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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed

GEN438 When you have reason to have a personal grudge against someone, it is all the more important to do him a favor. You should do chesed with the recipient in mind, and now with yourself in mind.  Rav Yisrael Salanter was once traveling on the train, and at one of the stops a young Jewish man boarded and chose to sit down next to him. The young man was an abrasive and complaining fellow, and throughout the trip to Vilna, he treated Rav Yisrael with great disrespect. When the train arrived in Vilna, there was a large crowd gathered to greet the great rav. The young man was thoroughly mortified when he learned to whom he had been so disrespectful, and he mustered the courage to go to Rav Yisrael’s place of lodging and apologize. As soon as he entered Rav Yisrael greeted him like an old friend and told him to forget about the day before. During their conversation he learned that the young man was trying to get a license to be a Shochet, and Rav Yisrael found somebody to teach him, and then helped him find a job.  Although he had good reason not to go out of his way to do this young man a favor, Rav Yisrael helped him more than anyone else normally would. Kindness of this sort is a reflection of the purity of the soul, and the depth of one’s character. Chazal said that the Torah begins and ends with chesed. For the beginning with chesed, they cite [this verse]. Rav Scheinberg, shlita, often points out that they did not cite the fact that Hashem gave Adam an entire beautiful and perfect world, or that he gave him a wife, because at that time Adam was still perfect and untainted. It is not hard to do chesed with a great gadol and tzaddik. They cited the chesed that Hashem did for Adam and his wife after they had sinned and brought death and destruction to His entire creation. That is the example of chesed with best describes the beginning of the Torah. That is the type of chesed we must strive to achieve. CASTLE 82-3

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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed

GEN433 Rabbi Samlai taught: The Torah opens with acts of kindness and closes with acts of kindness.  It opens with acts of kindness, as it is written: “The Lord God made leather cloaks for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” [this verse].  It closes with acts of kindness, as it is written: “And he buried him in the valley” Deuteronomy 34:6  Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 14a (By Uzi Weingarten and the Editors) DORFF-RUTTENBERGSOC 5

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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed

GEN434 Rabbi Simlai states in Sotah 14a: “The Torah begins with an act of kindness – as it is written [this verse], and it ends with an act of kindness – as it is written Deuteronomy 34:6, ‘And He buried [Moshe] in the depression.’” In other words, the very first act of God in the Torah, following the creation of Adam and Eve, is that of providing them with clothing.  Similarly the Torah ends with God Himself burying Moshe on Mount Nebo.  The lesson that can be derived from all this is that one cannot believe in God or study His Torah without being kind to others, for this is the very essence of the Torah itself. … If [a Jew] will be truly … undergo some self-examination, he will indeed be inspired to return to the heritage of our ancestors and conduct himself with a greater degree of kindness and truthfulness, so that the verse, “Israel, it is through you that I shall be proud,” will truly come true.  EYES 256-7

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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed

GEN430 In Judaism, God is regarded as transcendental: “The heavens belong to God: it is the earth that He has given to the children of men.” Psalm 115:16 He is, however, also immanent in that He has prescribed guidance on every aspect of life, intimate and public, holy and secular.  All those qualities that should be most pronounced in human conduct are made to appear conspicuously in our description of the heavenly attributes.  Here is a typical presentation of ethical Judaism in the Talmud. Sotah 14a. “Rabbi Hama, son of Rabbi Hanina, said “What means the text ‘Ye shall walk after the Lord your God’? Deuteronomy 13:5. Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Shechinah?  Has it not been said: ‘For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire’? Deuteronomy 4:24. But (the meaning is) to walk after the attributes of the holy One, blessed be He.” As He clothes the naked, for it is written: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them” [this verse], so do thou also clothe the naked.  LEHRMAN 6

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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed

GEN435 Rashi begins his commentary to Genesis with the question: If the Torah is a book of law, why does it not start with the first law given to the People of Israel as a whole, which does not appear until Exodus 12? Why does it include the narratives about Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the patriarchs and matriarchs and their children? Rashi gives an answer that has nothing to do with morality -- he says it has to do with the Jewish people’s right to their land. But Netziv (Rabbi Naphtali Zvi Yehuda Berlin; 1816 – 1893) writes that the stories of Genesis are there to teach us how the patriarchs were upright in their dealings, even with people who are strangers and idolaters. That, he says, his why Genesis is called by the sages, “The book of the upright.” Haamek Davar to Genesis, Introduction. Morality is not just a set of rules, even a code as elaborate as the 613 commandments and their rabbinic extensions. It is also about the way we respond to people as individuals. The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is at least in part about what went wrong in their relationship when the man referred to his wife as isha, “woman,” a generic description, a type. Only when he gave her a proper name, Chava, Eve, did he relate to her as an individual in her individuality, and only then did God “make [them] garments of the skin and clothed them” [this verse]. This too is the difference between the god of Aristotle and the God of Abraham. Aristotle thought that God knew only universals, not particulars. This is the god of science, of the Enlightenment, of Spinoza. The God of Abraham is the God who relates to us in our singularity, and what makes us different from others as well as what makes us the same. This ultimately is the difference between the two great principles of Judaic ethics: justice and love. Justice is universal.  It treats all people alike, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, making no distinctions on the basis of color or class. But love this particular. A parent loves his or her children for what makes them in each unique. The moral life is a combination of both. That is why it cannot be reduced solely to universal laws. That is what the Torah means when it speaks of “the right and good” [referencing Deuteronomy 6:18 – AJL] over and above the commandments, statutes, and testimonies. A good teacher knows what to say to a weak student who, through great effort, has done better than expected, and to a gifted student who has come to the top of the class but he still performing below his or her potential.  A good employer knows when to praise and when to challenge. We all need to know when to insist on justice and when to exercise forgiveness. The people who have had a decisive influence on our lives are almost always those we feel understood us in our singularity. We were not, for them, a mere your face in the crowd. That is why, though morality involves universal rules and cannot exist without them, it also involves interactions that cannot be reduced to rules. SACKS 283-4

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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed 

GEN440 Chazal have exhorted us mostly keenly to observe this mitzvah [gemiluth chesed – acts of kindness].  They have declared Sotah 14a: “What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 13:5 ‘You shall walk after Hashem, your God’?  Is it possible for a human being to walk after the Shechina?  Has it not been said Deuteronomy 4:24Hashem, your God, is a devouring fire’? The meaning is that one should follow the Attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He.  As He clothes the naked, so you clothe the naked.   AHAVCH 199 

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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed 

GEN441 Rabbi Simlai explained Sotah 14a “The Torah begins with an act of kindness (gemiluth chesed) and ends with an act of kindness (burying Moses Deuteronomy 34:6).”  Here, Chazal [our Sages] have made us aware of the great importance of gemiluth chesed by showing that the Torah begins and ends with this topic.  AHAVCH 21 

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GENESIS — 3:21 clothed 

GEN442 We are obligated to provide clothes for the needy.  We are obligated to emulate God.  Just as He clothed the naked, so too must we clothe the naked Sotah14a. Ideally, one should give the finest quality clothing to the poor Maimonides, Laws of Things Forbidden on the Altar 7:11.  However, before one discards used clothes, one should consider the possibility that a poor person would prefer used clothes to none at all Pele Yoatz, halbosho.  Great care must be taken not to embarrass the recipient, since a person may feel humiliated when offered used clothing.  In some communities, volunteers regularly go from house to house collecting clothes that are not needed.  If this commendable practice cannot be instituted, every community should at least appoint someone to keep a list of institutions or individuals who could utilize such garments.  PLYN 30-31

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