Waking from Slumber

This can also be read in the Jewish Star

Parshat Lekh Lekha

The word “Tardemah” — an unconscious state — appears only twice in the Torah: Bereishit 2:21 — when Chava is created from Adam, and 15:12, when Avram experiences the prophesy of the “Brit Bein Ha’b’tarim” — the Covenant Between the Pieces.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s translations in “The Living Torah” render the two experiences, respectively, “a deep state of unconsciousness” accompanied by sleep, and a “trance under which [Avram] was stricken by a deep dark dread.”

Adam’s sleep comes about after he has named every animal and has come to the realization that he has no partner opposite him. The most common interpretation, surprisingly, is that the original Adam was a Siamese-twin-like creature which contained both Adam and Chava in one body — which is why “he” could not find “her” — they were one and the same. As such, when God put Adam to sleep, it was for the purpose of separating him into two entities, and to close the flesh at the point of separation. (The “rib” interpretation has its sources — but it is by far the less preferred explanation of the creation of woman in rabbinic sources.)

In this sense, Targum Yonatan calls it a “deep sleep,” Sforno explains the purpose of the “tardemah” as a preventative to any anxiety or pain, like a general anesthesia for surgery.

Avram’s “tardemah” follows his conversation with God, and his preparation of the animals for the covenant. “The sun was setting, Avram fell into a trance, and he was stricken by a deep dark dread.” (15:12) As the sun’s position is described, Avram falls asleep. In contrast, God put “tardemah” on Adam.

In this state, Avram experiences prophesy that his descendants will be enslaved for 400 years, after which their oppressors will be judged and punished. For a man who does not yet have children, the prospects of these promises may seem farfetched, but the presence of the sun surrounding the revelation (15:12,17), which is perhaps a metaphor to Avram’s finally experiencing the “light” and “clarity” of his position with God and his future family, serves to strengthen the path Avram will take to see the promise come to fruition.

Many commentaries quote the midrash that the “deep, dark dread” that Avram experienced was a foreshadow of the different exiles his children would experience: Babylonia, Media, Greece and Edom (which most translate as Rome).

While the Midrash certainly makes sense for the time in which it was recorded, the Jewish people have been through many other exiles (expulsions and Holocaust-like events). To say Avram’s “tardemah” alluded to only four exiles is a fine example of Monday-morning-quarterbacking. If Avram’s experience was meant to be a prophesy about the future — beyond the one that is spelled out (the Egyptian exile), then more exiles should be referred to through textual hints and numbers of words.

However one looks at it, Avram’s “tardemah” put him in the mode to receive a unique prophesy about his direct descendants.

Two final comments are worth considering before the message becomes clear.

In defining “tardemah” as the “beginning of sleep,” Netziv (2:21) describes three kinds of “tardemah”s — one of sleep, one of prophesy, and one of marmitah (a kind of animal) — which likely refers to hibernation. In his estimate, the “tardemah” of sleep is lighter than sleep itself, while the “tardemah” of marmitah is deeper than sleep.

Avram’s tardemah was certainly one of prophesy. Which was Adam’s?

Toldot Yitzchak (2:21) says the fact that God put the “tardemah” on Adam is a lesson that a person (specifically a man, though it could be applied in all directions), should exhibit a sort of “out of consciousness” in his home — don’t be so strict, exhibit patience, a controlled temper, look the other way when things do not go according to “Daddy’s Master Plan.”

On the one hand, Adam’s “tardemah” may have been a hibernation — a medically induced coma, general anesthesia. On the other other hand, Adam’s “tardemah” may have been the first variety – the closest thing to sleep. Complete awareness of what is going on, with the drawback of having no say in the proceedings, all for the benefit of his wife and their relationship.

How will we employ and utilize the “tardemah”s we experience? Will we become more patient? Will we become more tolerant? Will we be receptive to getting the help we need? Will we be willing to hear the message and the word of God?

“Tardemah” is meant to prepare us for the best of the outcomes and the worst of them.

Adam needed a life partner. Avram wanted a child. Both could enhance each one’s life significantly. For Adam, the wife brought about his fall from the Garden of Eden. For Avram, the children would eventually be enslaved for hundreds of years.

There is a positive side to each story — man walked away from the Garden with a real purpose in life. Work hard, take care of your family, and you’ll eventually find your way back to the Garden of Eden.

The slaves would one day be free, their oppressors would be punished, and they would receive a Torah and become the chosen people who have survived every attempt at their destruction until today, while every enemy of every previous generation has been defeated and no longer exists.

Even if the “tardemah” seems like a bad thing at the time, 20-20 hindsight helps us see what the future really held for these two men.

Let us hope and pray that the “tardemah”s we experience in our lives can be seen through the hindsight-glasses as we experience redemption from the unconscious states, and see how the Master Plan continues to work in our favor as we anticipate the Final Redemption — may we merit to see it speedily in our days.