If the Israelites were punished for the sin committed in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Chava. does that mean the Israelites are responsible for Humanity? and can be punished by Gd for the sins of humanity?
The torah begins by saying (Gen 1:1)"In the beginning of God's creation" Rashi translate this as meaning; For the sake of the Torah, which is called (Prov. 8:22): “the beginning of His way,” and for the sake of Israel, who are called (Jer. 2:3) “the first of His grain.” Midrash takes it a step further by saying; "that because the serpent was the first to speak slander in Genesis 3:4–5, God punished the Israelites by means of serpents in Numbers 21:6 when they spoke slander. God cursed the serpent, but the Israelites did not learn a lesson from the serpent’s fate, and nonetheless spoke slander. God therefore sent the serpent, who was the first to introduce slander, to punish those who spoke slander".Rabbi Berel Bell says "the most powerful ruler in the world, and the primary opponent to holiness, Pharaoh had the dubious distinction of being the spiritual heir of the Primordial Snake that had caused so much trouble to Adam and Eve. Pharaoh is even referred to as a “snake” in the words of the prophets."
This also makes me think about what was the underlying message of Moses's Staff turning into a serpent & turning back into a staff while confronting the Egyptian Pharaoh?
#RoshChodesh
No comments:
Post a Comment