Week 1 - Adam: Being Connected to Hashem and All Mankind
SONG
OF THE SEA: Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song
to the Lord, and they spoke, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for very exalted is He;
HAFTORAH: Now Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that
day, saying.
SOTAH: 11. The Lord
spoke to Moses, saying: 12. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them:
Should any man's wife go astray and deal treacherously with him … [The Kohen] shall
make her drink the water, and it shall be that, if she had been defiled and was
unfaithful to her husband, the curse bearing waters shall enter her to become
bitter, and her belly will swell, and her thigh will rupture. The woman will be
a curse among her people. 28. But if the woman had not become defiled and she
is clean, she shall be exempted and bear seed. (Bamdibar, 6)
GENERATIONS FROM ADAM TO THE LAST KING OF JUDAH: Adam
JOURNEYS
IN THE DESERT: They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the
fifteenth day of the first month; on the day following the Passover sacrifice,
the children of Israel left triumphantly before the eyes of all the
Egyptians. And the Egyptians were busy
burying because the Lord had struck down their firstborn and had wrought
vengeance against their deities. And the
Egyptians were busy burying: occupied with their mourning. (Bamidbar, 33:1-48)
The first week of the Jewish calendar is the week of Rosh
Hashanah. The verses of the the Song
of the Sea and Haftorah are about the leaders of the Jewish people at that time
singing in unison. Rosh Hashanah is
about connecting with the “head” of the people.
The verse which is the basis of
Tractate Sotah is ultimately about judgment.
The woman is judged through water.
Adam, the first man, represents all
of mankind and is its spiritual and physical source. The same is true for Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is also the day of the creation of Adam.
The first location the Jews find
themselves in is Ramses. The personal journey during these days is to fully
internalize the concept that we are Hashem’s firstborn, and focus on the
concept that Hashem is the Creator. It is to liberate ourselves from Egypt, and
of the idea that there can be any god other than Hashem. (“Ramses” means the god of the sun created him/it).
An important lesson we learn from Adam in our approach to prayer and Divine service is to focus also on the big picture. To pray not just for ourselves, but for all of mankind, especially those that need the most Divine assistance at the time. It is not by chance that our prayers are all in the plural. We are all connected, in more ways than we think.
An important lesson we learn from Adam in our approach to prayer and Divine service is to focus also on the big picture. To pray not just for ourselves, but for all of mankind, especially those that need the most Divine assistance at the time. It is not by chance that our prayers are all in the plural. We are all connected, in more ways than we think.
