[Avodah] Prehistoric Man

[Prof. L. Levine]

Although the piece below is somewhat lengthy, I think that many will find it of considerable interest.

Professor Yitzchok LevineR

The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash pages 51 - 52.

Berieshis 2:23

כגוַ יֹּ֘אמֶר֘ הָֽאָדָם֒ זֹ֣את הַפַּ֗עַם עֶ֚צֶם מֵֽעֲצָמַ֔י וּבָשָׂ֖ר מִבְּשָׂרִ֑י לְזֹאת֙ יִקָּרֵ֣א אִשָּׁ֔ה כִּ֥י מֵאִ֖ישׁ לֻֽקֳחָה־זֹּֽאת:

And the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
This shall be called Woman, for from man was she taken."

Rashi cites Rabbi Eliezer, who says (Yevamos 63a), "From here we learn
that Adam mated with all domesticated and wild animals, but found no
satisfaction until he was paired with Chava.''

Did Adam really have relations with elephants and donkeys?
The Torah relates in the second chapter of Bereishis (2:19-20):-And Hashem
formed out of the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought
them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man called each
living creature, that remained its name. And the man assigned names to all the cattle
and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but as for man, he did not find
a helper corresponding to him.

"Beasts of the field" might connote creatures that have the ability to work the
fields, to plow and plant like human beings, creatures possessing a higher level
of intelligence, resembling human beings. Nonetheless, they still lack a neshamah,
which is why they do not fall into the category of "man."

The mishnah in Kilayim (8:5) states that there is a type of creature called
masters of the field. Rabbi Yosei comments that this creature, like humans,
renders a person impure if it dies under the same roof. The Talmud Yerushalmi
(ibid.) states that this creature is a type of human being called mountain
man. Commentaries remark that this "mountain man" looks like a human being in
every way, except that "its navel is attached to the ground by an umbilical cord."

On the words (Iyov 5:23), For you will have a treaty with the
stones in the field, Rashi states that stones in the field refer to humanoid
creatures. They are not considered humans, Rashi tells us, because they do not
possess a neshamah. Furthermore, Rashi comments that when Chazal say that
these creatures are connected to the earth by an umbilical cord, they mean that the
creatures' life source is the earth rather than the spirit (neshahmah).

Quite possibly..,. Adam attempted to find a mate from among these creatures,
which Hashem created especially for this purpose. However, Adam found no
satisfaction in them because they had no neshamah.

With this, one can possibly understand the mystery of the Nachash Hakadmoni,
the Serpent, which walked in an upright position and possessed intelligence and
the ability to speak (Midrash Rabbah 19:1). The pasuk says (Bereishis 3:1),
The Serpent was cunning beyond any beast of the field. Evidently,
the Serpent was the wisest of all "beasts of the field," which were endowed with
intelligence. The Serpent was nearly as intelligent as Adam. Concerning this
Serpent, the Gemara says (Sanhedrin 59b), "Woe to the great servant of Hashem that
perished from the world." The fact that this Serpent is referred to as the "servant of
Hashem" indicates that it possessed great spiritual significance. However, because
it lacked a neshamah, it could never be categorized with human beings.

      Some time ago, I suggested that these achnei hasada or adnei hasasa, could
      very well have been the so-called "prehistoric man." They looked like
      men, walked upright like men, and perhaps even talked like men.
      Nevertheless, they were merely highly intelligent animals, because
      Hakadosh Baruch Hu had not endowed them with a neshamah. It is
      very possible that some of them might even be alive today as uncivilized
      tribes in the jungles of the Amazon, or other remote areas of the world.
      These man-like creatures-who do not seem to be able to learn enough
      to advance out of the Stone Age-may not be bnei adom, descendants of
      Adam Harishon; rather, they may be highly developed animals who can
      be as dangerous as wild beasts.

            Rav Schwab on lyov, pages 65-66




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