Uncovering the Magic of Stones and Soil RitualWell

Hashem El-him formed the adam (human) afar (dust) from the adamah (soil / humus), blowing into his nostrils the breath of life: the Human became a living being.

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir would say: The dust that served to form Adam the first human was gathered from the entire world, as it is stated: “When I was made in secret and wrought in the lowest places of the earth, Your eyes did see my unshaped flesh” (Psalms 139:15–16), and it is written: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth” (II Chronicles 16:9), indicating that this figure was formed from the whole earth, the place within the view of the Lord’s eyes.

Rav Oshaya says in the name of Rav: With regard to Adam the first man, his torso was fashioned from dust taken from Babylonia, and his head was fashioned from dust taken from Eretz Yisrael, the most important land, and his limbs were fashioned from dust taken from the rest of the lands in the world. With regard to his buttocks, Rav Aḥa says: They were fashioned from dust taken from Akra De’agma, on the outskirts of Babylonia.

עפר מן האדמה DUST OF THE EARTH — G-d gathered his (Adam's) dust (i. e. that from which he was made) from the entire earth — from its four corners — in order that wherever he might die, it should receive him for burial (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 3).

Another explanation: He took his dust from that spot on which the Holy Temple with the altar of atonement was in later times to be built of which it is said, (Exodus 20:24) “An altar of earth thou shalt make for Me” saying, “Would that this sacred earth may be an expiation for him so that he may be able to endure” (Genesis Rabbah 14:8).

Hashem G-d said to the snake:
Because you have done this,
cursed be you from all the animals and from all the wildlife of the field;
on your belly shall you walk and dust shall you eat, all the days of your life.

By the sweat of your brow
Shall you get bread to eat,
Until you return to the ground—
For from it you were taken.
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

“On your belly you shall go” – when the Holy One blessed be He said to it: “On your belly you shall go,” the ministering angels descended and severed its arms and its legs, and its voice carried from the end of the world to its end. The serpent comes to shed light on the downfall of Egypt, but in the end is itself illuminated by it, as it is stated [regarding Egypt]: “Its outcry will sound out like a serpent” (Jeremiah 46:22).

Rabbi Yudan and Rabbi Huna, one of them said: [God told the serpent:] ‘You caused people to walk bent over [in grief] over their dead; you, too, will go on your belly.’

Rabbi Eliezer said: Even the curse of the Holy One blessed be He contains a blessing. Had the Holy One blessed be He not said to it: “On your belly you shall go,” how would it flee into a wall, enter a hole and be saved?

“And you shall eat dust all the days of your life” – Rabbi Ḥilfai said: Not the dust on all sides, but rather, it breaks through [the soil] and descends until it reaches bedrock, and it loosens soil fibers and eats.

I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring too can be counted.

(26) And ה' answered, “If I find within the city of Sodom fifty innocent ones, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” (27) Abraham spoke up, saying, “Here I venture to speak to my lord, I who am but dust and ashes:

The Gemara relates: Rava says, and some say Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Greater is that which is stated with regard to Moses and Aaron than that which is stated with regard to Abraham. As with regard to Abraham it is written: “And I am but dust and ashes,” while with regard to Moses and Aaron it is written: “And what are we,” i.e., we are not even dust and ashes. And Rava says, and some say Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The world endures only in the merit of Moses and Aaron. It is written here: “And what are we,” and it written elsewhere: “He hangs the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7). That is, the earth endures in the merit of those who said of themselves that they are nothing, i.e., Moses and Aaron.

(18) With great effort I change clothing;
The neck of my tunic fits my waist.-a (19) He regarded me as clay,
I have become like dust and ashes.
(20) I cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I wait, but You do [not] consider me.

(1) Job said in reply to the LORD: (2) I know that You can do everything,
That nothing You propose is impossible for You. (3) Who is this who obscures counsel without knowledge?
Indeed, I spoke without understanding
Of things beyond me, which I did not know. (4) Hear now, and I will speak;
I will ask, and You will inform me. (5) I had heard You with my ears,
But now I see You with my eyes; (6) Therefore, I recant and relent,
Being but dust and ashes.

(3) I will give you treasures concealed in the dark
And secret hoards—
So that you may know that it is I the ETERNAL One,
The God of Israel, who call you by name.

(19) For in respect of the fate of man and the fate of beast, they have one and the same fate: as the one dies so dies the other, and both have the same lifebreath; man has no superiority over beast, since both amount to nothing. (20) Both go to the same place; both came from dust and both return to dust. (21) Who knows if a man’s lifebreath does rise upward and if a beast’s breath does sink down into the earth? (22) I saw that there is nothing better for man than to enjoy his possessions, since that is his portion. For who can enable him to see what will happen afterward?

And this serves to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, stamped all people with the seal of Adam the first man, as all of them are his offspring, and not one of them is similar to another. Therefore, since all humanity descends from one person, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me, as one person can be the source of all humanity, and recognize the significance of his actions.

Adam and his helpmate [Eve] were sitting and weeping and mourning for him, and they did not know what to do (with Abel), for they were unaccustomed to burial.

A raven (came), one of its fellow birds was dead (at its side).

(The raven) said: I will teach this man what to do. It took its fellow and dug in the earth, hid it and buried it before them.

Adam said: Like this raven will I act. He took || the corpse of Abel and dug in the earth and buried it.

The Holy One, blessed be He, gave a good reward to the ravens in this world.

What reward did He give them? When they bear their young and see that they are white they fly from them, thinking that they are the offspring of a serpent, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gives them their sustenance without lack, as it is said, "Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God, and wander for lack of meat" (Job 38:41). Moreover, that rain should be given upon the earth (for their sakes), and the Holy One, blessed be He, answers them, as it is said, "He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry" (Ps. 147:9).

This parpisah- It is a perforated flower pot in which people plant. In the responsa of the geonim I found that they made baskets with palm leaves and filled them with dust and dung. And 22 or 15 days before Rosh Hashanah they would make one of these for every minor in the home. And they would plant in it, Egyptian bean or another legume and they call it "porpisah". After it sprouts, on Rosh Hashanah, each takes his or her own and spins around his/her head seven times and says: "This is instead of this, this is my replacement, this is my exchange" and then flings it into the river.

Our origin is dust and our end is in dust.

We spend our life seeking our sustenance.

We are like a broken vessel,

like dry grass,

like a wilting flower,

like a passing shadow,

like a vanishing cloud,

like a fleeting breeze,

like flying dust,

and like a fading dream.

But You are the Monarch, the living and eternal God.

(4) וישם מראשתיו AND PUT THEM FOR A RESTING PLACE FOR HIS HEAD — He arranged them in the form of a drain-pipe around his head for he was afraid of wild beasts (Genesis Rabbah 68:11). They (the stones) began quarrelling with one another. One said, “Upon me let this righteous man rest his head”, and another said “Upon me let him rest it”. Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, straightway made them into one stone! This explains what is written (Genesis 28:18), “And he took the stone that he had put under his head” (Chullin 91b).

(13) To have mercy upon all of the creatures: He must also have his mercy extend to all the creatures. He [should] not disgrace them nor destroy them. As behold, the Highest Wisdom is spread over all the creatures - the inanimate, the growing (plants), the living (animals) and the speaking (people).

A certain man was removing stones from his ground on to public ground when a pious man found him doing so and said to him, "Fool, why do you remove stones from ground which is not yours to ground which is yours?" The man laughed at him. Some days later he had to sell his field, and when he was walking on that public ground he stumbled over those stones. He then said, 'How well did that pious man say to me, "Why do you remove stones from ground which is not yours to ground which is yours?”'