Ki Arumim Heim
"And the snake was [more] arum than all the animals of the field..." (Bereishis 3:1)
In this pasuq, "arum" is variously translated. JPS has "subtle". Others have "sly", "cunning", and the like. In Iyov (5:12), Elifaz describes Hashem as One Who "annuls the thoughts of arumim". In these contexts, it would appear that being an "arum" is no compliment. But in the very next pasuq in Iyov (v. 13), it is attributed to Hashem, who "overtakes the wise in ormah"! And in Mishlei (12:16), "A fool -- in the moment his anger will be known; but the arum covers an insult." The word "arum" describes a kind of wisdom that isn't entirely negative.
Then we get further in the story of Gan Eden, and after Chavah and Adam eat from the fruit, "Their eyes were opened and they knew they were eirumim." (3:7) Same root, but in this case the translation is consistently "naked".
Another point that confused me about the story is the choice of word used for garment when Hashem dresses them. There are a number of such words: "beged", which is the same root as "bagad", to spy; "kesus", a covering... The latter in particular would have been the more obvious choice. They were ashamed of their nudity, so Hashem covered them. However, HQBH chose to call the garments "kasnos or" (v. 21), "leather tunics". The next time we encounter the concept of a "kusones" is in the garments made for kohanim (Shemos 28:4). Hashem gave Adam and Chavah uniforms, something that implies a mission and a station. This isn't simply a response to physical nudity.
Chavah and Adam ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and suddenly they realized they were arumim. They realized there is such a thing as having a higher calling as opposed to wasting one's life in frivolity. No longer was a life of "working and protecting" (c.f. 2"15) the garden sufficient. In full realization of their ability to create, they had a need to produce, to properly channel their knowledge.
Hashem removes them from Gan Eden, from a position where one can live on dependency, and needs only to preserve what was given. Instead, He gives them kusnos or, uniforms for a life of creative service.
In this pasuq, "arum" is variously translated. JPS has "subtle". Others have "sly", "cunning", and the like. In Iyov (5:12), Elifaz describes Hashem as One Who "annuls the thoughts of arumim". In these contexts, it would appear that being an "arum" is no compliment. But in the very next pasuq in Iyov (v. 13), it is attributed to Hashem, who "overtakes the wise in ormah"! And in Mishlei (12:16), "A fool -- in the moment his anger will be known; but the arum covers an insult." The word "arum" describes a kind of wisdom that isn't entirely negative.
Then we get further in the story of Gan Eden, and after Chavah and Adam eat from the fruit, "Their eyes were opened and they knew they were eirumim." (3:7) Same root, but in this case the translation is consistently "naked".
Another point that confused me about the story is the choice of word used for garment when Hashem dresses them. There are a number of such words: "beged", which is the same root as "bagad", to spy; "kesus", a covering... The latter in particular would have been the more obvious choice. They were ashamed of their nudity, so Hashem covered them. However, HQBH chose to call the garments "kasnos or" (v. 21), "leather tunics". The next time we encounter the concept of a "kusones" is in the garments made for kohanim (Shemos 28:4). Hashem gave Adam and Chavah uniforms, something that implies a mission and a station. This isn't simply a response to physical nudity.
Our rabbis retold: Yisrael are dear, for HQBH surrounded them with mitzvos; tefillin on their heads, tefillin on their arms, tzitzis on their clothing, and mezuzos on their doorposts. Of these [King] David said, "Seven times a day do I praise You by Your righteous laws." (Tehillim 119:164). When David went to the bathhouse and saw himself arum, he said: "Woe is me, that I stand arum without a mitzvah." But when he remembered the milah in his flesh, his mind was set at rest. After he left, he gave song, as it says "For the conductor, on the eighth [lit: an eight-stringed instrument, but intended here to be milah, the eighth mitzvah] a song of praise of David." (12:1)To be arum is to have wisdom, but no mitzvos, no higher goal to which to set it. The snake was arum in this sense. The wise person who Hashem frustrates is one who abuses that wisdom, plotting how to do something better off undone.
- Menachos 43b
Chavah and Adam ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and suddenly they realized they were arumim. They realized there is such a thing as having a higher calling as opposed to wasting one's life in frivolity. No longer was a life of "working and protecting" (c.f. 2"15) the garden sufficient. In full realization of their ability to create, they had a need to produce, to properly channel their knowledge.
Hashem removes them from Gan Eden, from a position where one can live on dependency, and needs only to preserve what was given. Instead, He gives them kusnos or, uniforms for a life of creative service.
posted by micha @ 6/04/2005 11:04:00 PM
