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Although the piece below is somewhat lengthy, I think that many will find it of considerable interest.</div>
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Professor Yitzchok LevineR<br>
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The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash pages 51 - 52.</div>
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Berieshis 2:23</div>
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<span class="co_VerseNum ContentPasted0">כג</span><span class="co_VerseText ContentPasted0">וַ יֹּ֘אמֶר֘ הָֽאָדָם֒ זֹ֣את הַפַּ֗עַם עֶ֚צֶם מֵֽעֲצָמַ֔י וּבָשָׂ֖ר מִבְּשָׂרִ֑י לְזֹאת֙ יִקָּרֵ֣א אִשָּׁ֔ה כִּ֥י מֵאִ֖ישׁ לֻֽקֳחָה־זֹּֽאת:</span></div>
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<span class="co_VerseText ContentPasted0 ContentPasted1 elementToProof">And the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.<br class="ContentPasted1">
This shall be called Woman, for from man was she taken."</span></div>
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<span class="co_VerseText ContentPasted0 ContentPasted1 elementToProof ContentPasted2">Rashi cites Rabbi Eliezer, who says (Yevamos 63a), "From here we learn
<div class="ContentPasted2">that Adam mated with all domesticated and wild animals, but found no</div>
<div class="ContentPasted2">satisfaction until he was paired with Chava.''</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted2">Did Adam really have relations with elephants and donkeys?</div>
<div class="ContentPasted2">The Torah relates in the second chapter of Bereishis (2:19-20):-And Hashem</div>
<div class="ContentPasted2">formed out of the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought</div>
<div class="ContentPasted2">them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man called each</div>
<div class="ContentPasted2">living creature, that remained its name. And the man assigned names to all the cattle</div>
<div class="ContentPasted2">and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but as for man, he did not find</div>
<div class="ContentPasted2">a helper corresponding to him.</div>
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"Beasts of the field" might connote creatures that have the ability to work the<br>
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<span class="co_VerseText ContentPasted0 ContentPasted1 elementToProof ContentPasted2 ContentPasted3">fields, to plow and plant like human beings, creatures possessing a higher level
<div class="ContentPasted3">of intelligence, resembling human beings. Nonetheless, they still lack a neshamah,</div>
<div class="ContentPasted3">which is why they do not fall into the category of "man."</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted3">The mishnah in Kilayim (8:5) states that there is a type of creature called
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<div class="ContentPasted3">masters of the field. Rabbi Yosei comments that this creature, like humans,</div>
<div class="ContentPasted3">renders a person impure if it dies under the same roof. The Talmud Yerushalmi</div>
(ibid.) states that this creature is a type of human being called mountain<br>
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<span class="co_VerseText ContentPasted0 ContentPasted1 elementToProof ContentPasted2 ContentPasted3 ContentPasted4">man. Commentaries remark that this "mountain man" looks like a human being in
<div class="ContentPasted4">every way, except that "its navel is attached to the ground by an umbilical cord."</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted4">On the words (Iyov 5:23), For you will have a treaty with the</div>
<div class="ContentPasted4">stones in the field, Rashi states that stones in the field refer to humanoid</div>
<div class="ContentPasted4">creatures. They are not considered humans, Rashi tells us, because they do not</div>
<div class="ContentPasted4">possess a neshamah. Furthermore, Rashi comments that when Chazal say that</div>
<div class="ContentPasted4">these creatures are connected to the earth by an umbilical cord, they mean that the</div>
creatures' life source is the earth rather than the spirit (neshahmah).<br>
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<span class="co_VerseText ContentPasted0 ContentPasted1 elementToProof ContentPasted2 ContentPasted3 ContentPasted4 ContentPasted5">Quite possibly..,. Adam attempted to find a mate from among these creatures,
<div class="ContentPasted5">which Hashem created especially for this purpose. However, Adam found no</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">satisfaction in them because they had no neshamah.</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted5">With this, one can possibly understand the mystery of the Nachash Hakadmoni,</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">the Serpent, which walked in an upright position and possessed intelligence and</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">the ability to speak (Midrash Rabbah 19:1). The pasuk says (Bereishis 3:1),</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">The Serpent was cunning beyond any beast of the field. Evidently,</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">the Serpent was the wisest of all "beasts of the field," which were endowed with</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">intelligence. The Serpent was nearly as intelligent as Adam. Concerning this</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">Serpent, the Gemara says (Sanhedrin 59b), "Woe to the great servant of Hashem that</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">perished from the world." The fact that this Serpent is referred to as the "servant of</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">Hashem" indicates that it possessed great spiritual significance. However, because</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5">it lacked a neshamah, it could never be categorized with human beings.</div>
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<div class="ContentPasted5"><span> </span>Some time ago, I suggested that these
<i>achnei hasada</i> or <i>adnei hasasa</i>, could</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5"><span> </span>very well have been the so-called "prehistoric man." They looked like</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5"><span> </span>men, walked upright like men, and perhaps even talked like men.</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5"><span> </span>Nevertheless, they were merely highly intelligent animals, because</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5"><span> </span>Hakadosh Baruch Hu had not endowed them with a neshamah. It is</div>
<div class="ContentPasted5"><span> </span>very possible that some of them might even be alive today as uncivilized</div>
<span> </span>tribes in the jungles of the Amazon, or other remote areas of the world.<br>
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<span class="co_VerseText ContentPasted0 ContentPasted1 elementToProof ContentPasted2 ContentPasted3 ContentPasted4 ContentPasted5 ContentPasted6"><span> </span>These man-like creatures-who do not seem to be able to learn enough
<div class="ContentPasted6"><span> </span>to advance out of the Stone Age-may not be
<i>bnei adom</i>, descendants of</div>
<div class="ContentPasted6"><span> </span>Adam Harishon; rather, they may be highly developed animals who can</div>
<div class="ContentPasted6"><span> </span>be as dangerous as wild beasts.</div>
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<span> </span><span> </span>Rav Schwab on lyov, pages 65-66<br>
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