The Torah begins, "In the beginning, Hashem created heaven and earth." The Kedushat Levi notes that this verse establishes a fundamental principle. Everything in the world is an extension of Hashem's will. Not only did Hashem create the world but he continues to renew it every day.

In Shachrit we say, "Yotzer ohr u'borei choshech." He creates light and darkness. Creation is an ongoing process. The world continuously exists by the active will of Hashem. This should elicit two reactions from us. The first: incredible gratitude that at every moment Hashem, out of his infinite chesed, is giving us life. The second: we have no independent existence. We cannot accomplish anything without Hashem giving us the ability to do it. In a sense, we are nothing but the expression of Hashem's will. If a person would internalize this, there would be no place for the yetzer hara and its evil urges. Doing mitzvot and avoiding sin would become instinctual. This is the concept of ayin, nothingness. Modern society propounds the exact opposite. The yesh, the I, is everything and man has the power to be whatever he chooses to be.

Rav Levi Yitzchak explains that the blessing recited under the chupah, "Asher yatzer et hadam" referes to Hashem as the creator of man in the past tense. Hashem left us to finish the task of self-creation. On the one hand we are ayin and on the other hand we are a yesh. We all have unique qualities and abilities which are meant to be expressed and utilized to affect and change the world. Hashem put Adam into Gan Eden l'avda, to develop it and l'shamra, and to protect it. When a person uses his wisdom guided by the Torah to think creatively, to plan and to dream, then he is a yesh. But if he just follows his physical instincts and lets his desires control him then he is an ayin, he is nothing.

We can manipulate things within nature but we are limited by its laws. However, if a person makes himself into an ayin, submitting His will to Hashem, he can align himself with the Creator,who is above limitation. Then he can rise above physicality and perform miracles.

These two concepts of yesh and ayin are hidden in the letters of Hashem's name. Yud keh is the secret level of Hashem. He is concealed, distant and above nature. Vav heh parallels Hashem in this world. The vav is the connection from the outside world to this world and the heh represents this world. Performing a mitzvah affects not only this world but the hidden world too.

May we merit to become partners with Hashem and to transform this world to the next world with the power of Torah.

How we feel is shaped by how we think. In Hebrew, intellect is called chochma. This can be read as koach ma, the potentiality of what is. While women are stronger in binah, empathetic understanding, men are more oriented towards daat, considering things from a distance and coming to rational conclusions.

The snake addressed himself to Chava and not to Adam because women are more easily convinced and are better able to convince others. He presented several arguments. He tried to paint a picture in which it was Adam and Chava against Hashem. He said, "Didn't Hashem say not to eat from any fruit in the garden?" Chava countered that Hashem had only commanded them not to eat from the tree of knowledge. In truth she should have kept quiet. As soon as she began speaking, the snake became a credible being, someone to talk to.

Chava told the snake that if she would touch or eat from the tree she would die. He pushed her toward the tree and she lived. In general we aren't punished immediately because Hashem doesn't want a world of robots. But in a sense we do suffer the effects right away because evil becomes real to us. Why did she think that touching the tree would make her die? It could be that Adam misinformed her or that she herself made a fence that she equated to the law of Hashem. Her feeling that she was acting on Hashem's behalf confused her speech.

The snake told Chava, "Hashem knows that the day you will eat from the tree your eyes will be opened and you'll be like Hashem. You will know good from evil." In truth, having this knowledge makes us more divine-like, more creative and less instinctive. Yet we weren't created for that. We were meant to choose good, not to see choice as an end itself.

Chava ate from the forbidden fruit and she saw it was delightful and good. As soon as she sinned she realized she would die. Adam would be alone and Hashem would give him another woman. She couldn't bear the idea so she convinced him to eat too. She was created to nurture, assist, and enable him but she failed by giving him death. He failed by possibly giving her wrong instructions and choosing to listen to her.

As soon as they sinned, their eyes were opened. They perceived they were without clothes. They fashioned clothing out of fig leaves to hide their bodies, which they now realized could be a source of desire and exploitation. They thought if they used these leaves, which according to some commentators came from the tree they sinned with, it would be a tikun (rectification). But some things must be rejected completely and cannot be uplifted.

They heard Hashem in the garden and they hid. Hashem asked Adam, "Ayeka," where are you? Do you not understand that nothing is separate from me? You've lost everything. Adam should have admitted that he had sinned. Instead he responded, "I heard your voice, I realized I wasn't clothed, I was ashamed, so I hid." Hashem waited for him to confess and repent. But Adam said, "The woman you gave me, she gave me of the fruit." Blaming her showed that his relationship with her was already corrupted. Chava in turn said, "It was the snake, he convinced me and I ate." They were close enough to the beginning of things to know that the yetzer hara was created to be answered and defeated but they did not withstand the test.

Hashem doesn't punish out of his own vulnerability. A punishment is the beginning of the road back. It can be as forceful as eliminating evil or a path towards redirection. In future classes, we will see how all the punishments Adam and Chava received created a new path of return.

In the Iggeret Haramban, the Ramban adjures his son to work on the attribute of anavah (humility). It states "Humility brings a person to the highest level of fear of Hashem." The Mishna in Avot teaches us, "Da me'ayin batah..." Know from where you have come and where you are destined to go, and in front of whom you will have to give an accounting. This should humble a person, knowing that he will need to give a din v'cheshbon for all his actions. The Gra explains that din means a reckoning of one's sins and cheshbon is an accounting of what one could have accomplished if he would not have sinned. If a person thinks this way his thoughts and actions become transformed.

Gaavah (arrogance) leads to forgetting Hashem as the verse says, "V'ram levavcha v'shachata et Hashem." A person shouldn't flaunt his Torah learning or piety. Yet if someone questions his belief in Hashem he should proclaim his faith with pride.

The commentators say that in some ways arrogance is worse than lashon hara. Lashon hara can be controlled. Many times a person may be embarrassed to say things in front of important people. However, gaavah is contained within one's thoughts all the time.

A person should recognize that he is undeserving of whatever qualities he has. He shouldn't think he is greater than anyone else. People may view him as outstanding in one area but he is most probably lacking in a lot of other areas. Everyone has flaws. Even a teacher needs students to sharpen his mind.

Rav Chaim Volozhiner notes that one who runs after honor loses his ability to understand Torah. We say at the end of davening, "V'nafshi k'afar." My soul is like dust. When a person believes this then he can ask Hashem, "Petach libi b'toratecha." Open my heart to know your Torah.

Just like a bird flies in the air and an animal pulls heavy weights, a wise man understands that his mind is not his own. The Mishna in Avot says, "If you have learned much Torah do not consider yourself as having done something extra." The Rishonim understand this in two ways. Either one was given understanding in Torah in order to teach others. Or, as Rashi and the Rambam explain, knowing Torah is not to one's credit but rather gives one more responsibility to use his gifts in the proper way.

Wealth too should not be flaunted. It's not your talent or ability that made you rich. It's all a gift from Hashem given to you as a test to see what you will do with it. Will it bring out your bad middot or will you involve yourself in chesed and tzedakah? The verse in Tehilim says, "Zivchei Elokim ruach nishbara." The greatest sacrifice is a broken spirit.

Avraham said, "Anochi afar v'eifer." I am dust and ashes. The Bet Halevi explains that afar signifies potential. Earth has the ability to produce while eifer, ashes, signify death. David said, "Anochi tolaat v'lo ish." I am a worm and not a man. I am nothing. I don't deserve anything. Moshe and Aharon said, "V'nachnu mah?" What are we? If these great tzaddikim were so humble, what right do lowly people as us have to be arrogant?

Anivut means swallowing insults and reigning in one's anger. One should learn to value humility and look up to those people who have mastered the trait. In this way we will be able reach higher levels in avodah and yirat Hashem.