10-09-2020, 10:31 PM
(10-09-2020, 09:46 AM)Yehudani Wrote:(10-09-2020, 12:23 AM)Dana Wrote: A favorite interpretation of mine was given by Rabbi Samuael Raphael Hirsch when the snake challenges Eve, paraphrased by Rabbi Fohrman from his book The Beast that Crouches at the Door.
Genesis 3:1 - "Even if G-d said do not eat from any of the trees in the garden...[So what]? "Didn't he also create your desires and instincts? Why not listen to those; aren't they the authentic voice of G-d as well?"
The lesson being is a snake does what comes natural and listens to their instincts as do other animals, which is the way G-d created them while the human is to hear a different voice, that of the word of G-d.
Very nice - pre- "eyes opening" they still had a yetzer hara? My understanding was that the serpent (samach mem?) represented the yetzer hara as an external being that was trying to creep in, and after that, the yetzer hara animal instinct / selfish desire was then inside us and no longer needed to possess a snake? Although those that believe in a literal devil / samach mem (?) do seem to believe that he is physical and serpentine too, but I really don't know much about Kabbalah to really comment...
That said, if there wasn't even a shadow of yetzer hara in Eve, would she have coveted being like G-d? This interpretation invites some new questions.
Same here, in that I've never studied Kabbalah. Rabbi Fohrman does quote and study from the Midrash as well as Rashi, Maimonides and others.
I don't really get from reading Rabbi Fohrman's book the yetzer hara as being an external force. Yetzer is a form of yotzer which means to create. Yetzer Hara literally means, the drive to create, [in] evil [form]. What I gather is the sum total of our passions, drives and instincts.
To quote, "Yetzer Hara is creativity gone awry."
There is so much more to this he has written about. His writing style does read like a mystery, a story line with some great analogies.