Adam and Eve and Teshuvah---Repentance

     A common theme in religion is forgiveness.  Though we are all innately good, we all give in to the darkness which is constantly testing our free will to see if we will choose the lightness or the darkness.  When we do behave badly, we desperately want G_d to forgive us, but what do we do for Him?  We must do Teshuvah---repentance---learn from our mistakes and earnestly try to sin no more.

     It's not like this was invented a couple millennium ago.  It was first mentioned with Adam and Eve.  The snake in the Garden of Eden did much too good of a job tempting Eve and made her think that to be more like G_d she had to eat from the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to know about good and evil.  Though G_d told Adam and Eve not to eat from this tree, she wanted desperately to be closer to G_d.  G_d just wanted her to restrain herself due to her love for Him, even if it made no sense not to eat the apple.  The snake, however, convinced her that eating the apple was actually the right thing to do to be closer to G_d which is why the snake who was once upright and walking got a terrible punishment of becoming legless and crawling on its belly after that.

     Acting with pure love for her soul mate, Eve convinced Adam to also take a bit of the apple which brought the knowledge of good and evil into both of them.  That was when G_d finally stepped in after the test of their free will went horribly wrong.  He asked Adam about their misbehavior and Adam replied, "The woman that You gave to be with me, she gave me what I ate from the tree." (Genesis 3:12).  Adam did not take any responsibility for his sin.  Eve, on the other hand, admitted that the snake seduced her and was more humble about her bad choice in the matter.

      Then comes the next generation---Cain, the bad, and Able, the good.  It was very important for this tragic relationship to occur to teach Adam about Teshuvah.  Adam's teacher was none other than Cain, believe it or not.  Yes Cain made a very bad choice and killed his brother Able, but when G_d questioned Cain about his brother's death, Cain explained that his sin was too great to bear.  He took ownership of his sin, confessed his sin and repented---performed Teshuvah.  For this G_d did not sentence him to death, but gave Cain a lighter sentence.

       When Adam saw that Cain returned alive after his judgement from G_d, he reflected upon his actions when he was asked by G_d what had occurred with the apple.  He wondered what would have happened had he accepted fault for his choice to bite the apple.  He wondered if G_d would have forgiven him then.  He became repentant.

       Which is why immediately after the story of Cain and Able the Torah states, "Adam knew his wife again and she gave birth to...Seth" (Genesis 4:25)  Then the bible restates, "On the day that G_d created man, He made him in the likeness of G_d.  He created them male and female.  He blessed them and named them Man (Adam)" (Genesis 5:1-2).   Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in his book "Inner Space," "By knowing his wife again, Adam was showing that his repentance was complete.  He was now ready to receive the blessing of being like G_d by uniting with Eve.

       "It is for this reason that the Torah is able to write in the very next verse: 'Adam lived 130 years and he had a son in his likeness and form whom he named Seth' (Genesis 5:3).  According to tradition, Adam was totally depressed in the wake of his sin for all of 130 years.  It is only after he saw Cain repent that he realized his mistake and was able to elevate some of the sparks of holiness that had fallen as a result of his sin.  By stating that Seth was born in Adam's likeness, the Torah is indicating that he was on an extremely high level.  In the language of the Midrash, Seth was born circumcised just as his father had been before the sin.  We are being told that, to the extent that it was possible, Adam and Eve were able to rectify what they had done wrong.  Their Teshuvah was thus the human parallel to the Tikkun-Rectification of Atzilut."


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