[Avodah] Question

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 01:54:24PM -0700, Daniel Israel wrote:
:          Adam and Chava's punishment included a change in the nature  
: of reality.  Therefore it necessarily effects everyone who will ever  
: inhabit this reality.  Kayin's punishment effected just him (directly).

I argued the flipside... Chava and Adam (that's the historical sequence)
changed mankind, and that impacts reality.

Leshitas REED (who I think is following a Kantian interpretation of the
Maharal), "reality" is mostly human perception. Thus his take on the
Maharal's notion of nissim vs teva. And in fact in that essay, 4 Olamos,
REED writes that Adam qodem hacheit inhabited a higher olam because he
had a loftier perception of reality.

(One in which time is non-linear, BTW.)

To develop his theme (and my previous post) further:
Once people knew cheit was possible, the laws of teva became more absolute
than the laws of tzedeq. We saw that tov vara could be violated. And
so, Adam plunged down an olam. Since the evidence exists to anyone once
that first cheit is part of history, Chava and he changed the rest of
humanity as well.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             In the days of our sages, man didn't sin unless
micha at aishdas.org        he was overcome with a spirit of foolishness.
http://www.aishdas.org   Today, we don't do a mitzvah unless we receive
Fax: (270) 514-1507      a spirit of purity.      - Rav Yisrael Salanter