Number five and it will be our last example for tonight. Of course, I wish we can stay all night and learn many more lessons, but you’ll have to forgive me for ending here. The fifth example of a Torah teaching found in Bereishis, is what a cheit really means. You know, the literature of the outside world is busy today teaching the principle of irresponsibility, of excuses. Nobody is responsible for his misdeeds. They have stories, alibis. It was poverty. It was racism, underprivileged, the government. And the psychiatrists, in their books, have created new excuses now.
So along comes the Torah and says, forget about all that! לְ אָ דָ ם אָ מַ ר ו – And Hashem said to Adam ... because you ate from the tree that I told you to not to eat from ... רֶ ך עֲ בו רָ ה הָאֲ דָ מָה בַ אֲ רו – the earth will be cursed forever because of you ... ְ זֵ עַ ת בֹאכַל לֶחֶם ת ָאַפֶּיך – and only by the sweat of your brow will you eat food (ibid. 3: 17-19).
One Little Sin
Now, Adam didn't live a lifetime of sin. He was a virtuous man. He didn’t murder. He didn't rob anyone. Only that one time he transgressed and ate what was forbidden. One time; one sin, that’s all!
And now, forever and ever, that one time brought upon the world a darkness, a sadness, a curse that would act as a memorial forever and ever until the end of history. If you see Italian men on the street, men with big muscles who are digging holes in the asphalt; they’re laying pipes and there’s sweat pouring from their faces, so we are reminded of the results of cheit. Forever and ever, only with sweat will mankind be able to eat!
A melamed is standing over a class of wild boys trying to maintain order and knock some aleph beis or chumash into their heads. It’s almost impossible; he’s frustrated. But he has to come back tomorrow anyhow because he must feed his family. That's what a cheit really means. It's all because once a person transgressed the word of Hashem. You can call it a sentence, a punishment, whatever word suits you but it's all because once a person transgressed the word of Hashem.
One Very Big Sin
And the lesson is that a sin is not merely an error that can be blamed on something else; it’s not a minor disturbance in a man's life that can be overlooked or ignored. That’s what the literature of the world would want you to think. ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s just a sin.’ There’s no such thing as, “OK, so I ate something I shouldn’t have. What’s the big deal?”
“Oh no,” our Torah says. “A sin is the biggest of deals!” It's like the danger of falling off a roof. Even one fall is too much. You know, you can't say: “Well, I only fell off the roof once.” If a man would smash his head, he wouldn't say, “Oops.” If he broke his spine, he wouldn't say “Oops.”
And a cheit is worse than falling off a roof. It’s an earthquake, a major tragedy in the history of the world.” That's how we understand a sin because our Book says that we don’t look at the ‘smallness’ of the sin, a little act that took perhaps a few seconds to commit. We look at the greatness of the One whose words you are transgressing! Hakadosh Baruch Hu fills the universe with his glory, a greatness that is endless; it stretches into remote space without an end, which means you transgressed a command of One who is infinite and whose words are eternally perfect. Our book tells us that no sin is small, it’s a transgression of the Will of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
