Tagged: Bereishis #2

Bereishis #2

                         Bereishis

 
Rashi (3;6) says that Eve gave Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge (even though she knew that he wasn’t supposed to) because she didn’t want to die and have Adam live to marry another woman. Rabbi Yochanan Zweig explains from here that it is the nature of women to be willing to destroy their husbands just for their own benefit.
 
Rabbi Zweig explains that we could also learn this out from Leah. The torah (29;32-33) tells us that Leah gave “Reuven” his name because she felt unloved and that she gave “Shimon” his name because she felt “hated.”
 
The question is: How could Yaakov allow Leah to feel unloved/hated?
 
Rabbi Zweig explains that Leah knew that Yaakoved wanted to marry Rachel and she was still willing to trick him in to marrying her for her own sake (so she wouldn’t have to marry Eisav). Therefore, Leah had to begin her relationship with Yaakov holding the premise that she is unloved/hated, for she had to trick Yaakov to marry her. Thus, Rabbi Zweig explains that Leah not only felt unloved, but she actually felt hated simply because she knew she deserved to be hated by Yaakov.
 
Rabbi Zweig explains that every woman is similar to Leah-they feel like their husbands don’t really love them for their husbands know that they would destroy them just for their own benefit.
 
On another note, the torah (2;23) says that Adam considered Eve part of himself so he called her a woman. Later (3:20), however, the torah tells us that he called her “Eve” because she had become “the mother of all the living.” Rabbi Zweig learns from here that the nature of men is to treat women like they are appendixes.
 
Rabbi Zweig explains from here that a husband must always make his wife feel loved and important. Before Adam sinned he considered Eve an appendix for he thought he was greater than her. After he sinned, however, he realized that Eve was really on the same level as him. Therefore, he raised her status and called her “the mother of all the living.”  
 
This is the underlying tension in marriage, explains Rabbi Zweig. Women feel as though they are unloved, for the nature of man is to consider them as mere appendixes. Also, Rabbi Zweig explains that men feel a similar sense of discomfort for based on the nature of women, their wives would destroy them just for their own personal benefit.