The Red Button of Adam - Part 2

In the previous article: The Red Button of Adam Part 1 , I demonstrated, based on the opinions of the Sages that, “Analogous to the process of transition from the Hidden Worlds to the Revealed Worlds which takes place in the Sefira Malchut of the world of Atzilut, there is a process of transition from the Hidden Torah to the Revealed Torah (The Torah of Beria), which takes place in the first word of the Torah - Bereishit (in the beginning).”

In the same article, I mentioned the contradictions between the two accounts of the creation of the First Man. They are:

1. The first account (the sixth day of Creation) implies the existence of the plants which were created on the third day. In the second account, we read (Genesis 2:5), “Now no tree of the field was yet on earth, neither did any herb of the field yet grow…”
2. In the first account, the creation of animals preceded the creation of man. In the second account, on the contrary, the creation of man preceded the creation of animals.
3. In the first account, we read (Genesis1:28), “And G-d (EL-m) blessed them… ‘Be fruitful and multiply’…” In the second account, there is no blessing.
4. In the first account, Adam was created by the name G-d (EL-m). In the second account, Adam was created by the name L-rd G-d (Havaya El-m).
5. In the first account (Genesis 1:26), we read, “And G-d (Elm) said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’…” In the second account, likeness is not mentioned, but we read (Genesis 3:4 3:5), “And the serpentsaid to the woman, ‘You will surely not die. For G-d (El-m) knows that on the day that you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like G-d (El-m), knowing good and evil.“

In the Torah (Genesis 2:18) G-d said to Adam about the ground, “And it will cause thorns and thistles to grow for you, and you shall eat the herbs of the field.” Here, the decree to eat the herbs was definitely a punishment. In the account of the sixth day of Creation, G-d said, after the blessing (Genesis 1:29), “And G-d said, Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing herb, which is upon the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; it will be yours for food.” There could definitely not be a punishment immediately after the blessing.

It’s obvious that the Sages saw the contradictions. They didn’t try to resolve them explicitly, but they gave us some hints, which we will consider further.

Rashi, in his Torah commentary, gives an opinion with regard to the contradiction (1 above) that “they (the plants) had not yet emerged, but they stood at the entrance of the ground until the sixth day.” In my view, this forced explanation is completely unfounded.  

Also, Rashi states that the narrative of the Torah doesn’t always follow the actual course of events, which prompts me to ask the question, “Torah is the word of G-d. Why would the Almighty intentionally confuse us?”

In their commentaries, the Sages stuck to the account of two Gardens of Eden, Terrestrial and Heavenly, something like parallel realities. Their approach not only didn’t resolve the contradictions, but it brought up many new questions. 

The Account of the Creation (Ma’asei Bereishit) is the most difficult and mysterious part of the Torah. In Abarbanel’s commentary on Torah, he writes:

“It is no doubt the problematic nature of this section (account of the creation of the First Man) that prompted the righteous R. Nissim to abstain from expressing any opinion on it. He preferred not to expose his public to the hazards of an allegorical interpretation of this narrative, with whose factual content he felt unable to cope. As a result, R. Nissim simply ignores the verses beginning with these are the generations of shamayim (Heaven) and of eretz (Earth) and ending with to keep the way of the tree of life (Gen. 2,4 - 3.24). Better silence than the pitfalls facing any scholar bold enough to tackle this complex text. Similar doubts must have prevented R. Nissim’s mentor, Nahmanides, from accepting the challenge. His cryptic remarks in the verses under consideration shed little light on their actual content.”

In his Torah commentaries on the first chapters of Genesis, Nahmanides writes: “Since the account of Creation is a deep mystery, which in any case cannot be understood from merely reading the verses, and cannot be known with clarity except through knowledge of the tradition that goes back to that which our teacher Moses heard from the mouth of the Almighty, and moreover, those who know (this tradition) are duty bound to conceal it…”

Further on in the same commentary, Nahmanides writes, “To fully ‘tell the power” of the account of Creation to mortal human beings is impossible…”

Here, Nahmanides points out that the Sages considered “the Torah’s account of Creation to be vague and beyond the full comprehension of ordinary people.”

I consider it necessary to deal with the contradictions of the two accounts of the Creation of Man straightforwardly in order to: 

• Show that there are no contradictions in the Torah.
• Answer the question about the State of the World before the Sin of the First Man. 
• Clarify the notions of the Garden of Eden, Hell, the Serpent, and many others.

 I base my version of events on the following premises. 

1. As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, there is a transition from the Hidden Worlds to the Revealed Worlds in the Sefira Malchut of the World of Atzilut. And in parallel, there is a transition from the Hidden Torah to the Revealed Torah, which is contained in the first word of the Revealed Torah, “Bereishit,” in the beginning. 
2. The First Man had a free choice to sin or not to sin. 
3. As a result of the Sin, the First Man and his wife were expelled from The Garden of Eden and found themselves in our World of Asiyah,  which means that the First Man and his wife died relative to the Garden of Eden and were reborn relative to the world of Asiyah - Part 4 The Relativity of Death: Instantaneous death of Adam.
4. Had he not sinned, the First Man and his wife would have stayed in the Garden of Eden forever and remained immortal.
5. If we consider that the two accounts of the Creation of the First Man are one and the same event, the contradictions are unresolvable.

My Resolution

1. The Creation of the First Man (as it is described in the second account), preceded the Creation of the Revealed Worlds.  
2. On the contrary, the Creation of the Revealed Worlds (as it is described in the account of the six days in the Torah) was a result of the Sin of the First Man.
3. The Creation of the First Man took place in the information space of Sefira Malchut of the World of Atzilut. 
4. The Garden of Eden was also planted in the information space of Sefira Malchut of the World of Atzilut.
5. The full account of the creation of the First Man is concealed in the first word of the Torah, “Bereishit,” (in the beginning), and hinted to us in the second account of the creation of the First Man (Genesis 2:7). 

In further articles, I will discuss the hints given us by the Sages and show how my resolution resolves all the contradictions between the two accounts of the creation of the First Man.