34 | OCTOBER 20 • 2022 

SPIRIT

To Serve 
Is To Follow
T

his parshah is funda-
mental. In it, we find: 
creation, the first man 
and woman, the first sin, 
the first repentance, the first 
murder, the first degeneration 
of society and much more. 
Perhaps the most perplexing 
event in it is the original sin.
God put Adam and Eve in 
the Garden of Eden and gave 
them everything they needed. 
God spoke to them 
and requested only that 
they not eat from the 
fruit of one particular 
tree. Yet, before their 
first day was over, they 
disobeyed God. Why? 
How can we under-
stand this original error 
which impacted the 
world more than any 
other action in history?
One way to under-
stand Adam and Eve’s 
mistake is to believe 
that they thought they knew 
a better way to serve God. 
They felt that by simply not 
eating a single species of 
fruit, in a place where God’s 
presence was palpable, was 
no big deal. They were capa-
ble of sacrificing so much 
more for God. They were 
willing and able to serve in a 
world shrouded in darkness, 
where it would be much 
more difficult to appreciate 
the importance of serving 
Him.
Adam and Eve knew that 
if they ate from the tree, it 
would be like turning off a 
celestial light switch, and 
God’s presence in the world 
would become more hidden 
through sin’s entrance into 

the world. But they were cer-
tain that they could still serve 
God in such a difficult world; 
they would be the knights 
in shining armor, riding 
through the darkness holding 
up the banner of godliness. 
This was a colossal error. 
One that continues to chal-
lenge. The truth is that when 
a person thinks like that, he 
is using his ego and believing 
that he knows better 
than God. God had 
said that I will be at my 
best doing X, but I say I 
can do better by doing 
Y. Actually, we are at 
our best when we fol-
low what He asks.
The challenge of 
Adam and Eve is still 
a challenge. We try to 
tell ourselves that God 
did not really mean 
that we should do what 
He asked of us in the 
Torah, or that if He would see 
the modern world, He would 
certainly cancel a number 
of the “outdated” mitzvot. 
We feel that we can decipher 
what He really wants of us, 
even if it is different from 
what He told us.
If we want to serve God 
and not ourselves, we have 
to trust that He does know 
best and realize that the best 
way to serve Him is to follow 
what He asks, not what we 
think He would have asked. If 
we do that, we will be able to 
bring the world back to the 
utopia that it was before sin 
arrived. 

This article originally appeared in 

the JN on Oct. 12, 2017.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Leiby 
Burnham

Parshat 

Bereshit: 

Genesis 

1:1-6:3; 

Isaiah 

42:5-43:10.

For additional information call (248) 357-5544. 

Sponsored by The Morris and
Beverly Baker Foundation 

www.shaareyzedek.org

Scan to register

November 4 & 5, 2022

SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE 
Dr. Dara Horn 

November 4 - 6:00 p.m. 
Shabbat Dinner & Evening lecture:
People Love Dead Jews:
Reports from a Haunted Present
(available for purchase online)

6:00 p.m. TGIS service
7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:45 p.m. Lecture with Dara Horn

Member Dinner Cost: $30/person
Non-member Dinner Cost: $35/person

 
November 5 
Shabbat morning Dvar Torah: Lekh-Lekha: 
Turning Antisemitism Inside-out. 
 
Shabbat afternoon lecture/discussion: Uses 
and Misuses of ‘Dead Jews’: What I saw in 
my Holocaust-education journey across 
America, how it started, how it’s going, and 
what we need to reimagine. 

80

