Turns out, even God had that problem.
We all know the story: God creates Adam, the first man, and realizes he's a little lonely. So, naturally, God decides to create him a partner, a helpmate. But the story we usually hear leaves out a rather…uncomfortable first attempt.
According to some fascinating, lesser-known Jewish traditions, the Eve we all know and love wasn't actually the first Eve. Imagine that for a moment. There was someone else.
So, what happened? Well, according to Tree of Souls by Howard Schwartz, God fashioned this first Eve right before Adam's very eyes. Can you picture it? Adam is standing there, watching as God creates this woman from the inside out. Bone by bone, flesh upon flesh, and finally covered with skin. It’s a pretty graphic image, right?
But here's where the story takes a bizarre turn. When God presents this newly formed woman to Adam, instead of joy and companionship, Adam is repulsed! He recoils in disgust and runs away, hiding in the Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden.
Ouch. Talk about a divine backfire.
So, what does God do? Well, apparently, He takes this first Eve away, and that's the last we ever hear of her. Her fate remains a complete mystery. Poof. Gone. Vanished from the narrative. We are left to wonder what became of her. Did she return to the dust from which she was made? Did she wander the earth, a forgotten experiment? The texts are silent.
Then, the story continues as we know it: God puts Adam into a deep sleep. And while he slumbers, God takes a rib (or, according to some interpretations, fashions her from the side of Adam) and creates another woman. This time, when Adam wakes up and sees her, he finds her beautiful. This is the Eve we know.
Why include this earlier version at all? What does this forgotten first attempt at creating a partner for Adam tell us? Perhaps it highlights the difficulty, even for God, of creating true partnership. Maybe it underscores the importance of beauty being more than skin deep – that there needs to be a certain… harmony, a certain resonance, that goes beyond the physical. Or maybe, just maybe, it's a reminder that even the most powerful being can have false starts and that sometimes, you just have to try, try again.
What do you think?