Bereishit 5771

According to the Vilna Goan every single thing that has happened and anything that ever will happen can be found in the Torah. Everything that is in the Torah is hinted to in the book of Bereishit, everything in the book of Bereishit is hinted to in the six days of creation, everything there is hinted to in the first pasuk of this week's parsha, everything there is hinted to in the first word of this parsha (and everything there is hinted the first letter of the parsha [some do not have this addition]). I in no way claim to understand this but it just shows the depths of this parsha. Also, anyone who has been keeping up with the emails knows this is my favorite parsha to talk about (anyone who wants me to resend any of the emails just email me and I will be glad to send them your way). That being said I have probably spoke about the story of Adam and Chava about 30 times in the last year. So let us discuss a different topic.

Kian and Hevel:

The Vilna Gaon (quoted by Rav Brevda in Perush HaGra on Yonah) says that man has three parts to him: 1) Nefesh 2) Ruach 3) Neshama. These three make up everything that is man and use the guf as their vehicle to get what they want. The Nefesh constantly wants food, drinks and other bodily pleasures. The Ruach constantly wants honor and money. On the other hand, the Neshama constantly wants to get closer to Hashem. These three forces fight between each other throughout a person's life. These three forces are what the three sons of Adam repesent. Kian is the Nefesh, Hevel is the Ruach, and Sheit is the Neshama. Kian is a farmer, who works for his food (the attributes of the Nefesh). This is why when Kian gives Hashem a korbon he only gives up flax, something that he cannot eat anyway, because the Nefesh will not get any pleasure from it. Hevel works as a shepherd a job that represents wealth. He did not raise the flock to eat them, only to get their wool to make clothing. Hevel is willing to give up the meat of his animals for honor. The only reason why someone controlled by either the nefesh or the ruach is to get more pleasure. So the nefesh would give up flax to get more food, and the Ruach would give up food to get honor. This is why Kian and Hevel gave their korbanot. But since Hevel was willing to give up something that could have been used, even though the mitzvah was not lishma Hashem rewarded him for it. So throughout a person's life his Nefesh and Ruach fight over which is more important, but this is only when other people are watching. When a person is alone the desire of the Nefesh will always win jealousy or honor of the Ruach. This is what it means that Kian killed Hevel. Then Sheit came along and he was the one that the rest of the world came from. He replaced Hevel (4:25) meaning that now man searched for Hashem instead of searching for honor. But still Kian lived while Sheit was alive because as long as a person lives he will need to eat and drink. (There is a chazal that talk about what happen when they tried to destroy the desire for this world, it would have led to the end of humanity because no one would have had children.)

Yet we see that in the end Kian is killed by one of his own offspring, a blind one, while he was looking for food. When one blindly looks for pleasure in this world and forgets about everything else in the world he just leads to destruction. A person must realize that his eating is for a higher purpose, to help him better serve Hashem. But if a person just looks for pleasure for its own sake that will just lead to his own destruction.

Good Shabbat!