Power of Midrash ~ Intro class 3: The world and the human

(4) Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When Ad-nai God made earth and heaven— (5) when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because Ad-nai God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, (6) but a flow would well up from the ground and water the whole surface of the earth— (7) Ad-nai God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. (8) Ad-nai God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom He had formed.

(1) Look at God's work - for who can straighten what He has twisted? (Ecclesiastes 7:13). When the Blessed Holy One created the first Human, He took him and led him round all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him: “Look at My works, how beautiful and praiseworthy they are! And all that I have created, it was for you that I created it. Pay attention that you do not corrupt and destroy My world: if you corrupt it, there is no one to repair it after you. And not only that - you cause the death of that tzadik [Moses]. A simile - to what does Moses our teacher can be compared? To a pregnant woman who was incarcerated in a prison and there she gave birth to a son, she raised him there and died there. Some time later, when the king was passing by the entrance of the prison, the son shouted and said: 'My lord the king! I was born here! I was raised here! I don't know what is the sin that keeps me put in here. He answered him: Your mother's sin. It is the same with Moses, as it is written: Behold, the Human has become like one [of us, knowing good and bad, what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!](Genesis 3:22) and it is written [also] Behold, your day of death is approaching (Deuteronomy 31:14)

(2) And every growth/si’ach of the field” [Gen 2:5] — All the trees, as it were, are conversing/m’sichin, one with the other. All the trees, as it were, are conversing with the creatures. All the trees were created to give pleasure to the creatures. A story: a certain one was picking grapes at his vineyard and slept inside it, and the wind came and entreated with him. All the conversations of the creatures are about nothing except the land: the land is doing well, [the land] is not doing well. And all the prayers of the creatures are about nothing except the land: may You make the land fare well, may You make the land excel. All the prayers of Israel are about nothing except the Temple/ beit hamikdash: Master, may You build the beit hamikdash, Master, when will You build the beit hamikdash?

"because Ad-nai God had not sent rain upon the earth [and there was no man to till the soil] (Gen 2:5)" The text reminds us of a full/complete name to indicate a complete world. Rabbi Chilfai said: just as the text reminds us of a complete name for a complete world, so the text reminds us of the complete name regarding the rain falling. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said: Three things are equal in importance: land, humanity, and rain. Rabbi Levi bar Hiyya said: and the three of them each have three letters, to teach you that if there is no land, then there is no rain, and if there is no rain there is no land, and without either of them there is no humanity.

"There was no man to work the soil (Gen. 2:5)" - and there was no man to enable the creatures to worship the Holy One of Blessing, like Eliyahu and like Choni the Circle Drawer. "There was no man to work the soil" - the human was created only to labor. If he merits, he labors in Torah, and if he does not merit, he labors in the land. Happy is the one who labors in Torah.

(13) How much rain should fall for it to be considered Reviah (first rain of the season)? When it rains enough to fill a plough of three tefachim (1 tefach = 3.2 inches), those are the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: In a difficult year, one tefach. In a regular year, two tefachim. In a plentiful year, three tefachim. Rabi Shimon ben Eleazar says: there is not a single tefach that comes from above for which the land didn't come two tefachim up. What's the reason? "Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your channels [all Your breakers and billows have swept over me]" (Psalms 42:8). Said rabbi Levi: the upper waters are masculine, and the lower waters are feminine, and they say to each other: "receive us! You are the creation of the Holy One and we are the ones He sent." Immediately they receive them – that’s what is written, ‘the land will open’ [Is 45:8], like this female who opens for the male. [Pour down, O skies, from above! Let the heavens rain down victory! Let the earth open up] "and triumph sprout" - that they fruitful and multiply. "let justice spring up" - this is the rain falling. "I Ad-nai have created it" - therefore I created it for the betterment of the world and its settlement.