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The Monday Morning Memo

 


After creating the world and Adam to preside over it, G-d proclaimed that it was not good for man to be by himself (2:18). Rashi explains that this statement reflected G-d’s concern that the earthly creatures not deify Adam. Seeing that G-d was alone in the heavens, they might erroneously think that since man was alone on earth, he too was a deity of sorts. To preclude this problem from happening, G-d decided to create a woman for Adam to serve as his partner.

The Torah describes this person as being an ezer kenegdo – an “opposing helper.” Rashi explains this odd phrase as meaning that the role of a spouse is indeterminate. If a man is fortunate, then he will be blessed with a wife who is his helper. If he is unfortunate, then his wife will constantly oppose him.


Other commentators, however, do not view ezer kenegdo as polar opposites – one being good and one being bad. Rather, both words describe the same woman. Rav Zalman Sorotskin in Oznayim L’Torah explains this as follows: when the man is doing something good and is on the right path, then his wife will be an ezer – a helper and assist him to accomplish his goals. If however the man is on the wrong path and is about to make a bad decision, then his wife will be kenegdo – an opponent who will point out to him his mistakes and set him on the correct path.

This understanding of kenegdo – namely constructive opposition, helps us understand…


– Rabbi David Hertzberg,
The Jewish Press, Oct 2, 2007
 

TRIVIA: I was pondering about how people might react if I introduced my wife by saying, “This is Pennie, my counterbalance.”

The image in my mind was of two kids achieving equilibrium on a teeter-totter so I went looking for the image. When I found the image I saw in my mind (above,) it was on a website for Jewish gifts. It occurs to me that Jews have generally had a greater respect for the abilities of women than most other cultures. Not perfect, but better than the rest of us. Perhaps you disagree. – RHW

 

 

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Rain fell on the towns and the fields. It fell on the tractor sheds and the labyrinth of sloughs. Rain fell on toadstools and ferns and bridges. It fell on the head of John Paul Ziller.

Rain poured for days, unceasing. Flooding occurred. The wells filled with reptiles. The basements filled with fossils. Mossy-haired lunatics roamed the dripping peninsulas. Moisture gleamed on the beak of the Raven. Ancient shamans, rained from their homes in dead tree trunks, clacked their clamshell teeth in the drowned doorways of forests. Rain hissed on the Freeway. It hissed at the prows of fishing boats. It ate the old warpaths, spilled the huckleberries, ran in the ditches. Soaking. Spreading. Penetrating.

And it rained an omen. And it rained a poison. And it rained a pigment. And it rained a seizure…”

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