising on a new day, we remember the ultimate lesson of Bereishit (Beginnings) as put so eloquently by Elie Wiesel: “God gave Adam a secret鈥攁nd that secret was not how to begin, but how to begin again.”