| Taking Home The Lessons Of Gan Eden: The Ultimate Kindergarten (Part One) |
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After not even a week since Simchat Torah, and starting the "whole thing (the cycle of life) again," I wondered what I might learn about the "Garden of Eden thing" to help me be a better shlicha (conduit) of Hashem in my professional life - psychology and neuropsychology. The word Gan (of Gan Eden) translates into Kindergarten, which led me to think that there is a lot to be learned from that place! In fact, the importance of what is learned in Gan (kindergarten) has been stated very well in a popular, secular book, the perennial best seller, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, by Robert Fulghum. _option_option
I was mulling over the readings of Chavah and Adam in Gan Eden, which speaks of the lost opportunity to live in a world where all is divinely "taken care of"; where black is black and white is white and never the twain (of alternative gray fuzziness of "truth") shall meet. Simple, is it not? You obey G-d's injunctions and things work out. You have what Abraham Maslow (1954) attempted to synthesize, using a large body of research related to human motivation. His distilled research postulates that our primary needs - food, a cover for your head and a chance to move ahead and enjoy the Glory of G-d - were found there. If you don't use this gift appropriately, you are "out" with a capital "O". Here you have the first woman getting her house in order and chatting with one of the very knowledgeable creatures, the long, many-legged snake. He was created before us humans and has more experience and knowledge of this Gan. Okay, I've been told by "my man, Adam" that we people are a "cut above" and we "know stuff" and get our information from The Source: G-d. So here I am, Chavah says to herself, having a chat about what we can and can't do, and I embellish a bit about the big "No-No" tree. The Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden was to be respected and honored for its presence. No eating from it. Well, I'll just make a s'yag (fence) and when talking about it I'll add that you're also not allowed to touch it. What can be wrong with making this beautiful life a little more detailed, a little safer from error? Don't eat, He said. Well, don't touch and don't eat, I say. How could I go wrong if I make a fence to protect and respect? And then, the wily snake picked up on the use of the truth's embellishment. Touch it, he said, touch the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, for nothing will happen. Of course not, because even fences have logic, and need to be established to protect, define or delineate, not just for the "heck of it". Just as with the Arba Minim (four species types) on Sukkot, we don't have five types, or three. This is a lesson of bal tosif and bal tigra (don't add and don't diminish). This brings me to the segue of the end of Sukkot, where we have just spent a week holding and admiring the Arba Minim. We are told to hold them in one hand and, as such, achieve a oneness from four separate entities. We might have thought: How much better to bask in the glory of Hashem's creations if we just add another, a fifth "type"? After all, four is good, but maybe five will be better. No, we are told by our sages, don't add and don't subtract from Hashem's pronouncements. Chavah, in her earnestness, just adds a bit, an extra fence and poof, the rest of us are forever out of the Garden of Eden, and into a world of gray, working for our bread that was once, just "there"; going through difficult labor and childbirth, when they were previously a gift, given without pain. We were blessed as a nation to have the opportunity to be in Gan Eden, but if not for our "overzealousness," we would still be there. Even in the secular world, the period of Kindergarten can be understood as the time when we learn the "whole Torah of life". Gan (kindergarten) is the time for so much learning. All these associations came flooding into my head when I received a phone message during the intermediate days of Sukkot. Well, I shouldn't say a phone message, but rather a barrage of phone messages. I try to return people's calls in a timely fashion, but it is reasonable to think that over a holiday, it might take a day or two to return a call. When there are six calls and text messages, my psyche goes into bal tosif;don't increase/overload mode. Yes, I appreciate the urgency of the caller, and yes, I will try to return the call, but I did leave messages on top of the messages when I called back. And if there is an emergency, they should call or go to their local emergency room. And for a more drastic problem, call the police. I finally made telephone contact with the urgent caller. "Baruch Hashem," she said. Well, she really said, "Baruch Hashem; Baruch Hashem; Baruch Hashem; Baruch Hashem; Baruch Hashem; Baruch Hashem."Uh-oh, I said to myself, too much overkill on B"H for just returning a phone call. "How do you think I can help you?" I ask. "Baruch Hashem, He directed me to you. Baruch Hashem, you will be the shaliach (agent) of success. Baruch Hashem." (To be continued)
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