By: Hodaya Harary ('27)
ereishis is a topic of no matter his high status. His xation with Mordechai, his tremendous interest, perhaps desire to get him to bow, was precisely what led to his more than any Parsha in the downfall. Torah. This Parsha is the beginning In Adam’s case, he had been blessed with everything he of a year-long cycle of Torah, which could possibly imagine. He was the rst man to ever exist, Dvar Torah we as Jews cherish more than living in his own paradise, with Hashem there to grant his anything. Bereishis details the every request. And when that wasn’t enough, Hashem gave speci cs of the creation of the world. It also discusses the him Chava, someone of his kind to keep him from his rise of humanity, starting with loneliness. There was only one Adam and Chava, the rst rule he had to keep, he couldn’t humans to roam the earth, eat from the Tree of Life or the and the generations that Tree of Knowledge. But Adam follow, as well as Chava’s and Chava’s desire got the best notorious sin with the of them, leading them down forbidden fruit as the fall of the dangerous path of mankind, exiling us from the temptation, the same path that serene Garden of Eden. Is it led them out of Gan Eden. possible that Parshas Bereishis The Torah describes Chava’s could have some subtle rst observation of the Tree of connections to Megillas Knowledge in a unique way. Esther? When she sees the tree, the The "Thank You Hashem" board in the GMSG The rst way to go about Pasuk says, “וַּתֵֶ֣רא הָֽאִׁשָּ֡ה ּכִ֣י lounge gives students an opportunity to express this is to nd some correlation gratitude in their daily lives. ''טֹוב֩ הָעֵ֨ץmeaning,“And the between the two storylines. At Photo Credit: Becky Schubert ('24) woman saw that the tree was surface level, they seem very good” (Bereishis 3:6), which is distinct. The story of Megillas the exact same language that Esther is about our four main characters: Achashverosh, the Hashem uses to af rm each of his creations, saying, “וַּיְַ֧רא pompous and arrogant ruler of the time, Esther and ''אֱֹלקים…ּכִי־טֹ֑ובmeaning, “And G-D saw… that it was Mordechai, the heroes of Shushan, and Haman, the man good.” When Adam and Chava were faced with desire, they whose wicked plot threatened to kill the Jews. suddenly had no reverence for Hashem. They made In Parshas Bereishis, Perek Gimmel, Pasuk Yud Alef it themselves the ones in control of what they wanted and how says, “ָ”הֲמִן־הָעֵ֗ץ אֲׁשֶ֧ר צִּוִיתִ֛יָ לְבִלְּתִ֥י א ֲׇכל־מִּמֶּ֖נּו אָכָֽלְּת they would acquire it, because that is what desire will do. meaning, “Did you eat of the tree from which I had Desire lls someone with an urge strong enough to throw forbidden you to eat?” At rst glance, it seems that it’s just everything else away. That’s why it’s so powerful and so Adam and Chava being reprimanded by Hashem for their dangerous, because much like Adam and Haman, who had sin. However, under scrutiny, the rst word of that Pasuk,” everything they ever dreamed of, just one step in the wrong ”הֲמִןmeaning, “from where,” has the same letters of the direction had them spiraling down a road that led to their Purim story’s major villain, Haman himself. But the Torah’s downfall. words are never just chosen arbitrarily, so there must be But there is something we can all do, a small action that some deeper meaning in this choice of wording. What is the can do a lot to help counter this precarious emotion. With connection between Adam’s sin and Haman? In order to gratitude, we can erase the greed from our system, and let it answer this question, we must rst understand the common help differentiate between what we have and what we need. idea behind both of these characters’ downfall, desire, We can all take a step to make sure that history doesn’t which is prevalent in both these stories. repeat itself again and we are not ruined as well. By placing Haman had been elevated above every other servant this secret clue in Bereishis, Hashem is showing us that we and employee in Achashverosh’s kingdom. He was second all have a chance to make that change. As the cycle of in command to the king, but that still wasn’t enough for Torah restarts itself, Hashem is giving us a clean slate to him. All Haman could think about was how much he appreciate what’s around us, and not let such treacherous wanted Mordechai to bow to him. But no matter what he desires get in our way, like they did for Adam and Haman. did or how he threatened him, Mordechai’s back would Instead, we should all practice having an attitude of remain straight. This obsession with the one thing he gratitude and combat the desires that may lead to our couldn’t have left Haman feeling completely empty handed, downfall. Adopted from Rabbi David Forman of Aleph Beta
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Goldie Globe Issue 2 fi
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From Creation to Celebration
3
October 13, 2023
