Translated from Hebrew by S. NAthan

l'ilui nishmat Esther bat mordechai

There are two types of human perfection: Adam, the first human being, and Moses, our master and teacher. The Torah begins with Adam and concludes with Moses. 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 Moses, it seems clear that there is a process here, whose appropriate name might be: From Adam to Moses.

      Adam 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 that man must march, until he can finally – by way of our sacred forefathers – reach the level of Moses? Can there be a level of being human that is higher than the absolute? For the Talmudic sages show no hesitation in using the most superlative depictions to describe the perfection of Adam. “The orb that described his heel was as the orb of the sun.” He could see the entirety of human history, to the end of all generations; he could see into each generation, and observe its scholars and seekers; his knowledge was absolute, encompassing all things under the sun, and above the sun as well; his physical condition was unlimited, and flawless; the conditions of his life in the Garden of Eden never required any repair of any sort; he ruled over the entire creation, and knew each creature so intimately as to be able to give each one its true name – the name that was the profoundly perfect extraction of that creature’s essence. “Everything was placed beneath his feet,” meaning that everything obeyed his command. The Creator of the universe alone, in all His glory, remained higher than Adam. Where was there a higher place to climb?  What more could he attain in order to reach Moses' level?

            The Rejoicing 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 a counter weight to the person who feels cleansed 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. Common to both of these extremes is the lack of an emotional dimension. Just as the latter is paralyzed, so does the former possess a static perfection. He is lacking in the life of the emotions, and he is lacking in stimulation, both from the inside and from the 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 predictable 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 achieved, difficulties waiting to be resolved. Wherever there is no stimulation, the cybernetic circle that is man is doomed to a slow death. Ultimately, it digests itself.

      The Garden of Eden was too perfect; it was perfect to the point of lifelessness. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge created needs and ambitions, and the hunger for the unattainable; an urge that can tempt one to self-destruct.

      The concern expressed by God over the risk entailed in the prospect of Adam's eating from the Tree of Life was not meant to point to any specific risk but rather to expose an absurdity: The dichotomy between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life would create an untenable situation, an absurdity. Eternal life is not feasible within the vicious cycle that consumes itself, and even worse, that invites the temptation.

      Moses 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 as being free of all limitation, should he desire to be so. This is the man of opposites, of contradictions, of sin and repentance.  It is man as he is conscious of his own condition, and knowing the components of creation, both good and bad – possessing a renewed personal knowledge of them. He knows the enemy in order to control it, in order to lead it toward the goal through free choice.

      Perfection achieved by way of the Torah endows man with the tools of creativity, yet these are the tools of war as well.  We are referring to the war of the spirit and to the device, the strategy of adopting Godly traits of character: God’s traits are adopted by man, who makes of them a noble expression of his own self. Morality is a device, a strategy 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.

      Incessant comparison and contrast between Adam and Moses is vitally necessary.  Without this, the creative labor of self-betterment is not feasible. Adam’s perfection is the banner that is raised in the background, that serves to fuel the ambition, that serves as the criteria for repair, for perfection, for a life of eternity that possesses its own value, independent of the human being who cultivates it.  It possesses a perfection that is given and pre-existing; it no longer depends 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.

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

      This achievement surpasses the perfection of Adam.  Adam ’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. “The righteous, even in their death, are called living,” and “greater are the righteous in their death than in their life.”