|
This explanation contains a profound truth. The male and female respectively represent two opposites. If man is worthy they merge into a single whole. In all cases two opposites merge to form a single whole when they are worthy, ie. when the Almighty who makes peace between opposites links and joins them. But when they are not worthy the fact that they are opposites causes her to be 'against him.'
The Maharal of Prague (1524-1609)
|
This week's Torah portion is probably one of the most familiar: the creation of the cosmos and of humanity, the Garden of Eden and the serpent, and the story of Cain and Abel. Chapter one describes the creation of the world (including humanity). The generic 'adam' (not the proper name, Adam, yet) is described as being created in God's image: male and female. The midrash, like Greek and other ancient traditions, imagines this first human as being a pair of male and female (Siamese) twins. Chapter two retells the Creation story from a different perspective, with more emphasis on the creation of humanity and some interesting new details. We learn that the adam, (Waskow's translation: earthling) is created from the 'adamah' (earth). God removes a tsela (usually translated and understood as rib, but elsewhere in Torah it means a side- see Ex. 26:20). It is as if the original androgynous /hermaphrodite adam becomes 'male' (Adam) when its 'female' side is removed.
The key word of Creation is 'tov', good; in chapter one it rings out seven times. God surveys what has been created, and God pronounces it 'good' (or sometimes, 'very good'). But before God's 'sex-change' operation on the first human, we hear: Adonai (YHVH) God said, "It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him." According to the Torah, it was not good that the first human was a single individual (bi-sexual or not). Everything in the world (except God) should be paired. And so God decides that the first human needs a partner. But no animal seems an appropriate fit. So God creates a special partner that will be 'ezer k'negdo.'
But the Hebrew 'ezer k'negdo' is puzzling. Ezer' is usually understood as 'helper' (but we'll see that like the familiar 'rib' this may be incorrect). The root of 'k'negdo' is 'neged' which means against, or opposite. So the phrase is odd: I will make an opposite helper? (I have an image of someone pulling while I'm pushing, and thinking 'this isn't helping!') Rashi picks up on this, and breaks up the two words: If he is worthy- a help; if he does not show himself worthy- against him." The phrase has become an accepted endearing term for one's spouse, as in, 'She is his 'ezer k'negdo.' The idea captured here is that your spouse is often the person who, knowing you most intimately, can (hopefully, gently, privately and lovingly) point out that you can do better.
Different translations struggle with the Hebrew to capture this idea that 'helping' can be complementary:
KAPLAN God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a compatible helper for him.'
FOX Now YHVH God said, 'It is not good for the human to be alone, I will make him a helper — corresponding to him.'
ANCHOR (Speiser) God Yahweh said, `It is not right for that man should be alone, I will make him an aid fit for him.'
NEW JPS The LORD God said, "It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him."
The fully egalitarian version of humanity's creation in Genesis chapter one, seems to now be diminished by the understanding of woman being created from the adam's rib, and this description of woman as 'helper.' In an egalitarian house, one doesn't 'help' with the housework. One 'shares' in the housework. It's an important distinction. If I am only 'helping,' I don't see myself equally obligated. And if the woman is 'helper,' it is hard to imagine that she isn't being considered inferior. Plaut states explicitly in the UAHC Torah Commentary: "The Bible does not see man and woman as equals." The Conservative Etz Hayyim Commentary tries to be more politically correct: "A fitting helper can be understood to mean a helpmate equivalent to him. It need not imply that the female is to be subordinate or that her role would be only as facilitator. Several commentators pick up on the idea of [almost] 'equal' but different. For the medieval Italian commentator Sforno, a woman needs to be equivalent so she can better serve the man: "this means a helper that will be, as it were, equal to him in image and likeness. This was mandatory so that the helper would appreciate his needs and meet them at the proper time. The word 'k'negdo ' (opposite him) implies that when an object is placed on one side of a scale it will be even with the object on the other side providing they are both equal in weight....It would, however, not have been proper for the helper to be completely equal to him for then one would not be properly able to work for and serve the other."
The word 'ezer' is almost universally understood as 'helpmate', 'helper,' or 'companion.' According to R. David Freedman in the Biblical Archaeology Review, (Jan/Feb 1983) 'ezer' actually represents two Hebrew roots. As we saw a few weeks ago (Ha'azinu) biblical poetry often consists of two parallel verses. Sometimes 'ezer' has the meaning of 'helper' and parallels 'rescuer,' or 'deliverer, like in Psalm 70:5:
I am completely destitute;
O God, hurry to my rescue (ezri).
You are my deliverer (m'falti)
But elsewhere, 'ezri' parallels 'strength' or 'majesty':
Happy are you, Israel! Who is like you,
a people delivered by the Lord,
The shield of your strength (ezreka)
and the sword of your majesty (ga'avah). (Deut. 33:29).
Freedman convincingly argues that it makes more sense for God to create a partner of 'equal' power or 'equal' strength than to say an 'equal' helper. Adam's description of this new person as "bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh" further strengthen's Freedman's thesis.
Lessons for Today
Men and women are equally human, and yet opposites to each other at the same time. In many ways in our society, (and especially in Judaism) men and women are not fully equal. Some argue that our roles are 'equal but different' (and as my friends in Quebec say, 'vive le difference!'). But I'm not convinced. And our [mis]-reading of 'helper' and 'rib' in the Genesis account doesn't help. The biblical account begins with a description of humanity-- male and female-- created together equally. Chapter two teaches us that actually men and women are opposites. So which is it? Equal, or opposite?
 Opposites are tricky. According to the Maharal, when two opposites are complementary, they are additive; 2 halves of a circle put together make a whole (circle). Opposites can also be oppositional; when two reverse numbers (4 and -4) are put together they make a 0 (hole). The Rabbis saw a clue for this in the Hebrew words for 'ish' (man) and 'ishah' (woman) [see sidebar]. If a relationship is destructive, all they have is what is in common; the two letters aleph and shin spell: 'esh' (fire). But if they are in a relationship that values (in Buber's words) 'the other's otherness' then they honour the letters that are different (yod and hey) which spell 'Yah' the name of God. May we honour our partner's otherness and feel God's presence in our lives.
|
