* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
Test yourself for a moment: What is the first commandment that God gave Adam in the Garden of Eden? Most people will answer: “Not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.” In other words, first God told us what not to do, what was forbidden.
But if you pay closer attention, you will notice that the first commandment was something else:
“And the Lord God commanded man, saying: ‘Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; but as for the Tree of Knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it…’”
If we examine this verse closely, we discover a revolutionary idea. The first commandment that God gives man is a positive one. The Garden of Eden is waiting for you: Eat. Do. Act. Only later do we hear about what is forbidden. Before we receive a list of what we are forbidden to do, we are told what we can do.
This approach is similar to the one we take when educating our children. Parenthood is not only about telling the child what he or she isn’t allowed to do. First and foremost, we must establish goals for the child’s development and growth and only then we can set appropriate rules and boundaries. What is true about human parenting is equally true regarding the parenting of our Father in heaven.
We are starting again from the beginning (“Bereisheet”). May we learn to fully internalize what is permitted and what is forbidden.
And may we hear good news soon.
