The Great Risk

And said YHWH Elohim, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will make for him a helper [kenegdo].” Genesis 2:18

Kenegdo – Are you ready to talk about risk? Yesterday we learned that there is something incredibly important happening in God’s design of Woman, the ‘ezer kenegdo.

Built into this design is awesome power and responsibility – and terrifying risk! How we unpack what this means requires us to rethink our whole cultural view of the role of women, or at least this particular woman. To do that, we must first step outside the influence of Greek patterns. We have to go back to the beginning – in Hebrew.

Rabbi David Freedman translates the word ezer as “power” or “strength”. He translates kenegdo not as “suitable for him” but as “one equal to him”. But even this is not quite enough. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin provides an essential modification.

The first problem is the strange Hebrew term, “Ezer kenegdo,” the phrase G-d uses to describe the creature He will provide for Adam in order to conquer his being alone. The literal translation is help-opposite. Other translations are “help meet” or “a help to match him” or “compatible helper”; terms which do not fully reflect the inner tension of the concept. Rashi, in explaining the phrase, writes, “if the man is worthy, then his wife will be an ‘ezer’ (a helper), and if he’s unworthy, she’ll be a ‘kenegdo’, (against him, an opposite force).” Despite Rashi’s commentary, a help-opposite is still an unusual term. If it’s not good for Adam to be alone, why doesn’t G-d simply create a ‘helper’ for him, why an ‘opposite’?

The question is the crucial one. Rabbi Shlomo suggests that the answer lies somewhere in the arena of equality. “Husband is not meant to control wife. If he does, he has lost out on discovering his ‘ezer-kenegdo,’ and he will never be able to overcome his social loneliness. We cannot partner with a lesser being whom we subdue! (The phrase “he shall control her” is a punishment and a far cry from the ideal).”

Rabbi Walter Wurzburger notes that The Rav (Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik) “interpreted the verse that Eve was to function as Adam’s eizer kenegdo in the sense that Eve was not simply to function as Adam’s helpmeet, but that she was supposed to help him by being kenegdo, i.e., complementing Adam by offering opposing perspectives. In a similar vein, the Rav invoked the special dignity of women as an explanation for the halakhic rule disqualifying women from serving as witnesses. He compared their status to that of a king, who, according to Jewish law, is disqualified from serving as a witness because it is incompatible with royal dignity to be subjected to cross-examination.”

Comments like these certainly help dispel the common Christian belief that rabbinic views of women are degrading. If rabbinic thought considers the ‘ezer kenegdo equivalent to royalty, then a lot of our thinking about the biblical perspective on women must change. This perspective is in keeping with the woman’s position in the creation narrative. As the fulfillment of the created order, she holds a very special place. In fact, rabbinic thought suggests that Havvah is the first truly human being. Why do the rabbis interpret the Genesis account in this way? Because Adam is the creation of God’s breath animating the ‘adamah, the ground. But Havvah is the direct result of God’s construction from human material. She is “birthed” from a human being, not from the ground. She is the first, she is royalty and she is the helper-opposite.

There is something really important going on in this text. If you thought your ideas about the status, role and function of women were based in Scripture, but you didn’t know anything about the ‘ezer kenegdo, then maybe it’s time to look a little deeper. Maybe you need to put your assumptions aside and read what the text really says.

Tomorrow we will have to dig even deeper.

Topical Index: ‘ezer kenegdo, corresponding to, woman, Genesis 2:18

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