Beraishis 2Q They Were Naked and Were Not Ashamed

1. At that time they were both of one mind, dedicating body and soul completely to fulfilling God’s will. There was nothing to feel ashamed about.

Shame is a feeling of being disappointed in ones expectations of one’s self and Adam and Eve had no reason to feel any dissapointment. Nothing about their physical, sensual side was in opposition to their calling. It was part of their calling. The pure human body, directed by heeding God’s laws, is no less holy than the soul!

When a person makes use of his senses to serve himself rather than God, then there is shame in nakedness.

2. The Torah stresses that both Man and Woman were naked and not ashamed. Both were directing their complete selves toward godliness.

In some societies there is an expectation that girls are holy and chaste but the same is not expected of the boys and men. The Torah opposes this thought. Men and women are equally expected to uplift themselves in body and spirit. Men are given the mitzvah of ברית מילה as a warning to be holy in this area of life. See more on this in the Comment Man in the Image of God – Holiness of the Body.

Beraishis 2:25, Pages 70-72

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Beraishis 2E Differences Between Man and Animals

1. The Torah uses the same expression, נפש חיה, to describe the life force of both Man and animals. However at the creation of animals the physical earth produced the life force as is stated תוצא הארץ נפש חיה. Contrast this to the creation of Man where the life force of Man comes directly from God as is stated in this verse וַיִּיצֶר ה’ אלקים אֶת-הָאָדָם, עָפָר מִן-הָאֲדָמָה, וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו, נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים; וַיְהִי הָאָדָם, לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה

With animals the life force itself is physical by nature. With Man, the body is physical but the life force as well as the soul is spiritual. When a person’s body dies he continues to live because his life force is drawn after his spirit.

2. Just as Man/אדם is to master the earth for the use of service to God, so is Man to master his body, derived from the earth for the service of God.

3. Man’s body is also different to animals’. By the creation of animals, they were formed as a natural extension of the physical earth – תוצא הארץ נפש חיה. By the creation of Man, the earth was the matter from which Man was formed but God Himself formed Man – וַיִּיצֶר ה’ אלקים אֶת-הָאָדָם, עָפָר מִן-הָאֲדָמָה. This underscores the special dignity and high stature of even the human body.

Beraishis 2:7, Pages 54-55

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