God the Tailor

Torah Study 8/15 with Rabbi Sarah Wolfe

Genesis 3:21

God makes garments of skins for Adam & Eve...

Questions:
Did God kill an animal to make clothes for them?
Why did God make the clothes rather than having them make their own clothes?
Didn’t God just punish them for disobedience, and why now he is giving them gifts?

These and other questions were posed by the group as we explored this verse word for word.

We explored the term k'tonet – which is used for the description of the clothing that God made for them.

It is a tunic type garment. This is also the term used for Joseph’s coat and again when describing the priestly garments.

IT is also interesting to know that this term is used to describe the covering of the Torah.

There are several web references of interest:

interesting blog entry from One Dude's Questions

AISH commentary on this

Velveteen Rabbi

And a really interesting Christian site with a different perspective


There were other interpretations reviewed.

One interesting one has to do with the letters in the term for skin and light:

“There are a number of people who believe that before Adam and Chava (Eve) sinned, they had bodies of light or bodies clothed with light, and that as a result of their sin, they lost their body/clothing of light. When examining the Hebrew language, this is not hard to see.

The Hebrew word for "Light" is "OR" (variant: 'or), spelled "aleph vav resh" - rut
(Remember, Hebrew is written from right to left)
The Hebrew word for "Skin" is also "OR" (variant: 'or), but is spelled "ayin vav resh" - rug

The concept of man having a body clothed with light is not unfamiliar within Judaism as we can see in the passages of the Midrash Rabbah and Zohar. . .”

read more of this

The discussion continued with references to the need for clothing and its relation to modesty and also as protection (especially for the reproductive parts of the body because that was the important command – to multiply).

The ‘charitable’ act of giving clothing starts with this verse.

Praise to God for “clothing the naked” is part of the morning prayers.

Boruch.....Mal-bish Ah-ru-mim.
"Blessed are You… Who clothes the naked."

Clothing is another way to differentiate humans from other animals.

Clothing is part of preparing Adam & Eve to go out into the world outside the garden.

Like a parent giving new clothes to children going to school.

Then the humorous comments:

• So this is why there are so many Jews in the fashion industry.
• This is the first Marketing project – because it started a whole industry of clothing.
• And the idea the maybe the clothes were part of the punishment!

Moving on to the next verse: 3:22

“God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil”
(some versions not referencing good and evil but “knowing all”.)

More Questions to explore:

• Who is “US”?
• Why is God plural?
• What is knowledge?
• What is the different view of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge?
• Why did God create a Tree of Knowledge anyway?
• What about the reference to Torah as the “Tree of Life”?

The emergence of humans from the ‘garden’ has many messages about the evolution of humans into a world of increasing knowledge and understanding.

Is it possibly referring to humans collectively rather than individually?

I am sure we will explore this much further next session.