Bereishis

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Bad Tidings

When Adam was expelled from Gan Eden, Hakodosh Boruch Hu informed him of what was going to be now the diet of Mankind for the rest of history: וְאָכַלְתָּ אֶת עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה – You’re going to eat the grass of the field (Bereishis 3:18). It means that from now on your food will be available to you in the gardens and the fields.

Now, our sages (Pesachim 118a) tell us that when Adam heard that decree, he was far from happy.בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לָאָדָם וְאָכַלְתָּ אֶת עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה – When Adam was told that from now on his diet would be the grass of the field, זָלְגוּ עֵינָיו דְּמָעוֹת – his eyes flowed with tears; he wept copiously begging Hashem to reverse the decree.

‘All You Can Eat’ Special

Now, we have to understand why Adam complained about this decree. Actually he should have accepted it with joy because he was being offered now an extraordinary opportunity. “You will eat grass of the field,” meant that grass would henceforth fulfill all the desires of man’s palate. And not only would man’s taste buds be satisfied but grass would also provide him with all of the vitamins and minerals he needs. Our bodies would be accommodated now to chewing vegetable fibers and our digestive properties would adjust to the task of deriving nourishment from grass.

That would have been a glorious opportunity for Mankind! Adam is being offered now a life of leisure because it wouldn’t be necessary to toil for his sustenance. Grass you don’t have to plant; it’s supplied by Hashem. Like it states in the Chumash, וְנָתַתִּי עֵשֶׂב בְּשָׂדְךָ – I’ll give grass in the fields (Devarim 11:15). That’s why grass is rhizomes; it grows from roots that remain over winter in the ground. It’s not seeds that you have to plant. Some grass grows from seeds but they fall in abundance and they lie in the ground and in the springtime it comes up by itself.

Grass is free and abundant. Nobody plants grass except the man who wants to have a fancy front yard – if you want it planted in a special place then you have to order it from the landscaper but ordinarily, if you walk out into the fields, there’s plenty of grass.

And so, all men would be free to sit in kollel all day, and whenever his wife says to him, “What are we going to feed the children if you’re sitting with your books all day?”, so he says, “Let’s go.” And he takes her out in the backyard, “Here! Eat to your heart’s delight! All you want!”

Content Cows and Crying

Grain, on the other hand, requires a lot of work before you’re ready to eat it. Bread doesn’t grow. It’s a whole process. It’s very hard work to plow! Even looking at somebody plowing makes you tired. Back and forth all day long and the next day and the next day. Today even with diesel machines you see it’s a heavy job. And then there’s the sowing and harvesting and sheathing and winnowing. It’s a very big job!

But grass, if you’re equipped to eat grass, then it’s the simplest matter in the world. Cows don’t have to go to the bakery. Cows don’t have to go to the grocery store; they don’t have to slave away all week at a job from 9 to 5. Their parnassah comes easy. And so, if Adam would have remained with the first proposition, with that decree of “You shall eat grass,” he could have lived a life of ease and devoted his entire career to ruchniyus (spiritual achievement), to making progress. He would have lived a happy and successful existence.

And yet we’re told that Adam wept when he heard the decree. Not only he wept. זָלְגוּ עֵינָיו דְּמָעוֹת – His eyes flowed with tears! It means that tears rained down his cheeks and he begged the Almighty not to give him this gift! And we don’t understand that at all! Because to be physically satisfied with grass, to get all the vitamins and nutrients that we need from grass, what could be better?

Fighting For the Truth

And so let’s listen in to Adam’s words and maybe we’ll be able to understand a little better. Here’s what he said: He cried and he said, אֲנִי וַחֲמוֹרִי נֹאכַל בְּאֵבוּס אֶחָד – “Shall I and my donkey eat from the same trough, from the same foodbox?”

It means that when Adam would go out to the backyard for breakfast and he would bend over to partake of the grass of the field he would hear somebody rustling nearby; he would look over his shoulder and he would see his donkey is doing the same thing as him, eating the same breakfast. His donkey is eating side by side with him!

“My donkey and I should eat the same breakfast?! If that’s the price then I don’t want it!”

There was a very important principle involved here; it’s the principle of the dignity of man. Man was created b’tzelem Elokim, in the image of Hashem and if he’s going to eat side by side with his animals, the same diet, then it is a frontal attack on this foundational truth of the greatness of mankind.

Adam was fiercely protective of his peculiar status because he knew more than anybody else what it meant to be an Adam. “The image of Hashem” – we say the words, but we are very far from coming anywhere near appreciating the meaning. But Adam, the first one created at the hands of the Creator, he understood what it meant.

Rescinding the Decree

There’s nothing in the universe like man. Man is not an animal – man is an angel. It’s a malach who is encased in batei chomer, an angel that dwells in the clay habitation of a body. Man is not a body. He is much greater than a body; the truth is he is greater even than the malachim.

And so, it was enough indignity that he was sentenced to live in a human body, in a house of clay, but to be reduced to the status of the beasts of the field?! That would be to him the greatest heartache.

Now this doesn’t mean if Adam would eat grass that therefore he has surrendered his distinction. He’s still Adam even if he’s eating grass alongside his donkey; his neshama (soul) is still a neshama and he is still unequaled in the universe. But there’s a principle here and that principle is not only to be unique in the universe, not only to be distinguished, but always to remember that you are unique, never to forget that you are distinguished. That’s what’s most important!

And therefore Adam’s dignity was to him paramount. And he therefore wept bitterly that this decree should be rescinded, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu should withdraw this proposition that he should have to live off of grass.

The Distinct Diet

And he wept until Hakodosh Boruch Hu said to him, “Alright! I accept your protest and I am going to give you a different menu; I’m going to give you an elite diet, only aristocrats will have it, only mankind. בְּזֵעַת אַפֶּיךָ תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם. You are going to eat bread.”

Bread! Bread is unusual. No creature in the universe has bread except man. Do you know why? Because it’s a dignity to eat bread. It’s a mark of distinction.

When Adam heard that, נִתְקַרְרָה דַּעְתּוֹ – so his mind was calmed. He was satisfied. Because that’s a demonstration that there’s nobody in the universe that can compare to me. I am reminded that I am the tzelem Elokim and I and my children forever will always have an a testimonial that we are not animals! That we should never sink to the level of animals in behavior, in morals, in derech eretz, in our attitude towards the world.

And so we see that the diet of Adam HaRishon was a very important part of his world outlook. It was an important foundation for his awareness of the truths of the Torah and his knowledge of who he was.

Distinct from Donkeys

Today most of Mankind has forgotten this great lesson. And that’s why today the donkey is already catching up with us! And I’m afraid he’s going ahead of us already because what human beings are doing today. Under the inspiration of the New York Times, people are doing things that a donkey wouldn’t stoop to do. A lot of humans have become worse than donkeys

But we follow the principle of the Torah! One of the chief principles is to demonstrate that you are different, to demonstrate that you have tzelem Elokim.

Distinct from Dogs

That’s why the Gemara (Kiddushin 40b) says that haochel bashuk domeh lakelev, if a man eats in the street, he’s like a dog. Even if he washed his hands and he made a brachah, if he eats in the street he is domeh lakelev, he’s like a dog. Because a human being has to remember who he is and therefore he eats his bread in a different manner.

So if you walk in the street munching on a piece of pizza, you have to know where you belong, in which category. Whether you belong to the higher mammals or the lower ones, you weren’t sure; but now you know where you belong and at the next lamppost you can pick up your hind leg and let go.

The world today has forgotten the sublime principle of תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם – You, Adam, shall eat bread. And so before we go on, let’s keep in mind what we have already gained tonight; and the next time you eat bread you have something to think about. It’s a demonstration of the greatness of mankind, that חָבִיב אָדָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְּצֶלֶם – How beloved by Hashem is Man, he’s created in Hashem’s image (Avos 3:14). And it’s a demonstration of what’s expected of us. Our diet, bread and other foods instead of grass, is an eternal reminder of the greatness of Mankind that must always be kept before our eyes as a foundation principle of the Torah.