Friday, December 27, 2019

clothing - Did G-d and angels appeared dressed or naked to Adam in Eden?




  1. First, we know that Adam and Eve were naked in Eden and didn't feel ashamed (Ber 2.25).



    "וַיִּהְיוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם עֲרוּמִּים הָאָדָם וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְלֹא יִתְבֹּשָׁשׁוּ׃


    The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, yet they felt no shame.






  2. Second, once they ate the fruit they revealed their nakedness and were ashamed and got dressed (Ber 3.7).



    וַתִּפָּקַחְנָה עֵינֵי שְׁנֵיהֶם וַיֵּדְעוּ כִּי עֵירֻמִּם הֵם וַיִּתְפְּרוּ עֲלֵה תְאֵנָה וַיַּעֲשׂוּ לָהֶם חֲגֹרֹת׃


    Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.





Heres how the Midrash pictures the interaction between them (Avot_D'Rabbi_Natan.1.8 thanks DonielF)




ר' יהודה בן בתירה אומר אדם הראשון היה מיסב בג״ע ומלאכי השרת עומדין בגן עדן לקראתו וצולין לו בשר ומצננין לו יין בא נחש וראה אותו והציץ בכבודו ונתקנא בו.



I'm confused - if G-d and the angels appeared clothed from the beginning, Adam would feel like second graded and animal-like before the sin; if they did appear naked as Adam was, why would he feel ashamed after eating the fruit?


So how did they appeared before Adam before and after the sin?




Note: According to what the Torah specifies later about Aharon's cloths - לכבוד ולתפארת, dressing had nothing to do with modesty - it was the sign of respect and dignity.




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