Original Sin, Original Sex

To many, the so called "Fall of Man" in the Garden of Eden was sex, the Original Sin.  Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden because they had sexual relations.  But if we look carefully at Genesis, Chapter 4, we see (following the great Hebrew commentator Rashi) that Adam "had known" Eve prior to the events with the serpent and the expulsion.  In fact, Eve was pregnant when they were forced out of the Garden.

Yet, if we look back on God's angry words, there is no mention of sexual behavior.  God does not punish our first family for having sex; God punishes them for eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  In the Garden of Eden, sex is natural, a value-neutral activity and childbirth would have been painless (sorry, women).

God, however, did know that Eve was pregnant when she ate the fruit.  In Genesis, Chapter 3, part of her punishment was the pain of childbirth.  Imagine now just how strong a punishment that would have been to hear had you been pregnant at the time.  If you had lived in that idyllic world, free from worry, strife and pain, this curse would have come as a terrible blow.

It leads to a great principle of leadership, one that Eve and, by extension Adam, learned that fateful day:  Actions have consequences.  I still believe that Eve was a great and necessary leader; she willingly ate of the forbidden fruit because she found utopia inhumane and was willing to destroy it in order to grow.  But as a neophyte human being, she did not realize that what she did affected the world around her and the generations that would follow her.

Actions have consequences.  Her culinary quest meant that women like herself would have pain in childbirth.  Perhaps God punished her in this manner because she was already pregnant.  But through this punishment, she learned that disobeying God had lasting consequences.

Note however, that she was not punished for having sex with Adam!  That was permissible.  If not, the Bible would have told us that action would have been wrong.  So please do not equate the punishment with a crime of carnal passion; that did not happen!

Actions have consequences.  As Eve and subsequent generations will learn, when we control our actions (and our response to actions forced upon us), we can control the consequences.  So far in Genesis, Eve is still the student.  She, and the entire human race, will get better.  It's going to take some time but Genesis is a book about humanity coming of age; we'll get there.

To reiterate: Actions have consequences.  When we control our actions, we can control the consequences of our actions.  Let us learn that lesson from Eve this week as we go forward.

Let me know what you think,

Jordan
rabbiparr@gmail.com