A Thought on Parshas B'reishis

5775 INTRODUCTION Well I must admit that I had begun to get discouraged about not finding a new Rishon to study this year. I had been roaming the shops of Israel, Lakewood, Brooklyn and elsewhere, and had been asking my friends Rabbi Eli Mayer Cohen, Rabbi David Derovan, Rabbi Yossi Neuwirth and others who know the literature and its availability. Even this past year's choice, the Panae'ach Raza, I had had to borrow from Rabbi Cohen in that it is long out of print. Over the last months of 5774 I had considered going back to one of the Rishonim whom I've already studied, and gleaning new insights, or even moving on to a very very early Acharon with the rationale that the cusp years of the 15th and 16th centuries might be regarded variously as the era of the very very late Rishonim. After all, I did include Rabbeinu Ovadia Seforno many years ago with the argument that his commentary did get included within volumes which covered earlier Rishonim. I was even considering devoting this year to an edition entitled Baalei HaTosfos al haTorah which includes the commentary of Rabbeinu Ovadia of Bertinoro, an Italian sage who is usually counted among the early Acharonim. Were my Rishonim years going to be over? And then I walked into the Garden. Now let me explain. These last few years have introduced me to the less well known commentaries of some of the early Baalei Tosfos - we studied Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, the Bechor Shor, Rabbeinu Avigdor, the Panaeach Raza. In some of those commentaries or in the notes published along with them, I occasionally came across an odd abbreviation which seemed to be a source being cited. The first time I saw it quoted - it was the Hebrew letter gimel followed by an apostrophe then the letter nun, - I assumed that it was a misprint and it was supposed to read Raish apostrophe Nun which would have been a reference to either Rabbeinu Nissim Gaon or Rabbeinu Nissim the Rishon, both known as "the Ran" just as Rabbeinu Shlomo Yitzchaki is known as Rashi. Now, I have some of the writings of both of those sages known as "the Ran" and turned to them in order to cross reference the comments which I assumed were being cited in one of their names. This was to no avail however and it soon became clear to me that this G'N abbreviation was not the same as the R'N, and I slowly came to understand that there was some source either abbreviated as G'N or there was a sefer written by another Rishon which was entitled "the Gan" or Garden. I asked around, I looked around, but after exhausting my best sources, I was still in the dark and not in the Garden. Which brings me to this past summer in mid-Tamuz on the day before the Fast of the 17th, I chanced into a seforim store in the Old City of Jerusalem and walked straight up to a shelf where at eye level was a volume entitled "Sefer HaG'N." The Book of the Garden. I grabbed it, paid for it and got back to my room as fast as I could. I had finally discovered that there was indeed a sefer called "the Gan" and my search was now over. I had a commentary to study for the year 5775! Thank G-d! Now just who was the author of this elusive volume? The Gan was written by Rabbeinu Aharon ben Yosi haKohen. He is cited by the Panae'ach Raza over one hundred times. Based on analysis of his writing style and his focus, it is apparent that he lived in Northern France in the early 1200s. He was a student of three disciples of Rabbeinu Yitzchok the Elder, who was a great-grandson of Rashi and founder of the Tosafists school of Talmudic commentators. He appears to have been a great sage in that he cites the Talmud, the Midrash and rabbinic authorities who preceded him. His father Rabbeinu Yosi haKohen was also a Torah scholar, in that he is also cited within the Sefer. Why did he call his work "The Book of the Garden"? The great Chida (Rabbeinu Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai, 18th century) suggests that the Torah is generally regarded as having 53 parshios (this is mentioned in the Zohar) and the gematria of 53 is of course nun-gimel, which comprise the letters that spell Gan. Thus, it may have been the intention of Rabbeinu Aharon ben Yosi haKohen to hint at how his commentary covers the 53 parshios of the Torah which are the "GaN' or Garden. I am very excited about this find and I thank HaShem for leading me down the Garden path. Let us begin a year iyH of study together in the Sefer HaGan. ********************************* A Thought On Parshas Bereishis "...va'yitzar HaShem Elokim es ha'adam..." "...and HaShem formed the man..." (2:7) The Torah tells us that HaShem formed man. The verb here means "to give form to." It is spelled in an atypical manner, in that rather than being written with a single yud it has two. This begs an explanation. The Gan writes that whereas we could infer from the word that the Torah is alluding to two forms of humans, that is, man and woman, another message of the two letters is that the Torah wants it known that the human being is a two-dimensional creation, unlike other living things. Human beings have a mundane, this-worldly aspect in common with all creatures, but we also have a higher-source nature, which the verse depicts as coming straight from HaShem kavayachol. We were created with this duality, which explains the double yud. The Gan gets graphic: we have a lower dimension like all animals in four ways - we eat and drink, we procreate, we excrete, and die as do animals. In contrast, we walk upright, we have wisdom, we are curious, and we communicate as do the angels above. Our verse comes to teach us, then, that HaShem created man as a blend of lower and higher world qualities. The Gan writes, "HaShem said - if I create man as a higher entity, he will live forever. If I create him in a mundane way, he will die. As a combination of both life forms, I will make his existence conditional. When he lives a sublime life, he can endure. If he fails, he cannot endure." The mundane body will expire. The spiritual self can live forever. The verse continues "va'yipach b'apav nishmas chaim - and HaShem infused man with the spirit of life." The Gan observes that we have five terms associated with man's nature. Nefesh refers to the G-d given life power which generates cardiac functioning and circulation - that part of being alive which continues with the beating heart. Ruach refers to life's energy and consciousness, which are the vibrancy of the body, and the soul. Neshama is the power which generates respiration, which is the breath of living, neshima. Chaya refers to neurosensory activity, the power to know that we exist in time and space. Yechida refers to individual essence, or character, which makes a person unique despite the common qualities which all human beings share. This is the mind, as distinct from the brain and the body. The word chayim is plural, signifying the duality again - we have two lives, one as creatures and one as transcendent creations, and in our verse, this nishmas chaim marks our two paths of existing. Our mission in this existence is to prioritize this higher quality of being an individual, which are the four facets of our higher dimension which he cites earlier: aiming to walk upright in character, to utilize our gift of wisdom to further the good of G-d on this earth, to pursue with wonder the quest for ascendance, and to share with others by imparting our spiritual adventures. Now that the first set of holidays closes and we begin this new cycle of learning from the Gan, Rabbeinu Aharon, may the machzor's message of "v'keravtanu la'Avodas'echa" - You have called to us to serve You" be our single goal in actualizing our duality. I welcome the Gan into our lives this year, and may his teachings inspire and guide us. Good Shabbos. D Fox