2) Genesis Two
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2, ESV Bible)
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. (Genesis 2:1-2)
The Shabbat
God set apart the seventh day as holy. The Sabbath stands from the beginning of time as the first institution of holiness and godliness. Before man built a temple or an altar, before he wrote a single psalm, before he ever entered a holy place, he knew the Sabbath. The sages say that the Sabbath was the "last in deed, but first in thought." In other words, the Sabbath was the last thing God created, but the first thing He intended:
This may be compared to a king who made a bridal chamber, which he plastered, painted, and adorned; now what did the bridal chamber lack? A bride to enter it. Similarly, what did the world still lack? The Sabbath. (Genesis Rabbah 10:9)
In his book The Sabbath, Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel writes about the Sabbath as a sanctuary in time. Just as God designates holy places in the world as sanctuaries in space, He designates the Sabbath as a holy day, and it creates a sanctuary in time. A person can enter its holiness simply by acknowledging the day's boundaries and sanctifying the time within them.
Even though the Temple remains in ruins and we are scattered across the globe, we can still enter this ancient sanctuary of time to bask in the blessing and holiness of the Almighty. We can come together with the nation of Israel to worship God in the temporal cathedral of the seventh day.
The observance of the Sabbath sets Messianic Judaism apart from the mainstream of Christianity. Many Christians imagine that the Sabbath must be a difficult burden to bear, but we delight in the Sabbath; it is our joy; it is our treasure; it is our most prized possession - the oldest heirloom of the family of God.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
Keeping the Sabbath
Although God declared the Sabbath as blessed and holy from the first days of creation, He did not command Adam and Eve to keep the Sabbath as a day of rest. They may have observed the Sabbath as God's sacred day, but they did not have a commandment to cease from their activities. Perhaps they rested on the Sabbath even without a commandment to do so.
God did not make the observance of the Sabbath rest obligatory until He brought the Jewish people out of Egypt. At that time, He enjoined them to cease from work on the Sabbath as a memorial of their exodus from Egypt. Moses said, "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:15). Only then did the observance of the Sabbath become obligatory, and only for the nation that God brought up from Egypt: "You or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you" (Exodus 20:10).
God commands only the Jewish people to keep the Sabbath, but He in no way excludes the Master's Gentile disciples from keeping the Sabbath. All humanity has a right to participate in the Sabbath because the Sabbath began in Eden. In addition to being a memorial of the exodus from Egypt, the Torah also calls the Sabbath a memorial of the creation of the heavens and the earth. Gentile believers cannot claim to have been brought out of Egypt, but they can claim to have a common share in the creation of heaven and earth. Our Master said, "The Sabbath was made for the Adam" (Mark 2:27), i.e., for humanity. The Sabbath depicts grace. "Come unto me all who are weary and I will give you rest," the Master declares. Judaism views the Sabbath as a gift from God. Messianic Judaism sees the Sabbath as a picture of the peace and the rest we have in Messiah. Every Sabbath remembers our Master.
A gift from God should neither be ignored nor declined. The Sabbath queen does not demand our submission as a despotic queen might; instead, she invites us to her table, wise and beautiful, gentle and beckoning, subtle and sublime, wrapped in garments of light.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
The Day that is Entirely Sabbath
God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. In the Talmud, some of the sages viewed the seven days of creation as a broad outline for human history, as the Scripture says, "For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by" (Psalm 90:4). Accordingly, they compared each of the six days to a millennium of history. Different rabbis offered differing opinions, but they generally agreed that the seventh day, the day of the Sabbath, corresponds to the seventh millennium--the thousand-year Messianic Era. In the poetic words of the sages, the Messianic Era will be a "day that is altogether Sabbath."
Tzenah Ur'enah says, "Man was created on the sixth day, for within six thousand years the Messiah will come." The apostolic community held a similar view of redemptive history. The book of Hebrews compares the age to come to the Sabbath and speaks of the Sabbath as a foretaste of final salvation and the Messianic Era. The book of Revelation speaks of a coming millennium of peace -a thousand-year reign of Messiah during which the adversary is bound in chains. The Apostle Peter reminds us that:
With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. (2 Peter 3:8-10)
The apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas ensconces early, Apostolic-era traditions and teachings, including one about the Sabbath and the thousand years of the Messianic Era:
My children, attend to the meaning of this expression: "He finished in six days." This implies that the LORD will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day with Him is a thousand years. And He Himself testifies, saying, "Behold, 'today' will be as a thousand years." Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. "And He rested on the seventh day." This means that when His Son, coming again, shall destroy the time of the wicked, and judge the ungodly, and change the sun, and the moon, and the stars, then He shall truly rest on the seventh day. (Epistle of Barnabas 15:4-5)
In view of these teachings, the weekly Sabbath celebrates the coming of the Messiah. The Sabbath offers a weekly foretaste of the era of peace and rest when Messiah will rule the earth. By keeping the Sabbath, we participate in the kingdom of heaven on earth even now. Each Sabbath may be likened unto a down payment on the Messianic Era. "We rest on Shabbat to symbolize the peace that we will have in the days of the Messiah. "
Why doesn't it say in regard to the Sabbath "and there was evening and there was morning" like it does for the other days? Because the Sabbath alludes to the world to come, and it is called the day that is completely Shabbat, and there is no night. (Or HaTorah Tehillim)
Though the Messiah may tarry, we eagerly await the coming return of Messiah, who will initiate that seventh millennium, a thousand-year era "that is altogether Sabbath." As of this writing (according to the traditional Jewish reckoning) 5,785 of the 6,000 allotted years have already passed.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Shadows of Messiah, Book One.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:3)
The Sabbath: A Gift of Rest and Reflection
God completed His creation in six days, and on the seventh day, He rested—not because He was weary, but because His work of creation was finished. The Hebrew verb for "rest" in Genesis 2:3 is shavat, which also appears in noun form as shabbat—transliterated into English as "Sabbath." Each week, the Jewish people observe the Sabbath, beginning at sunset on Friday and ending at sunset on Saturday, to commemorate the miracle of creation. The concept of the seven-day week, now universal, originates from this Sabbath cycle. Resting on the seventh day and setting it apart is a commandment given to the Jewish people in the Ten Commandments:
"Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God..." (Exodus 20:9-11)
God also declared the Sabbath a perpetual covenant for the children of Israel (Exodus 31:16-17), making it a sign between Him and Israel for all generations.
While the Sabbath is a special gift and sign to the Jewish people, it can also be embraced by Gentile believers. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed that the Sabbath is for "foreigners who join themselves to the LORD" (Isaiah 56:6). In the early days of Christianity, all believers, including Gentiles, honored the Sabbath. Unfortunately, many abandoned the practice in the second century. Today, however, many disciples of Yeshua are rediscovering the beauty of the Sabbath. It’s a day to honor God, enjoy time with family and friends, celebrate with festive meals, gather for Bible study, and reflect on the holiness of creation.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Unrolling the Scroll.
What is “Work” on the Sabbath?
The word Shabbat ("Sabbath," שבת) means "cessation." When God rested, He took shabbat from His work. That does not mean that He took a day off to rest from exertion, and it does not mean that He took a vacation day from His regular job. The Hebrew word melachah ("work," מלאכה), which we translate into English as "work," does not mean labor, employment, or vocation. The English language contains no equivalent for the word melachah. "Work" is a poor translation of the Hebrew term.
By the seventh day God completed his melachah which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His melachah which He had done. (Genesis 2:2)
This context defines melachah as creative acts of production including the creation of light, the creation of substance, formation, separation, planting, and creative activities of making, mixing, shaping, and altering--even when those works are performed miraculously or ex nihilo. Melachah involves shaping, creating, forming, making, ordering, structuring, organizing, mixing, burning, cooking, baking, boiling, and molding things. It involves imposing will onto substance in order to alter it. It involves creating order from disorder. Melachah allows us to produce and create.
The Bible further defines melachah by specifying prohibitions on igniting a fire, gathering, plowing, harvesting, and carrying. The Torah indicates that the activities required to build the Tabernacle also constitute melachah, and it prohibits Israel from performing those acts of melachah on Shabbat even for the sake of building the Tabernacle. Based on that insight, Jewish law defines the biblical prohibition on melachah by thirty-nine categories of creative and productive acts.
In the business of today's world, a person feels like he or she does not have time to stop producing and creating for even a single day. The commandment of Shabbat forces us to stop for one day and remember who created time. Who set time in motion? Who set the spheres revolving? Sabbath sets aside one day out of a week to remember that we serve God, not ourselves, not our jobs, and not Pharaoh.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. (Genesis 2:4)
Generations of the Heavens and Earth
The word "generations" (toledot, תּוֹלְדוֹת) in Genesis 2:4 is spelled with two vavim (ו). In all other instances, except for one occurrence in the book of Ruth, the Bible spells the word with only one vav (תּוֹלְדוֹת). The sages searched tiny discrepancies like this for meaning. They believed that every letter of Torah is significant. Our Master Yeshua also said that every jot and tittle of the Torah is important. In this case, the sages explain that prior to Adam's sin, the word "generations (toledot, תּוֹלְדוֹת)" was spelled with two vavim (ו) to indicate that the generations of Adam and the generations of all creation were complete and whole. Subsequent to sin, those generations were diminished. The Torah indicates their diminution by the defective spelling of the word toledot (תּוֹלְדוֹת). According to this idea, Adam's sin affected the heavens and the earth:
Though these things were created in their fullness, yet when Adam sinned they were spoiled, and they will not be restored to their fullness until the Son of Perez (i.e., the Messiah) comes, as it says [in Ruth 4:18], "Now these are the generations (toledot, תּוֹלְדוֹת) of Perez." (Genesis Rabbah 12:6)
Ruth 4:18 spells "the generations (תּוֹלְדוֹת) of Perez" with both vavim. The rabbis say that this alludes to King Messiah who will come through the line of Perez. In Ruth 4:18, Perez stands at the head of David's genealogy—the toledot of the Davidic monarchy from which Messiah comes. Messiah will restore both the generations of mankind and the generations of the whole creation.
Why does the Torah speak of the heaven and earth having "generations"?
Do the heavens and the earth beget children? Paul says that the creation is groaning in childbirth, awaiting the redemption along with us, straining to give birth to the Messianic Era:
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Romans 8:20-22)
The letter vav is equivalent to the number six, the number of man who was made on the sixth day. The missing vav represents six things that the Holy One, blessed be He, took away from Adam after he sinned: the radiance of his face, his height, his potential for eternal life, the fruit of the earth, the Garden of Eden, and the brightness of the light of the sun and moon. All these things will be restored in the Messianic Era and the World to Come, "On the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted" (Isaiah 30:26).
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Shadows of Messiah, Book One.
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
Humanity: A Bridge Between Heaven and Earth
The Torah doesn’t focus on debating the origin of our species; instead, it presents human life as a divine miracle, deliberately created by God, giving us dignity and purpose. In the late first century, Clement of Rome, a disciple of the Apostle Peter, described the creation of man as the pinnacle of God’s work:
“Above all, with His holy and undefiled hands, He formed man, the most excellent of His creatures, and truly great through the understanding given him, the express likeness of His own image” (I Clement 33:4)
The Hebrew word for “man” is adam, and the word for “ground” is adamah—both from the same root, emphasizing humanity’s physical connection to the earth.
To animate man, God breathed into him the neshamah (soul), bringing life. Genesis 2:7 says, “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the neshamah of life, and man became a living being.” This breath of life makes us more than just physical creatures—we contain within us a portion of God’s own breath. Clement explained that God knows our innermost thoughts and desires because He placed the soul within us, and as long as His breath remains in us, we live:
For He is a Searcher of the thoughts and desires of the heart: His breath is in us; and when He pleases, He will take it away. (I Clement 21:9)
Humanity lives in the tension between two origins: we are made from the earth’s physical elements, yet we bear a divine spark. We are physical beings, part of the biological world, but also vessels of the immortal. This duality makes us a hybrid of sorts, existing in both the material and spiritual realms. Our daily lives revolve around common, earthly needs—food, shelter, survival—but we are also instinctively drawn toward the divine. Every human culture has expressed a spiritual yearning, suggesting that our search for God is as natural as a bird’s instinct to migrate.
The Torah explains that this duality is part of our nature, a result of our twofold origin. We are beings who bridge heaven and earth, made from both. When God created man, He said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). Being made in God’s image means, as Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Rambam) explains, that humanity is endowed with morality, reason, and free will. We are capable of knowing and loving God and have the power to choose our actions through reason. In this way, we reflect the likeness of God.
Among all living creatures, Man alone is endowed- like his Creator-with morality, reason, and free will. He can know and love God and can hold spiritual communion with Him; and Man alone can guide his actions through reason. It is in this sense that the Torah describes Man as having been created in God's image and likeness. (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon)
God created man to be a real being, like Himself but part of the physical world. This can be likened to an artist painting a landscape and then painting a likeness of himself into the scene. We are made of the same “paint and pigments” as the rest of creation, but we also represent the artist. Our task on earth is to cultivate the divine aspect of our nature and integrate it with the earthly side. We are uniquely suited for this role, to reveal heaven on earth.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Unrolling the Scroll.
Souls in the Body
The mystics teach that God created all human spirits during the six days: "You should know that all the souls that existed from the time of Adam the first man until the end of time, were all created during the six days of creation." Prior to the creation of the first man, God created the spirit (neshamah, נשמה) of every person ever destined to live on earth. The midrash says, "all of them were in the Garden of Eden, and all of them were present at the giving of the Torah."
The Almighty keeps the human souls in a heavenly storehouse called the "Body" (Guf, גוף). Whenever a child is conceived, He sends one of the souls to inhabit the new human life. Since the divine soul existed before the person's body, it will also live on after the body perishes: "The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Eventually, the Guf will run out of souls. Rabbi Assi taught, "The Son of David will not come until all the souls in the Guf have been exhausted. "
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Shadows of Messiah, Book One.
Spirit and Soul
God made Adam as a hybrid of spirit and flesh. Man possesses two souls-a "divine" soul and an "animal" soul. The divine soul is that pre-existent aspect of the soul, the "breath" of God that He breathes into human beings. It is a portion of His own essence, and it survives after death. The animal soul is the human life-force that animates the flesh. The animal soul provides our mortal vitality, our sense of self and sentience.
The common biblical Hebrew word for soul is nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ), but nefesh is seldom used to refer to the immortal, spiritual element of the divine soul. Instead, nefesh refers to a person's psyche, the "self" and the "personality." The mystics describe the nefesh as a man's thought, speech, and action. Even animals have a nefesh. Its inclination and appetites are carnal, material, and selfish; therefore, its influence over man leads us toward selfishness, lust, greed, and sin. Despite this, the animal soul is not evil, for it also comes from God. The animal soul can be harnessed and brought under the influence of the divine soul and into the service of God.
The Hebrew word for "breath" in Genesis 2:7 is neshamah (נְשָׁמָה). The same word is commonly used in Judaism to refer to the divine soul. The neshamah entered Adam as the "breath of life" God breathed into him. The divine soul is the source of our innate thirst for God. The apostles refer to it as the "spirit" (not to be confused with the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit). According to apostolic theology, this spirit within man is dead until it is quickened by salvation and brought to life and communion with the Holy Spirit.
To enter a human being, the neshamah must leave its abode in the heavens and inhabit an earthly body. Then the nefesh(personality) and neshamah (divine soul) bind together but remain distinct. At death, the nefesh perishes with the body, but the neshamah returns to its source: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
Both the nefesh and the neshamah are mentioned in Genesis 2:7:
"Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath (neshamah, נְשָׁמָה) of life; and man became a living being (nefesh, נֶפֶשׁ)." (Genesis 2:7)
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
Spiritual Beings
Human beings have the capacity to bear God's image on earth and reflect His wisdom because every human being has a divine spirit that preexisted his or her life on earth. It's the "breath" of God that He breathed into human beings as a portion of His own essence. It's this portion of the soul that survives after death.
The Hebrew word translated as "breath" in Genesis 2:7 is neshamah. The same word refers to the divine soul, the "breath of life" God breathed into human beings. In the New Testament, the apostles refer to the divine soul as the "spirit" (not to be confused with the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit). The spirit is the part of us that lives on when our physical bodies die.
To become a human being, the spirit must leave its abode in the heavens and inhabit an earthly body. When the body perishes, the spirit returns to its source: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
That makes human beings a hybrid of spirit and flesh. Our physical bodies are like garments for the spirit. The spirit is the real person; the body is like a coat that the spirit wears:
Your hands fashioned and made me altogether,
And would you destroy me?
You have made me as clay;
And would You turn me into dust again?
Did You not pour me out like milk
And curdle me like cheese;
Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews?
You have granted me life and lovingkindness;
And Your care has preserved my spirit. (Job 10:8-12)
The spirit within us comes from God. It's supposed to illuminate our inner being with God's wisdom. Solomon says, "The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the innermost parts of his being" (Proverbs 20:27). But the spirit can be darkened by sin. "If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:23).
Knowing that we are more than just flesh and blood is one of the most important secrets of divine wisdom. Death is not the end. The spirit must return to God and give an account for deeds committed in the flesh, whether good or bad. "So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12). The spirit within us faces punishment and reward in the hereafter. Our spirits should be concerned with the fear of the LORD, as Yeshua says, "Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ The Beginning of Wisdom, Book One.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. (Genesis 2:8-10)
Eden: The Choice Between Life and Death
Man’s original home was a garden that God called Eden, which means "delight." God placed man in this garden of delight, an orchard-like paradise. The Greek translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, refers to Eden as "paradise," and it truly was. In Eden, Adam experienced close fellowship with God, walking together in the garden in the cool of the day. There was no competition, no pain, no death—everything man needed was provided. Within the garden grew "every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food," including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9).
The tree of life symbolized potential immortality. Though man was created mortal like all other creatures, God gave him the choice to reach out and take immortality by eating from the tree of life. However, alongside it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which represented the choice between life and death. God warned man:
“You may eat freely from any tree of the garden, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17)
This ability to choose is central to our humanity. We are constantly presented with the choice between the way of life, which is obedience, and the way of death, which is disobedience. Just as Adam faced the decision between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we face similar choices every day. As Deuteronomy 30:19 reminds us:
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Unrolling the Scroll.
Eden
The LORD placed the man in an orchard. The orchard was located "east of delight (eden, עֵדֶן)" where the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates all arise from a single river flowing out from under the trees, which is to say, nowhere on earth as we know it. Eden was paradise. Within Eden, Adam enjoyed fellowship with the Almighty. God met with man and walked in the garden under the trees in the cool breeze of the day. Within the garden, man knew no striving, competition, pain, or dying. All that he needed he had close at hand.
God planted every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food within the garden. He also planted the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life represents man's potential to reach immortality. God created man mortal, like all other creatures, but He gave man the gift of choice. To achieve immortality and "be like God," man needed only to reach out to the tree of life and eat its fruit. He also placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil within the garden, but He warned the man, "From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).
The "knowledge of good and evil" means to experience good and evil and to know the difference between them. Evil is not only a moral attitude. In Hebrew, the same word can also mean bad things that happen. To eat of the fruit of that tree meant choosing to live in the real world of cause and effect, to experience the good and the bad in life, and to choose between them.
According to Jewish eschatology, the divine souls of the righteous dead retire to the paradise of Gan Eden ("Garden of Eden," גַּן עֵדֶן) where they bask in the presence of God and await the resurrection. In Messianic Judaism, we speak of "going to Gan Eden" much as the Christian world speaks of "going to heaven."
The Tabernacle and Temple represent Eden on earth—the paradise where man can enter into God's presence. In the World to Come, the walls of the holy city, New Jerusalem, will stand within the Garden of Eden. A river will flow out from it, and the tree of life will grow on its banks.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
River of Life
The Garden of Eden corresponds to paradise, the Messianic Age, and the World to Come. In the Messianic Era, a river will flow out of Eden again in the form of a mighty river that flows forth from the holy Temple and from Jerusalem. "Living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter" (Zechariah 14:8). Our Master alluded to this prophecy when He declared, "From [the Temple's] innermost being will flow rivers of living water." Ezekiel describes this river as a river of life which turns the Dead Sea sweet:
And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. (Ezekiel 47:10)
Fruit trees, like the trees of Eden, will grow along its banks. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail, for they will be the righteous who are planted by streams of living water, like a tree which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. "They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing" (Ezekiel 47:12).
Is this river literal or figurative? Yeshua taught that the river symbolized the Holy Spirit which will be poured out on all flesh in the Messianic Era. Likewise, the mystics teach that the river of life symbolizes revelation pouring forth from Zion to water all nations and spread the knowledge of God throughout the world. The nations will flow to Zion like a river, and the Torah will flow forth from Zion to all nations:
A river will flow forth from Eden. The forefathers will come into the Garden of Eden and will crown Messiah our Righteousness with the holy crowns, and a river will come forth from Eden, and the river is Messiah our Righteousness, as it is written, "All the nations shall flow to him."
Yeshua taught "that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47), flowing out to the nations like the river of life flowing out from Zion.
The river also flows from New Jerusalem in the World to Come. In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John sees a river of life flowing from the throne, and on either side of the river grows the tree of life:
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1-2)
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Shadows of Messiah, Book One.
The Presence of God
The spirit desires God. The spirit within you longs to return to the communion with God that it enjoyed before leaving heaven, entering a human conception, and becoming you. Your spirit desires to return to the place of glory and the all-encompassing love of God that it knew before the foundation of the world. In Jewish thought, that blissful state of Paradise is called the "Garden of Eden."
God longs for that union, too. He loves you and desires communion with your spirit. "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us" (James 4:5). He wants to walk with us in the garden.
Adam and Eve had that privilege every day in Eden. They walked with God "in the cool of the day," basking in His presence, clothed in His love (Genesis 3:8). But He did not allow His presence to remain with them in Eden continually. He wanted them to grow in wisdom and spiritually mature. He wanted them to develop into adults, so to speak, They could never do that in the uninterrupted bliss of His presence.
So long as God's revealed presence walked with them in the garden, they had no temptation to sin nor any need to seek after Him. One might say that they had no free will in His presence because there are no real choices in God's presence. He is the only choice that makes any sense. This awareness of God's presence and the consequences of our actions is called "the fear of the LORD." Before sin can be a possibility, and before the free will can make a choice, God needs to conceal His presence, thereby diminishing our fear of the LORD to a level where a choice is possible.
Yeshua illustrated this idea with a parable in which the owner of the house goes on a long journey and leaves his servants in charge of the estate. When the owner returns, he punishes those servants who abused their position, neglected their duties, and indulged their appetites, and he rewards those servants who conducted their duties faithfully. While the master of the house was away, the wicked servants forgot their fear of their master, whereas the good servants carried on with their duties as if their master were present. It's a parable about being responsible in the absence of direct supervision.
Adam and Eve faced the same test. So long as God was with them in the garden, they had no temptation to deviate from His commandment. But when He temporarily withdrew His presence, they lost their focus on Him and listened instead to the voice of temptation. They failed to show responsibility in the absence of direct supervision.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ The Beginning of Wisdom, Book One.
The Marshmallow Test
God placed a test before Adam and Eve in the form of two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they chose the tree of life, they would receive eternal life. They would never die. If they chose the knowledge of good and evil, they would experience both good and evil in their moral choices and circumstances. He told them which tree not to eat from. So long as He remained present, they didn't.
In 1972, psychologists at Stanford University conducted a famous experiment in human behavior involving children and marshmallows. They gave a child a delicious marshmallow and told him he could eat it if he wanted to but that he would receive an even better treat if he waited until the researchers returned to the room. Then they left the child alone with the marshmallow. Fifteen minutes later, the researchers returned to see if the child had eaten the marshmallow.
Some children could not delay gratification. They ate the marshmallow immediately or after only a short period of attempting to abstain. Others managed to delay gratification, wait out the full term, and receive the promised reward. Years later, the psychology department reexamined the same children. They discovered that those able to delay gratification tended to have better lives, better grades in school, more academic achievements, and better health.
The story of Adam and Eve in Eden is sort of a divine marshmallow test. God set a marshmallow in front of Adam and Eve and told them not to eat it. Then He left the garden so that they could make their own choice. They failed the test.
That's what human life is like. Every day we encounter various marshmallows of temptation. God is concealed from our view. We are unaware of His presence. What choice will we make? Wisdom weighs the consequences. Folly reaches for instant gratification:
There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up. (Proverbs 21:20)
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ The Beginning of Wisdom, Book One.
The Tree of Life
King Solomon identified the meaning behind the tree of life. The fruit of the tree of life is wisdom. To obtain wisdom is to obtain "long life," i.e., immortality: "Because of her I shall obtain immortality" (Wisdom of Solomon 8:13). The path of wisdom is the straight and narrow way Yeshua taught that leads to life. It's the small gate through which only a few enter.
Read aloud this short poem Solomon wrote about the meaning of the tree of life planted in the garden of Eden:
How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding.
For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold.
She is more precious than jewels;
And nothing you desire compares with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
In her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways
And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast.
(Proverbs 3:13-18)
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ The Beginning of Wisdom, Book One.
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18)
The Gift of Companionship: Addressing Loneliness in God's Creation
God declared everything He created to be good. "And behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). Yet, the one thing He deemed "not good" was man's loneliness. Among all the creatures of creation, no suitable partner could be found for man. Despite the innocence, fellowship with God, and all the delights of Eden, man felt alone—he longed for a companion.
The desire for love and companionship is deeply embedded in human nature. If you are single or divorced, these words may resonate painfully, like Adam searching for a partner among all of God’s creatures but finding none. No matter your situation, take comfort in knowing that God recognizes and cares about human loneliness.
Some are called to remain single for the sake of God's work. Even Yeshua of Nazareth, the Master Himself, never married. There is great value and reward in living a single life devoted to God. As Yeshua said:
"There are those who remain single for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who can accept this, let him accept it" (Matthew 19:12).
Even if you are married, these words offer guidance. Though marriage may be difficult at times, remember that God’s alternative—loneliness—is "not good."
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Unrolling the Scroll.
The Helper Against Him
Although the single life is an option for believers, it is not an ideal option. The LORD states that it is not good for man to be alone. The sages say, “Any man who has no wife lives without joy, without blessing, and without goodness.”
The LORD brought the animals “to the man to see what he would call them” (Genesis 2:19). This implies that God delights in man’s wonder over His creatures. Man gave names to all the animals to take authority over them. In the ancient Near East, the act of naming a thing declared one’s authority over it. As the man gave names to the animals, he observed that each animal had its spouse, but he had none. He saw that God had not provided him with a suitable helper.
The Hebrew behind the term “suitable helper” literally translates as “a helper against him (ezer kenegdo, עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ)” (Genesis 2:20). The Talmud explains why the Torah calls your spouse a helper against you: “If man is worthy, the woman will be a helper. If he is unworthy, she will be against him.”
If God did not make Eve until after the six days of creation, why does Genesis 1:27 say, “Male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27)? Jewish folklore speculated that Adam’s first wife (Lilith) did not work out. God had to make a new wife for Adam.
A better explanation says that God originally made Adam both male and female, a single being with the attributes of both genders. A parallel text in Genesis 5:2 says, “He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Adam in the day when they were created.” The name Adam (אָדָם) means “humanity.” In other words, God created male and female as a single being—two halves of the same person.
That explains why He had to remove Eve from Adam’s body, and it explains why the male and female are attracted to one another—they seek to return to the original state, as it says: “They shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
Rabbi Eleazar said, “Any man who has no wife is not a complete human being (adam); for it is said [in Genesis 5:2], ‘He created them male and female and … named them Adam.’” (b.Yevamot 62b)
When the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam, He created him androgynous, as it is said [in Genesis 5:2], “He created them male and female and … named them Adam.” (Genesis Rabbah 8:1)
It is written: "And God created man in his own image," and it is written, "Male and female created He them." How is this to be understood? In this way: In the beginning it was the intention of God to create two human beings, and in the end only one human being was created. (b.Ketubot 8a)
Our Master invoked this midrashic understanding of the male/female relationship. He cited Genesis 2:24, which says a man will "be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." He understood marriage as a return to the Edenic and primal perfection of the first human being. Just as God mysteriously formed Eve by separating her from Adam, so too, He mysteriously joined a man and a woman into one being at marriage: "they shall become one flesh."
The sages viewed marital union as a step toward spiritual union with God. The Midrash says, "Man does not fulfill his destiny without woman, neither does woman fulfill her destiny without man, nor do the two of them together without the Divine Presence between them.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. (Genesis 2:21)
Bride of Messiah
The name Chavah ("Eve," חַוָּה) means "living." The creation of Chavah can be read as a metaphor for Messiah and Israel, the bride.
The Apostle Paul asked us, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Messiah?" (1 Corinthians 6:15). He told us, "We are members of His Body." This "is a great mystery." (Ephesians 5).
Paul teaches that the first Adam was "a type of Him who was to come" (Romans 5:14), and he goes on to refer to Messiah as the "last Adam" (I Corinthians 15:45). Just as Adam was created in God's image, so the Messiah is anointed by God, and God's Spirit will be upon Him. Since the original Adam prefigures the last Adam, Adam's wife, Eve, can symbolize the bride of Messiah.
It says, "The LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept." Sleep means death, as the Master said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep." The sleep of the first Adam symbolizes the "sleep" of the last Adam—for from out of it He awoke and "He brought her to the man." God built the bride of the first Adam from his slumber, and He raised the bride of the last Adam from His "slumber." When Adam saw Eve, he exclaimed, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man."* That is to say "She is my body, for she was taken out of my body," therefore, "a man shall be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." One flesh is one body, therefore the bride of Adam is also the body of Adam and the Bride of the Messiah is also called the body of Messiah. Moreover, God made Eve as a new creation, "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Galatians 6:15).
Paul develops the symbolism further. In Jewish tradition a bride immerses in a mikvah (immersion pool) on the night before her wedding. Paul says that the Messiah "sanctified her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the assembly in all her glory" (Ephesians 5:26-27). To prove his premise that Messiah can be likened to a husband and the assembly of Messiah can be likened to a bride, he quotes the Torah:
We are members of His body. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Messiah and the assembly. (Ephesians 5:30-32 quoting Genesis 2:24)
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
The Wedding in the Garden
In the same way that Paul imagines Messiah preparing His bride, the Midrash Rabbah imagines God preparing Chavah for her wedding day by washing her, adorning her, clothing her, and braiding her hair. He Himself presents her to Adam. "Rabbi Abin observed, 'Happy is the citizen for whom the king is the best man!"
The angels descended to Gan Eden, playing music for Adam and Chava. Sun, moon, and stars danced for them. HaShem Himself prepared tables of precious pearls and heaped delicacies upon them. He Himself arranged the chupa and stood like a chazzan (cantor), blessing Adam and Chava.
During a Jewish wedding ceremony, the chazzan pronounces seven blessings over the bride and the groom while they stand under the bridal canopy. The seven blessings of a Jewish wedding ceremony allude back to the wedding in the Garden of Eden
Blessed are You, O LORD, our God, King of the universe, for whose glory all things were created.
Blessed are You, O LORD, our God, King of the universe, who created the man.
Blessed are You, O LORD, our God, King of the universe, who created the man in His image, in the image of the likeness of His pattern, and prepared for him from Himself a building lasting forever. Blessed are You, O LORD, who created the man.
Rejoice greatly and be joyful, O barren one, at the gathering of her children within her with gladness. Blessed are You, O LORD, who gladdens Zion with her children.
Gladden greatly the beloved companions, just as You gladdened the one You formed in the Garden of Eden long ago. Blessed are You, O LORD, who gladdens the groom and the bride.
Blessed are You, O LORD, our God, King of the universe, who created joy and gladness, groom and bride, celebration, joyful singing, festivity and merriment, love and brotherhood, peace and companionship. Quickly, O LORD, our God, let it be heard in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the sound of the groom and the sound of the bride, the sound of the groom's cries of joy from their bridal canopies, and young men from their music-filled banquets. Blessed are You, O LORD, who gladdens the groom with the bride.
Blessed are You, O LORD, our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
The seven wedding blessings begin with the creation of Adam and culminate in the Messianic Age to come. They look to the ultimate wedding banquet of the future. The third blessing plays off of the phrase in the Torah, "The LORD God built (banah, בָּנָה) the rib He had taken from the man into a woman" (Genesis 2:22). Because the Torah uses the word "built" (banah) in regard to Eve, the text of the blessing refers to her as a "building" (binyan, בִּנְיָן) and calls her an "eternal building," an allusion to New Jerusalem, which is described as a bride adorned for her husband. Following the same type of Hebrew wordplay, Paul refers to the bride of Messiah as a "building, being fitted together" (Ephesians 2:21).
Another interpretation explains that the woman is called a building (binyan) because she has more insight (binah, בִּינָה) than man.
The last blessing pronounces the blessing for wine. At that great wedding supper in the kingdom, the Bridegroom will keep His promise and again take the cup of the fruit of vine with His disciples. "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9).
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
The Sacred Union: Marriage, Sexuality, and God’s Presence
Adam named his wife Eve (Chavah in Hebrew), meaning "living," because "she was the mother of all the living" (Genesis 3:20). The Torah says, "the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25). This reflects the Torah’s view of sexuality—not as something sinful or shameful, but as something created by God, designed to be a beautiful and fulfilling part of life in paradise. Consider the innocence of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, delighting in their God-given relationship.
The Torah teaches that when a man and woman join together in marriage, they become "one flesh." In biblical terms, "flesh" refers to the human body. This is the profound mystery of marriage: it is both a spiritual and physical union, making the couple one. Neither is fully complete without the other, which is why marriage can be so fulfilling, and why divorce is so painful and tragic. It also explains why infidelity and sexual relationships outside of marriage cause such deep harm. As the apostle says, "Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Hebrews 13:4). We are designed for a committed, monogamous relationship, not for multiple partners.
When Yeshua (Jesus) was asked about divorce, He acknowledged that although it is permissible under Torah law, it is not the ideal. He pointed to the original intention of marriage in Genesis:
"Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate" (Matthew 19:4-6)
In today’s culture, it’s common for people to go through multiple sexual partners before marriage, and many marriages end in divorce. This is far from God’s original design. God wants us to experience and enjoy sexuality within the safety and joy of a committed, monogamous marriage, just as it was in Eden. When we follow this plan, we taste a small part of the joy of paradise. But when sex is removed from that context, it becomes twisted into something harmful and destructive.
Rabbi Akiva, a renowned second-century Torah scholar, taught that "when husband and wife are worthy, the Dwelling Presence of God abides with them, but when they are not worthy, fire consumes them." He explained this by pointing to the Hebrew words for "man" (ish) and "woman" (ishah). These words share common letters but also have unique letters. The unique letters—yod (י) from ish and heh (ה) from ishah—spell Yah (יה), part of God’s holy name. When a marriage is godly and pure, God’s presence dwells with the couple. But when the marriage is godless, removing those letters leaves esh (אש), meaning "fire," symbolizing the destructive power of a defiled relationship.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Unrolling the Scroll.
Monogamy
Our Master used Genesis 2:24 to overturn conventional thought about marriage, divorce, remarriage, and polygamy. He also used it to redefine adultery. Yeshua pointed out that, while the Torah does permit divorce in Deuteronomy 24, it actually commanded monogamous fidelity in Genesis.
He said, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way" (Matthew 10:8). The "beginning" He referred to is the book of Genesis (B'reisheet, "In the Beginning," בְּרֵאשִׁית). Jewish tradition ascribes the book of Genesis to Moses: it is as much a part of the Torah as Deuteronomy.
Our Master Yeshua found evidence for a standard of monogamous fidelity in the Edenic narratives of Genesis. He quoted two passages:
He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and the two of them shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
The Edenic version of adam (humankind) presents the Torah ideal: In Eden God placed only one man and only one woman. It does not say "He created them males and females."
The same argument applies to polygamy and adultery. Yeshua did not deny that the Torah allows polygamy, that is, it allows for a man to have more than one wife, but He placed it in the "hardness of heart" category of legislation.
Men in the Bible who took concubines or more than one wife were not guilty of committing adultery. The Torah narrowly defines adultery as sexual relations with another man's wife or betrothed fiancé. Men who strayed outside of wedlock committed sexual immorality (zanah, זָנָה), but not adultery (na'af, נָאַף). A man who had relations with a married woman incurred the death penalty, but a married man who broke faith with his wife to engage in a relationship with a single woman received no penalty. The husband was free to marry his paramour as well, if he pleased, so long as he could provide for both wives. A woman who broke faith with her husband, however, was liable to the death penalty for committing adultery.
Contrary to the conventional interpretations, our Master taught, "Whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery" (Matthew 19:9). Such a man "commits adultery against" his first wife (Mark 10:11). This means that our Master Yeshua broadened the definition of adultery, making it equally applicable to men and women. In this radical and unparalleled innovation, Yeshua holds husbands up to the same standard of marital fidelity to which the Torah holds women. His ruling does not contradict the Torah's definition of adultery, instead it augments it based upon the monogamous-fidelity principle He derived from Genesis:
"God made them male and female." "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh"; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. (Mark 10:6-9)
Based upon the Master's redefinition of adultery, people today naturally consider a husband who commits an infidelity as an adulterer. In our Master's day, however, this broader definition of adultery -a stunning legal twist-required a paradigm shift. In essence, Rabbi Yeshua redefined the rules of marriage. He did not do so in contradiction to the Torah. He based His argument squarely on the Torah.
This ruling is probably our Master's most radical innovation in halachah. He leveled the marital playing field, placing husbands and wives on an equal footing with mutual responsibility to one another.
Moreover, Yeshua's teaching about the Torah's ideal of one man and one woman delegitimized polygamy. The Master's ruling on divorce and adultery limits disciples of Yeshua to a single wife. Although the Bible permits a man to have more than one wife, "from the beginning it has not been this way." Judaism, by and large, adopted the Master's prohibition on polygamy when the rabbis banned it, one thousand years later.
References
This section is from teachings from FFOZ Depths of the Torah, Book One.
The Essence of Marriage: Acquisition, Responsibility, and Completion
The Unequal Appearance of Jewish Marriage
There is an aspect of traditional Jewish marriage that seems decidedly unequal at first glance. The issue becomes quite apparent in the opening words of the first Mishnah in Tractate Kiddushin:
"A woman is acquired in three ways." (Mishnah Kiddushin 1:1)
Here, the Mishnaic text characterizes marriage—specifically kiddushin, or betrothal (the first stage of marriage)—as an act in which a man "acquires" a woman. Rabbi David Fohrman describes this as cringe worthy. It almost sounds as if the woman is being treated as property, like some object to be bought. Is that really what happens under the chuppah? That beautiful, romantic moment when the bride circles the groom seven times, when their eyes meet over a shared goblet of wine, and the crowd falls silent as he gently slips a ring on her finger—what's really happening in that moment? Is he "acquiring" her like a man buys a carton of milk or a pair of shoes? Is this truly how the Torah views marriage?
I believe the answer to this unsettling question can be found in Parshat Bereishit, where the Torah describes what might be considered the first marriage in human history—the union of Adam and Eve. Let's take a closer look at that text together.
The Story of Adam and Eve’s Union
The story of Adam and Eve’s courtship is far from conventional. After creating Adam, God looks at His new creation and concludes, "It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a helpmate for him" (Genesis 2:18).
Now, imagine being in God’s position. You've just created man and decided he needs a companion. The logical next step would seem to be creating Eve, right? But that’s not what happens. Instead, the first love story takes an unusual turn. God decides to create animals instead: "Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them" (Genesis 2:19). So, rather than making Eve right away, God creates a parade of creatures, bringing them to Adam to see if any might be a suitable companion.
Picture the scene: first, the hippopotamus, then the flamingo, then the giraffe. Adam names each animal but finds none of them to be the right companion. It’s almost like some strange dating game. Despite this parade, no suitable partner is found for Adam. So, God takes a different approach: He puts Adam to sleep, removes one of his ribs, and forms it into a woman. Just as He presented the animals, God presents the woman to Adam. And how does Adam respond? He exclaims, "This time, it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman (ishah) because she was taken from man (ish)" (Genesis 2:23)
It's a beautiful, romantic declaration, but what follows is rather intriguing: "This is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).
A Timeless Lesson on Marriage
What exactly is happening here? Up until this point, the Torah has been telling us a narrative, but suddenly, the narrator "breaks the fourth wall," speaking directly to the reader. It's as if the text pauses the story to say, "By the way, here's an important, timeless lesson: this is why a man leaves his parents behind and gets married." The Torah doesn't just leave this for the astute reader to infer—it drives the point home, overtly and explicitly. The message is clear: this isn’t just about the first man and woman; it’s a lesson for all of us, for every love story throughout time. It’s explaining why people seek marriage, something relevant to all generations.
However, despite the Torah’s emphasis, the lesson itself remains somewhat obscure. The text says "al kein" (therefore), meaning "this is why" a man leaves his parents to marry. But what exactly is "this"? What causes a man to leave his father and mother? The answer seems to lie in the last thing the Torah tells us—specifically, in Adam’s declaration: "This time, it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman (ishah) because she was taken from man (ish)."
The Torah is pointing to something in Adam’s words that explains why men desire to marry. Without this key realization, we are asked to believe, a man would never want to leave his parents. He would stay at home indefinitely. So, what did Adam find so captivating about Eve? How did he know she was "the one"? The Torah provides the answer: when Adam first saw Eve, he recognized something profound—she was different from all the animals he had seen, and special in a unique way. Why? Because, as Adam said, she came from him.
Think back to the animals that God brought before Adam. They didn’t seem like suitable companions because they were fundamentally foreign to him. But Eve was different. When Adam first set eyes on her, he felt an immediate connection, a deep sense of kinship. She was a part of him, a lost piece of his own self, and that realization drove him to want to reunite with her. This, the Torah tells us, is the essence of why men seek marriage.
The Connection Between Parents and Spouses
Now let’s revisit that narrative aside, the moment the Torah "breaks the fourth wall" and directly addresses the reader: "This is why a man leaves behind his father and his mother..." Earlier, we questioned what it was about Adam’s declaration upon seeing Eve that explains why a man would leave his parents. But now, it’s clearer: there’s a fundamental connection between a man’s relationship with his wife and his relationship with his parents. What is the common thread?
The answer predates Freud—it's in the Torah itself. The commonality lies in the fact that he was once one with them. A man comes biologically from his parents; before birth, he was quite literally "one flesh" with them. That unity is powerful, and there’s a part of him that never wants to leave that sense of oneness with his source—his parents, the place from which he came. Yet, as much as he may long to stay in that familiar unity, it’s something he can never truly reclaim.
So, what propels him to leave? What gets him off his parents’ couch, so to speak? There’s only one thing strong enough to motivate him to move forward and build a life of his own—the chance to find a new kind of unity, the oneness he can experience with his wife. In reuniting with the feminine, man regains a sense of wholeness, a reflection of the original oneness he had before Eve was taken from him.
Thus, the Torah presents marriage as a man’s journey to reunite with his lost self. It’s a rather romantic notion, isn’t it? But this brings us back to our original question: when you open Tractate Kiddushin, the Mishnah’s portrayal of marriage seems far from romantic. Why use a term like "acquisition" to describe marriage, which is one of the most profound and intimate of human experiences? It sounds so transactional, so cold.
Understanding the Concept of Acquisition
We often misunderstand the concept of acquisition. We tend to associate it with owning or controlling things—and when it comes to objects, like a lawnmower, that might be true. I buy a lawnmower, and I control it. But there are other kinds of acquisition that have little to do with control. Consider the relationship between a person and the Torah. In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), it says:
"The Torah is acquired with forty-eight qualities" (Pirkei Avot 6:6).
The word "acquired" here is the same word used to describe a man's acquisition of a woman in marriage. But how does one "acquire" the Torah? Do I, as a student of Torah, control it? If anything, the Torah controls me, shaping my behavior and guiding my life—yet the Mishnah still calls this an acquisition.
This type of acquisition isn’t about control; it’s about responsibility. I don’t "own" the Torah in a way that grants me power over it—that would be a perversion of its sanctity. Rather, the Torah becomes mine in the sense that it completes me, and my role is to honor it, protect it, and cherish it. Perhaps this is a clue to what "acquisition" means in the context of marriage. When a man "acquires" a woman, it isn’t about asserting dominance or control. It’s about responsibility—his obligations to her, not his rights over her. She completes him, and therefore he is called to treasure her and keep her safe.
The True Meaning of Acquisition: Completion
At its core, acquisition may be driven by the desire for completion. Whether we’re trying to acquire the Torah, a spouse, or even something material like a luxury car, the motivation often goes beyond financial gain or practical utility. We’re seeking to fill a void, to feel whole. But in that pursuit, we can easily deceive ourselves. The relentless chase for material acquisition—like the person who has fifty million dollars but keeps striving for fifty-one—can rob us of the very happiness we seek. We tell ourselves that with just one more thing, we’ll finally feel complete, but it never works.
Things don’t complete us because they are external, much like the animals were to Adam. The animals were never a part of him, so they could not make him whole. Only one acquisition truly completes us, and that is the union of man and woman in marriage. In marriage, the masculine and feminine come together to form a unified whole. This is the one instance where the hope of acquisition is fully realized—the moment when, in coming together, we become complete.
References
This section is drawn from the teachings of Rabbi David Fohrman in Genesis: A Parsha Companion.