Transcript
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Where am I?
>> [music]
[music]
>> Before the heavens, before the earth,
before the sea, the trees, [music]
the animals, and human beings.
Even [music] before there was anyone to
lift their head to the sky and ask, "Who
created all of this?"
The Torah opens with three words.
In the beginning, God created.
We know the story. We've heard it so
many times before.
But, what would happen if you didn't
just hear about it, but you were
actually there?
>> Where am I?
>> On the first day.
>> The first of what?
>> Of everything.
>> [music]
>> And God said, "Let there be light."
And there was light.
>> [music]
>> Wow, it's so
and precise.
>> Six days, step by step.
God separates, organizes, and gives
every part of creation its place.
Light and darkness, heaven and earth,
sea and land, plants and animals.
[music]
And again and again, the words appear in
the Torah, "And God saw that it was
good."
>> So, that's [music] it? The world is
ready?
>> Almost.
Because in this wonderful world, someone
[music] is still missing.
And then the sixth day arrives,
>> [music]
>> and man is created.
Of his creation, it is said, "And God
[music] said, 'Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness.'"
>> So, everything I've [music] seen now,
this whole world is for him?
>> Not for him alone.
Man does not receive the world [music]
as a gift without responsibility.
He also has a role.
The Torah says, "And he [music] placed
him in the Garden of Eden to work it and
to keep it."
>> [music]
>> To work it and to keep it.
So, that means he's not just a guest
here.
>> Exactly.
Man doesn't come into the world just to
enjoy it.
He receives a world and receives
responsibility. [music]
>> But I still don't understand something.
If God already created everything,
what's left for man to do?
>> A lot.
>> [music]
>> Because man was given something that a
stone, a tree, or an animal [music]
doesn't have in the same sense.
The ability to choose to do good or, God
forbid, otherwise.
>> [music]
>> And this choice is about to face its
very first test.
Amidst all the abundance of Eden, there
is also one limit.
"Of every tree of the garden, you may
freely eat. [music] But of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, you shall
not eat of it.
>> Only [music] one tree out of this whole
garden? Only that one is forbidden?
>> Yes, because a world where there's no
possibility to choose isn't a world of
choice.
Man received immense abundance, but he
also received a limit.
And here [music] we need to remember
something.
The serpent we're meeting now doesn't
yet look like the one we [music] know
today.
Rashi cites the sages saying that before
the curse, the serpent had legs, and
only after [music] the sin was he told,
"On your belly you shall go."
>> That's the snake?
>> Yes,
>> [music]
>> and he starts talking to Eve.
>> Did God really say you shall not eat
[music] of any tree of the garden?
>> But that's not what God said.
>> The serpent starts trouble.
Not attacking right [music] away, but
sowing doubt.
Eve says that God also forbade [music]
touching the tree, but God commanded not
to eat from it.
And here Rashi cites the [music] words
of the sages.
The serpent pushes Eve toward the tree.
>> Wait, she touched it and [music] nothing
happened?
>> And that's exactly what the serpent
wanted. He's essentially saying to her,
"See?
Just as you didn't die from touching it,
so you won't die from eating [music]
it."
>> He takes one thing that wasn't in the
command and uses it to undermine [music]
everything.
>> And then Eve looks at the fruit.
And the woman saw that the tree was good
for food.
>> Eve, [music] don't do it.
Adam.
>> [music]
>> Adam?
Eve?
Where are you?
>> Wait, [music] if God knows everything,
then why does he ask Adam where he is?
>> Rashi [music] explains, God knew where
Adam was.
He opened a conversation with him so as
not [music] to startle him.
But that question has remained with us
ever since.
Where are you?
Where are you in relation to where you
were meant to be?
Where are you after the choice [music]
that you made?
>> I heard your voice in the garden, and I
was afraid, and I hid.
>> [music]
>> But now a new test arrives.
Adam has already made the first choice.
Now the [music] question is, what will
he do after he has erred?
Will he take responsibility?
Have you [music] eaten from the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat?
>> The woman whom you gave to be with me,
she gave me of the tree, and I ate.
>> But you ate it.
Why are you blaming [music] her?
>> And Rashi says two harsh words here.
Here, he denied the good.
Children are born to Adam [music] and
Eve, Cain and Abel.
And Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain
was a tiller of the ground.
Cain brings of the fruit of the ground,
[music] and Abel of the firstborns of
his flock.
And Rashi emphasizes [music] from the
choicest of them.
And God had respect to Abel and to his
offering.
But to Cain and his offering, he had no
respect.
>> Cain are you angry at Abel? At yourself?
>> And here, a great moment occurs.
The murder hasn't happened yet.
Cain can still stop.
God turns to him and says, [music]
"Why are you angry?
If you do well, shall you not be
accepted?"
>> It's not too late. You can choose
differently [music] even now.
>> And God warns him, "Sin lies at the
door, and you shall rule over it."
>> [music]
>> The impulse is there. The anger is
there. The jealousy [music] exists, but
they don't have to be the ones who
manage you. And you shall rule over it.
>> Cain, stop.
>> But Cain does not stop.
And Cain rose up against [music] Abel,
his brother, and killed him.
>> Abel.
Once again, a question like, "Where are
you?" Even now, [music]
God surely knows.
>> But Cain must answer.
>> I didn't know.
Am I my brother's keeper?
>> Am I my [music] brother's keeper? But he
is your brother.
>> The voice of your brother's blood cries
unto me from the ground.
Your brother's blood, [music]
the blood of Abel, and the blood of his
descendants.
All the generations [music]
that could have come from him.
>> One single act can reach much further
than what we see at the moment we do it.
>> Cain is afraid. [music]
He knows that from now on, his life has
changed.
God [music] caused a horn to grow for
Cain. And the sages even saw in the mark
of Cain, according to one opinion, a
sign for repentance. [music]
>> After what he did, why protect him?
>> Even a person [music] who has committed
a terrible sin still stands before
judgment and still stands before the
possibility to return.
>> But wait, all of these things didn't
stay [music] back there. They're right
here.
>> God gives a person life, gives him
abundance, [music]
gives him a purpose,
and also gives him a choice.
To choose good, to overcome, to take
responsibility, to fix things when he
falls, and to [music] rise even after
the darkness.
