Translated from Hebrew by S. NAthan

l'ilui nishmat Esther bat mordechai

There are two types of human perfection: Adam HaRishon, the first human being, and Moshe Rabeinu, Moses, our master and teacher. The Torah begins with Adam HaRishon and concludes with Moshe. What does the first have that the second does not, and what does the second have, that the first does not?

      From the fact that the Torah begins with Adam and concludes with Moshe, it seems clear that there is a process here, whose appropriate name might be: From Adam to Moshe.

      Adam HaRishon was the Creator’s direct creation, “formed by His Hands.” He was a perfect creation; his perfection was absolute. How does this turn into the long road man must march, until he can finally – by way of our sacred forefathers – reach the level of Moshe? Can there be a level of human being that is higher than the absolute? For Hazal have no reservations about using the most extreme superlatives in describing the perfection of Adam HaRishon. “The orb that described his heel was as the orb of the sun.” That he saw all of human history, to the end of all generations; that he saw each generation, with its scholars and seekers; that his knowledge was an absolute one, covering everything that was to be found beneath the sun, and even above the sun; that his physical condition was unlimited, and flawless; that the conditions of his life in Gan Eden did not require any repair of any sort; that he ruled over the entire creation, and knew how to call every creature by its name – by a name that was a profound and perfect extraction of that creature’s essence. “Everything was placed beneath his feet,” meaning that everything obeyed his instruction. Only the Creator of the universe in all His glory was higher than he. Where could he climb higher, what else could he achieve in order to reach Moshe Rabeinu’s level?

Perfection of Gan Eden versus Perfection of Torah

       The Test of Choice and Repair

The Revolving Orbit of Effort and Attainment
       versus the Vicious Cycle

            The happiness of the Torah, on Simhat Torah, is an expression of the happiness, the personal emotion of happiness felt by a creative person who is happy with his achievements. This is the opposite parallel of a person who feels clean of all sin, as opposed to the person consumed by guilt feelings, to the point of compulsiveness, which brings him to such a state that he is unable to free himself from the sin. What is common to both of these extremes is the lack of an emotional dimension. Just as the latter is paralyzed, so the former possesses a static perfection. He is lacking in the life of the emotions, and lacking in stimulation, both from inside and from outside. His connections to the outside are fixed into cyclical tracks, into closed circles that repeat themselves to the point of recycling. There are no exceptions to the rule, no unusual cases, no errors and no failures. Such a person’s behavior is known in advance, and predetermined by rules.

            The Emotional Life

        The life of the emotions is nourished by the tensions that form between what is and what should be. Emotion grows out of the gaps of deprivation, of goals waiting to be resolved. Where there is no stimulation, the cybernetic circle that is man is doomed to a slow death. It ultimately ends by digesting itself.

      Gan Eden was too perfect. Perfect to the point of lifelessness. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge created needs and ambitions, and the hunger for the unattainable; a yetser hara that tempted one to self destruct.

      The concern over the risk hidden in the prospect of eating from the Tree of Life was not an expression of any specific risk but rather a revelation of the absurd: The dichotomy between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life would create an impossible situation: The absurd. Eternal life is not feasible within a vicious cycle that consumes itself, and even worse, within the cycle that invites the temptation.

      Moshe symbolizes Creative Man: The human being who gives birth to himself, out of self awareness, and a profound consciousness of the dimension of spiritual quality. By way of the Torah, Man Who Builds Himself is reflected, free of all limitation, should he desire to be so. This is the man of opposites, of contradiction. Of sin and teshuva. It is man conscious of his own condition, and knowing the components of creation, both good and bad – having a renewed personal knowledge of them. He knows the enemy, in order to control it, in order to lead it toward the goal, out of free choice.

      Perfection that is achieved by way of the Torah endows man with the tools of creativity, yet these are the tools of war as well. We refer to the device of adopting the Godly midot: God’s traits are adopted by man, who makes of them a noble expression of his own self. Morality is a device created by man, out of Godly values applied to the human condition, applied to man himself, and to the mutual relations that prevail among human beings.

      The incessant comparison and contrast between Adam HaRishon and Moshe is a vital need: Without this, creative avodat hamidot, the labor of self-betterment is not feasible. Adam HaRishon’s perfection is the banner raised in the background, serving as the ambition, as the criteria for repair, for perfection, for a life of eternity possessing a value independent of the human being who cultivates it, possessing a perfection that is given and pre-existing; it does not depend upon the human being’s contribution. To reach such a level of perfection is the goal of the perfect person, who has been perfected by Torah.

      Moshe is not vitally neccessary for the souls in the Holy Land. The banner raised by Moshe, the values, life patterns, goals, and methods for aquiring perfection, which Moshe brought down from on high, and into which he himself breathed the breath of life, are achievements attained by Moshe through personal toil: It is th-rough these achievements that Moshe lives the life of eternity, without need of the limited life of the body.

      This achievement surpasses the perfection of Adam HaRishon. Adam HaRishon’s perfection, as absurd as it may seem, was a perfection that, in spite of being absolute, could not deviate from the limitations of his body and his abilities, which had been predetermined, whereas the eternal quality of Torah Man continues to gain momentum, even after his body has passed on from this world. “Tsadikim, in their deaths, are called living,” and “greater are tsadikim in their deaths than in their lives.”