In last week’s parsha, after we learn of the punishment that is incurred by Adam and Chava for eating of the forbidden fruit, we learn that the first to fall victim to man's new mundane status is their own son Hevel. Now that humanity is mortal, what are the risks associated with populating the new world? Implicit in the discussion of the teaching of the three mitzvoth that were assumed by women, the midrash takes us back to the sin of Adam and Chava in Gan Ededn.
This midrash is placed here at the beginning of Noah and not at the point where Adam and Chava are exiled from the Garden in Breishit because, I believe, Noah is the "new Adam". As he will emerge from the ark, he will need to fulfill man's destiny and deal with enigmas and inherent contradictions. He will also have to account or atone for the sin that caused the exile from Gan Eden. One of the enigmas of humanity's life on Earth is that there are paradoxes. A woman can die while she is bringing a new life to the world.
ילמדנו רבינו:
על כמה עבירות נשים מתות בשעת לדתן?
כך שנו רבותינו. על שלשה וכו'*.ושלשתן מן התורה:
Our Rabbi should teach:
How many transgressions cause women to die in childbirth? This our rabbis taught. There are three transgressions that cause women to die in childbirth and they are being careful during the menses, separating the challah portion from dough, and lighting the Shabbat candles. And the three are from the Torah.
נדה דכתיב (ויקרא טו:כה) "וְאִשָּׁה כִּי יָזוּב זוֹב דָּמָהּ יָמִים רַבִּים בְּלֹא עֶת נִדָּתָהּ אוֹ כִי תָזוּב עַל נִדָּתָהּ כָּל
יְמֵי זוֹב טֻמְאָתָהּ כִּימֵי נִדָּתָהּ תִּהְיֶה טְמֵאָה הִוא"
חלה (במדבר טו:כ) "רֵאשִׁית עֲרִסֹתֵכֶם חַלָּה תָּרִימוּ תְרוּמָה כִּתְרוּמַת גֹּרֶן כֵּן תָּרִימוּ אֹתָהּ"
“Separating the portion of dough of the first of your dough ye shall set apart a cake for a gift; as that which is set apart of the threshing-floor, so shall ye set it apart.”
הדלקת הנר דכתיב (ישעיהו נח:יג) "אִם תָּשִׁיב מִשַּׁבָּת רַגְלֶךָ עֲשׂוֹת חֲפָצֶיךָ בְּיוֹם קָדְשִׁי וְקָרָאתָ לַשַּׁבָּת עֹנֶג
לִקְדוֹשׁ יְדֹוָד מְכֻבָּד וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ מֵעֲשׂוֹת דְּרָכֶיךָ מִמְּצוֹא חֶפְצְךָ וְדַבֵּר דָּבָר" "וְקָרָאתָ לַשַּׁבָּת עֹנֶג" זו הדלקת הנר בשבת.
Lighting the Shabbat candles as it is written: "If thou turn away thy foot because of the sabbath, from pursuing thy business on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of the Lord honorable; and you will honor it, not doing your ways, nor pursuing your business, nor speaking thereof; “And call the Shabbat a delight”, that is kindling the Shabbat lights.
ואם תאמר לישב בחשך, אין זה עונג שאין יורדי גיהנם נדונין אלא בחשך שנאמר (איוב י:כב) "אֶרֶץ עֵיפָתָה כְּמוֹ אֹפֶל צַלְמָוֶת וְלֹא סְדָרִים וַתֹּפַע כְּמוֹ אֹפֶל"
And if you want to say sit in the dark. That is not enjoyment, that those condemned to purgatory are judged only in the dark as it says "A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself; a land of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.”
ומה ראו נשים להצטוות על שלש מצות האלו
אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא אדם הראשון תחלת בריותי היה ונצטווה על עץ הדעת. וכתיב בחוה (בראשית ג:ו) "וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַאֲוָה הוּא לָעֵינַיִם וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ וַתֹּאכַל וַתִּתֵּן גַּם לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ וַיֹּאכַל"
And what did the women see that they should take upon these three commandments?
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the primal man, you are the beginning of my creation, and was commanded about the tree of knowledge. And is is written with Chava, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”
וגרמה לו מיתה ושפכה את דמו. וכתיב בתורה (בראשית ט:ו) "שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹקִים עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם" תשפוך דמה ותשמור נדתה כדי שיתכפר לה על דם האדם ששפכה.
She caused Adam lose his immortality and spilled his blood. And it written in the Torah,
Whoso sheds a man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man.” She will spill blood and guard her menstrual status so that it is redemptive for her on the blood of the first man that was spilt.
מצות חלה מנין? היא טמאה חלתו של עולם, דאמר רבי יוסי בן דוסמקא [נ"א קצרתא]: כשם שהאשה מקשקשת עיסתה במיםואחר כך היא מגבהת חלתה, כך עשה הקדוש ברוך הוא לאדם הראשון, דכתיב (בראשית ב:ו) "וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה אֶת כָּל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה"
ואחר כך (בראשית ב:ז) "וַיִּיצֶר יְדֹוָד אֱלקִים אֶת הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה, וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים, וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה"
From where do we know that the women took upon themselves the commandment to separate the challah potion? She created an impurity in the beginning (a play on the word challah) of the world, as Rabbi Yosi ben Duskema said, just as she works her dough with water and then she lets it rise, so the Holy One blessed be He did to the primal man as it is written but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And after Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
הדלקת הנר מנין? היא כבתה נרו של אדם דכתיב (משלי כ:כז) "נֵר יְדֹוָד נִשְׁמַת אָדָם חֹפֵשׂ כָּל חַדְרֵי בָטֶן"
From where do we learn the Kindling of the shabbat lights? She extinguished the light of mankind (removing immortality) as it is written “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inward parts.”
*משנה מסכת שבת פרק ב משנה ו
על שלש עבירות נשים מתות בשעת לידתן על שאינן זהירות בנדה ובחלה ובהדלקת הנר:
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