GARDEN CHRONICLES

“Adonai, G-d, took the person and put him in the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate and care for it.”
Genesis 2:15

There are a couple things we can gleam from in today’s Torah portion. The first piece is centered around Genesis 2:15 where Adonai takes his creation of Adam and places him within the garden, commanding that he cultivate and care for the land. In the Hebrew, it is this work that is considered part of the blessing from Adonai. Before sin ever affected the garden, Adam was told to tend the ground. This word cultivate which is used is the Hebrew word of AVAD. Avad is translated as labor or bondage. However, taking this root we also have the term of avodat mishkan, which is the service of worship done within the Tabernacle. Adodah is a common term for worship, and therefore one must wonder if both worship and work are related as opposed to separate.
As I read on I find in Genesis 3:3, after Adam is now joined with his wife Eve, the serpent comes to pay a visit. It isn’t that I have not read this passage before, but rather I have not caught the fullness of this passage before. Adonai command Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree, but neither to touch it. The command to not eat is what I remember from Sunday school growing up, but the command to not even touch was the part I saw for the first time just this morning. The result for eating or touching the tree was death.
After the two eat of this tree they feel shame and cover themselves. It is following this that Adonai comes to the garden and looks for His creation. When Adam and Eve cannot be found in the garden by Adonai, Adonai calls out, “Where are you? Ayeka?” It is their response to the questions of Adonai they speak to me. Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. While many people will find a way to blame Eve, I cannot fully agree. The whole act is built on blame shifting. We know that the serpent was the root cause, but both Adam and Eve made their own decision to touch and eat.
Let us go forward today with these three things in mind. First, our work can be a form of worship. Second, there are things that Adonai has commanded us not only to indulge in, but also to not even touch. And third, we are all accountable for our own actions.

GENESIS 2:4 – 3:21