Reversing the Curse of Adam
The Torah tells in Parashat Bereshit of Adam and Havah’s punishments after violating G-d’s command and eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Adam’s punishment was בזעת אפך תאכל לחם – the land would not easily produce food, and so he would have to work and struggle to earn a livelihood, and would eat ‘by the sweat of his brow,” only after hard work.
We know that Hashem does not actually give us “curses.” A punishment, according to our belief, is an opportunity for rectification, to correct the mistake that was made and allow us to grow and recover. In what way, then, was Adam’s “curse” an opportunity for growth?
The answer emerges from a closer look at Adam and Havah’s sin. When the snake first confronted Havah and tried persuading her to partake of the forbidden fruit, it claimed that Hashem forbade eating from the tree because those who eat from the tree are endowed with creative capabilities. Just as craftsmen in any field resent and are envious of their competitors, the snake contended, Hashem likewise does not want any competition, and it is for this reason that He told Adam and Havah not to eat the fruit that would make them into creators, and hence G-d’s competitors, as it were.
Underlying the snake’s claim is the recognition of a human being’s innate desire to create and control. This is what motivated Adam and Havah to violate Hashem’s command and partake of the forbidden fruit. They wanted to be like G-d, to be a creator and exercise control like He does. In response, G-d punished Adam and Havah by making their creative endeavors difficult and challenging. A man becomes a “creator” primarily through work, by planting a seed and producing food, or, in our reality, by building a business or career. G-d decreed that man would encounter considerable difficulty and great challenges in his pursuit of a livelihood, in his quest to “create,” to remind him of his limited control and creative capacity, that he can never “compete” with the true Creator. Likewise, women would experience great pain and hardship in their primary area of creativity – childbirth and child-rearing. Both men and women will have to cry out to Hashem for help as they seek to “create,” in their respective areas of creativity, and they are thus reminded that there is only one actual Creator.
Shabbat marks the ultimate reversal of this curse. The Zohar Hadash comments that G-d pronounced 39 curses after the sin of Adam and Havah: ten curses upon Adam, ten upon Havah, ten upon the snake, and nine upon the ground. (The commentators identify all these separate curses.) On Shabbat, we refrain from the 39 melachot (categories of forbidden activity), abstaining from all the curses that resulted from Adam and Havah’s sin. On Shabbat, we focus on the fact that Hashem is the sole Creator of the universe and exerts absolute control over everything in the world. We refrain from work to remind ourselves and proclaim that our sustenance, ultimately, results not from our creative efforts during the workweek, but rather from Hashem’s blessing. And this is why Shabbat is called מקור הברכה – the source of blessing. The source of all blessing is the recognition that all blessings come from Hashem, and not from our efforts.
The Arizal taught that the epitome of this reversal of the 39 curses was Yaakov Avinu, who received from his father the blessing ויתן לך האלקים מטל השמיים ומשמני הארץ (“G-d shall grant you from the dew of the heavens and from the fat of the earth” – Bereshit 27:28). The word טל is the opposite of the word לט (“curse”) and has the numerical value of 39. Yaakov Avinu transformed Hashem’s curses into טל, heavenly blessing. He accomplished this, the Arizal taught, by observing Shabbat. And thus the prophet Yeshayahu (58:14) proclaims that if we properly observe Shabbat, then והאכלתיך נחלת יעקב אביך – we will be given the portion of Yaakov, the great blessings which he earned through his Shabbat observance. The 39 curses resulted from Adam and Havah’s desire to feel in complete control, and we reverse them by acknowledging that ultimately it is Hashem, and only Hashem, who exerts true control over the world and over our lives.
Of course, we are supposed to invest work and effort throughout the workweek to secure a livelihood. The Mesilat Yesharim (chapter 21) writes that in truth, it makes no difference whether a person spends the week working or if he sits home and does nothing, as his livelihood depends entirely on G-d, who will give each person precisely what was decreed on Rosh Hashanah. However, G-d declared that we need to work and invest effort to secure a livelihood, and the Mesilat Yesharim calls this a “tax” we need to pay in order for G-d to provide us with our needs. Just as a person seeks to pay as little tax as possible, we should likewise not seek to work more than we need to for Hashem to grant us blessing. The Derech Etz Haim (by the author of Mesilat Yesharim) thus teaches that one who truly recognizes that work is a curse, resulting from Adam and Havah’s sin, will choose הרע במיעוטו – the least possible amount of this “curse,” and work the minimum amount he needs to, realizing that his sustenance comes from Hashem.
Hashem punished the snake by declaring that it would eat dirt – ועפר תאכל כל ימי חייך. Seemingly, this is a great blessing, as the snake will always have food readily accessible. Why, then, was this pronounced as a punishment? The Rabbis explain that this is a curse because the snake never has to turn to G-d to ask for its livelihood. The Gemara in Masechet Yoma comments that Hashem sustained Beneh Yisrael in the wilderness by sending them a daily ration of manna each morning, rather than giving them large amounts each year, so they would pray to Him each and every day. Every night, they would find themselves without food, and so they would turn to G-d in prayer to ask that He provide a new portion of manna the next morning. The Gemara compares this to a king who would give his favorite son small amounts of money each day to ensure that his son would come see him regularly, but gave his less favored son large yearly amounts, as he was not interested in maintaining a close relationship with him. The greatest blessing is turning to Hashem to provide our needs, and thus the greatest curse is that of the snake, who never needs to turn to Hashem for help.
The two loaves of bread on our Shabbat table commemorates the manna. Shabbat is the day designated for contemplating this message, that our livelihood comes from Hashem, and He wants us to look to Him and rely on Him for our sustenance. In this way, we reverse the curse of Adam and Havah. We refrain from the 39 melachot, placing our trust in the Almighty and recognizing that He is the only Creator and the only One who truly exercises control.
This is why it is so important to avoid speaking about our work and businesses on Shabbat. If we do not divert our attention from our professional and commercial endeavors on Shabbat, if this is what continues to occupy our minds even on Shabbat, then we have failed to internalize the message that Shabbat conveys – the message that our livelihood depends solely on Hashem. As this is the message of Shabbat, we are to dissociate ourselves entirely from our professions and businesses on Shabbat, reaffirming our belief that although we are supposed to work for a living, it is ultimately Hashem, and not our work, who brings us our material blessings.