Appreciating What We Have As Motivation for Our Future

 When Adam “meets” his mate for the first time, he names her “isha” because she was taken from Ish. However in the next chapter Adam names the woman again – only this time he calls her something else: Chava because she is the mother of all living beings. It must have been clear to Adam from the beginning that Chava was going to be the matriarch of all of humanity as she was the only female, and Hashem had already commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. Why does Adam first call her Isha and only after their sin does he name her Chava? Rabbi Baruch Braun explains that due to her sin Hashem informed Chava of her punishment: giving birth was no longer going to be painless and harmless. It would be difficult, painful and dangerous. At this point it was no longer certain that she would willingly participate in childbearing and tolerate the burdens of pregnancy and labor. Before the sin Chava’s role as mother could be taken for granted. Her name didn’t need to reflect this role because it could be taken for granted. But now Adam was afraid that his wife would opt out of motherhood. To acknowledge and appreciate her role, Adam created a new name, Chava, which means “mother of all life”, to defend the majesty of motherhood and recognize her sacrifice and her ordeal. The lesson is that a person can only truly recognize the value of something when he lost it for a time or is in danger of losing it. Many of us have been watching as many of the heartwarming videos of the living hostages’ return to their families, something that we had been praying for daily for 2 long years. Many of these videos show these men appreciating the simple pleasures of life that most of us take for granted. While it shouldn’t be this way, human nature is to take what we have for granted and only fully appreciate it again if it were withheld from us. We say the blessing over fire during Havdalah on Motzei Shabbat based on a Midrash in this week’s Parsha which says that Adam saw the world turn dark for the first time on Saturday night, and he was inspired to rub two stones together thereby discovering fire. What is the link between the creation of fire and Saturday night? It seems that it was just a coincidence of timing that Adam happened to discover fire after Shabbat. The answer is that we don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone. Adam didn’t say a bracha on the light that he experienced for the first 36 hours of creation, even though it was a much greater light than that which he was able to generate for himself on Motzei Shabbat, because until he saw darkness, and was worried that he would never have light again, he couldn’t appreciate the value of that little spark of light. Only as Shabbat ends do we begin to realize how much we will miss Shabbat when it is over, and how much we want to keep the inspiration of Shabbat with us into the new week. It is not surprising that we read Bereishit on the Shabbat after Simchat Torah. As we conclude the Tishrei holiday season we look to the lesson that emerges from both Adam’s naming of Eve and the fire blessing at Havdalah: to appreciate the spiritual gifts in our lives and utilize them to stay inspired- not just during Tishrei but throughout the year ahead. One way to ensure that the inspiration of Tishrei stays with us well beyond Shabbat Bereishit is by finding concrete ways to bring the inspiration with us. Attend one of the many shiurim that are available over the week. Get involved in one of the many shul committees. Attend more events, programs, or minyanim at shul. Let’s utilize the energy of Simchat Torah to illuminate and motivate us in the year ahead