She Made Him Good

Not just an ordinary spiritual reflective thought, but also possessing great wisdom & rather philosophical, contemplative & slightly metaphorical/abstract logical, deductive reasoning!

I love this it rings so amazingly true!

sorry Elina- didn't know that you were talking about souls in your second paragraph. my bad, my apology.

Adam- the source is " Forces in Creation " - a Chasidic Discourse by Rabbi Shalom DovBer Schneerson of Lubavitch. As you point out, context is often a key issue. If you read this short book, please let me know where i missed the meaning. The message is repeated several times, and consistently gives women/malchut/ 'extra binah ' the loftier level. That is what he maintains. i am not saying that makes him right. it works for me. it doesn't have to work for everybody.

in any event, i like to learn and i learn best from my errors. sexism is always a highly contentious issue. it is not a big issue for me, but it is very interesting to discuss. By discussion i don't mean winners and losers. those discussions only have losers. by discussion i mean sharing,learning and growth which is only possible through respect.

What are you all talking about?
In spiritual world we don't have male and female. Torah talking about Souls and Light. That it. God created desires and nothing else. Now, what do we have to do with those desires? Only one thing - direct those desires to the God.
Female is represented desires, male is intention. Put together - Correction.
In the beginning Chassidus (Ball Shem Tove) were just Kabbalah and hothing else. What we have now....But I stil believe each Soul will have to come back to own original root. We don't have another way except open books and study.

You surely don't expect us to believe that that holy rabbi was sexist!

I'd certainly love to see the source. (And I'm sure that context is very important too...)

You are right. G-d says " very good " at the end of the sixth day and does not single out woman.
The sexist part comes form The 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe Shalom DovBer Schneerson. It's Chssidus/kabbalistic.. If you want I will look up the source which is extensive, not just a one liner. I guess that my introduction into Chabad left me puzzled about the ' seemingly ' second class nature of women : separate prayer area, not called to Torah, not a part of minyan, no shaking hands, etc. It is the Rebbe DovBer description where I finally got 'my' answer. Now, I have just today read Rabbi Tzvi's popt " Two is One ". From this excellent titration, equality of man and woman is described. For me, It " evens up " the debate. All I can say now is that these opinions depend on context. Both commentaries hold truth given their context. This is not a cop out on my part. Rather, it is a better understanding than what I had about men and women. It makes Elina's message more palatable to me.

What is the source for this assertion in Genesis? Where does G-d say "very good" only after the creation of woman?

P.S. Thanks Anonymous from Winnipeg for the sexist comment.

My insignificant interpretation is that women are the creation part of procreation. Men are donors. Creation trumps donation in G-d's eyes. No put down intended, only an opinion about the level of 'good' versus 'very good'.

In The Spiritual World, Men’s And Women’s Souls Connect Like A Husband And Wife In This World
Men are less dependent on women and less attached to them. This is Eve’s “condemnation following the sin,” which says: “Your yearning shall be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

It seems man is a metaphor for G-d, "And G-d created man in His image". Just as light was concealed in darkness, woman was concealed in man. When G-d said, "Let there be light," was it at this point the Shechinah (the feminine aspect of G-d) was manifested?