The Garments Of Adam And Eve

Forget fig leaves – the story is far more dazzling than that! According to tradition, before the infamous bite of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve weren't just naked, they were clothed – body and soul – in garments of pure light!

Imagine that: radiating beings, draped in divine luminescence. Some say these original garments were woven from clouds of glory, shimmering and ethereal. Others describe them as being made of holy, luminous letters given to them by God, shining like a torch, broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. Can you picture it?

But then, everything changed. They ate from the Tree of Knowledge, and poof, the garments of light vanished. Genesis 3:21 tells us, "And the Lord God made garments of skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them." But what were these garments of skin?

The sages debate. Some say they were created in the twilight of the sixth day, right before the first Sabbath. According to some traditions, these weren't just any skins. They were smooth as a fingernail, beautiful as a jewel, almost horn-like in substance! Others suggest goatskin or camel's wool. And then there's the rather unsettling idea that they were made from the very serpent who tempted them!

What happened to these garments after the expulsion? This is where the story gets really interesting. Adam supposedly passed them down to Seth, then to Methuselah, and finally to Noah, who brought them on the ark. After the flood, they ended up with Ham (or, according to some accounts, were stolen by Nimrod).

Now, Nimrod wearing Adam's garments? That's a potent image. Midrash Tanhuma says when Nimrod wore them, he looked just like Adam, and all the creatures bowed down to him, mistaking him for their king!

Eventually, these powerful garments ended up with Esau after he defeated Nimrod. And yes, these were the clothes Jacob wore when he tricked his father, Isaac, to receive the blessing meant for his brother. Genesis 27:15 tells us, "Rebecca then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on." The Targum Pseudo-Yonathan confirms that it was Adam's garments that Rebecca gave to Jacob. Isaac smelled the scent of those garments – the scent of Eden, perhaps – and bestowed the blessing.

But there's more to the story! Remember those garments of light? According to some, Adam and Eve's repentance earned them a new set of those! And in the End of Days, it is said that God will dress the Messiah in a garment of light so radiant that it will shine from one end of the world to the other! As we find in Pesikta de-Rabbi Eliezer, the Jews will bask in its light and say, "Blessed is the hour in which the Messiah was created."

This concept of a "chain midrash," linking generations from Adam to the Messiah, pops up in other traditions too, like the staff of Moses, the book the angel Raziel gave Adam, and the glowing stone called the Tzohar.

Interestingly, the lineage of these garments isn't always consistent. Some accounts, like the one in Midrash Tanhuma, have the garment going to the evil king Nimrod, while others say it went from Noah to Shem to Abraham, who then passed it to Isaac. Sefer ha-Zikhronot even includes the garments of Adam and Eve among the eight things created on the first day of Creation!

How can we reconcile these different versions? Well, as Genesis Rabbah 20:12 points out, the Hebrew word for "light" (or, spelled with an aleph) is very similar to the word for "skin" or "leather" (or, spelled with an ayin). In Genesis 3:21, it's spelled with an ayin, but Rabbi Meir's Torah scroll apparently had it written with an aleph!

The Zohar goes even further, explaining that Adam was initially dressed in garments of light, like the angels. According to Zohar 2:229b, Adam couldn't even enter the Garden without them! It was only after the expulsion that he needed garments of skin.

What does it all mean? Rabbi Tzadok ha-Kohen of Lublin suggests something truly profound: that the sin of Adam and Eve, followed by their repentance, actually elevated them to a higher state than before! The garments of skin were replaced by even more glorious garments of light! As Rabbi Yosef Hayim of Baghdad suggests in Ben Yehoyada, Torah study can even reverse the process, transforming those garments of skin back into garments of light.

So, the next time you read about Adam and Eve, remember: it's not just a story about nakedness and shame. It's a story about divine radiance, lost innocence, and the potential for transformation. It's a story about how even after we stumble, we can still find our way back to the light.

Commentary

Some say that the repentance of Adam and Eve earned a different set of garments for them, garments of light. At the End of Days, God will dress the Messiah in such a garment, which will shine from one end of the world to the other. And the Jews will draw upon its light and say to the Messiah, "Blessed is the hour in which the Messiah was created." This is an example of what might be called a "chain midrash," because it links together the chain of the generations, from Adam until the Messiah. Other similar midrashic traditions are found about the staff of Moses, the book that the angel Raziel is said to have given Adam, and the glowing stone known as the Tzohar. Sometimes there are contradictory lines of descent, as in the case of Adam's garment. According to one account in Midrash Tanhuma, the garment was diverted into the hands of the evil king Nimrod, while in an opposing account, it was transferred from Noah to Shem to Abraham, who passed it down to Isaac. Isaac is said to have given it to Esau, his firstborn, but Esau entrusted it to his mother, Rebecca, when he saw his own wives practiced idolatry. And, as is reported in the biblical account, Rebecca took the beloved garments of her son Esau and gave them to Jacob, at the time he received the stolen blessing. According to Sefer ha-Zikhronot, the garments of Adam and Eve were among eight things created on the first day of Creation. Other sources describe them as being created at twilight on the sixth day of Creation. As is apparent, (here were alternate explanations about the nature of the garments of Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:21 seems to clearly state that they were made of the skins of animals, while in the midrash they are also described as consisting of a hornlike substance. The notion that their original garments were made of light derives from the word or, which when spelled with an aleph means "light," while when spelled with an uyin means "skin" as well as "leather." It is spelled with an ayin in Genesis 3:21, but Genesis Rabbah 20:12 states that in the Torah scroll of Rabbi Meir, the or in the biblical verse was written with an aleph. Zohar 2:229b explains that they were originally garments of light, not of skin, for when Adam was about to enter the Garden of Eden for the first time, God dressed him in garments of light, of the sort used by the angels in paradise. Indeed, the light of Adam's garments was more elevated than their own. Had he not been wearing those garments, Adam could not have entered the garden. And when he was driven out of Eden, he required different garments, so the Lord made garments of skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them (Gen. 3:21). A variant of this myth has Noah's son, Shem, giving the garments to Abraham, who wears them when he takes Isaac to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed. Later they were inherited by Isaac, who gave them to his firstborn son, Esau. These were the garments Jacob put on when he pretended to be Esau in order to receive his father's blessing. Thus when Jacob entered the room, Isaac smelled the fragrance that he had smelled when he was tied upon the altar. Rabbi Tzadok ha-Kohen of Lublin (1823-1900) proposes that the sin of Adam and Eve, followed by their repentance, brought them to a more exalted state than before the sin, symbolized by their receiving new garments, replacing the garments of skin with garments of light. This is a surprising view of the role of sin and repentance in stimulating spiritual growth. Rabbi Yosef Hayim of Baghdad, known as Ben Ish Hai, asserts in Ben Yehoyada that Torah study has the power to reverse the process, changing garments of skins back into garments of ligh t

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