The Sound of God

Torah Study 6/28 with Rabbi Marder

Gen 3:8-9
They heard God in the garden.

May have been a breezy day in the evening.

Kol Adonai: the voice or sound of God ‘walking in the garden’.

Why did God ‘make a sound’? To warn Adam and Eve that God was there, to give them a chance to hide?

Midrash: Don’t look on a person in his moment of disgrace. Give him some privacy. Find a more sensitive way to approach this person. As God made a sound to give them notice of his presence before God spoke.

Don’t burst in on someone without warning.

It is like Derech Eretz – Good Manners, Respect, Decency. Sechel (yiddish) Good sense; common sense

Guide to good behavior – beyond the golden rule!

Rabbi Eli Munk had a different interpretation: That with Adam’s sin God began to withdraw. With each sin of man God withdrew more. It wasn’t until Moses and the Tabernacle that God returned to dwell with the people.

Midrash: There is time in history when God’s presence is closer to the people, but when men behave badly it pushes God away. This separation of God from man is not the normal state. When God and man are together things are in harmony.

A parallel to teenagers who push their parents away to become more independent but most often will re-connect after a time of separation.

Why Would Adam & Eve Hide? Where did they hide?

The man and woman hid among (betok) the tree – some say it is the same tree that they ate the fruit of. Possibly a fig tree.

They felt shame and no longer stood upright.

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Cannot silence the voice of their own consciousness: Like when you do something wrong and it just will not go away from your thoughts.

Parallel to Edgar Allan Poe’s Tell Tale Heart.

“The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: --It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness --until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath --and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men --but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"”

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General themes:
Estrangement is the heart of the message.
Birth of Adam and Eve and separation and independence from the creator.
Self Awareness and discomfort with oneself.
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“WHERE ARE YOU?” God asks Adam

Why would God ask this, God knows where he is.

Rashi:

God was only speaking to Adam because he was the one who received the commandment and disobeyed.

God ‘asked’ as a way to enter a conversation. It was not to suddenly punish him for disobedience. This is a technique to discover a sense of self understanding and reflection. It gives him a chance to admit what he had done first before being punished.

Rabbi Mark Gellman noted that this is similar to a parent calling their child by the first and middle name!
Link to great article:

“The shortest question in the Torah is, remarkably, God's first question in the Torah. It is a question asked in Genesis 3:9. Adam and Eve had just eaten some fruit from the forbidden tree and, sensing God's presence in the Garden of Eden, they hid among the trees. While they were hiding, God asked Adam a one-word question. In Hebrew that word is ayeka? In English it means, "Where are you?"”

Book Reference:
God: A Biography by Jack Miles :
About the relationship development between God and man.

Book Reference:
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes


Wikipedea reference to this philosophy:

“ At one time, human nature was split in two, an executive part called a god, and a follower part called a man. Neither part was Consciously aware. ”

According to Jaynes, ancient people in the bicameral state would function in a manner similar to that of a modern-day schizophrenic. Rather than making conscious evaluations in novel or unexpected situations, the person would hallucinate a voice or "god" giving admonitory advice or commands, and obey these voices without question. Others have argued that this state of mind is recreated in members of cults.

Our consciousness has changed over time. Before it was experienced as a voice outside ourselves. A change of response made it more integrated to within ourselves.

It was suggested that this may relate to literacy.

Adam hears a voice from somewhere else rather than from within himself. This initiates his awareness of his disobedience.

This is not as much about knowledge as it is about discipline.

Book Reference:
The Way of Man: According to the Teachings of Hasidism (Routledge Classics) by Martin Buber


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Do you believe the Torah is eternal?

Is it about what happens all the time?

IF so, then God’s asking “where are you?” is asking all of us rather than just Adam.

And it is constantly asking where are we in our lives.

We might try to hide from the answer.

We try to overcome the requirement to answer for our actions.