The First Family (a Midrash)

...They sat down, of one accord, in the grass at the top of the hill...

...He'd just have to plant the Field of the Long Shadows tomorrow...

...She had been hoping that the children would ask...

...We will live for all the generations of the world through our children...

...We must talk," said Adam...

...With a quick flurry, she turned over and faced him, and he saw her eyes, wide and frightened and lost in the dark...

...When they cry, it is your tears they weep...

...I have seen you stand and stare at the night sky with your hands cupped (as if to grasp the bright jewels that gleam in the dark) the way you once held the twinkling jewels of the Garden and then ran them through your fingers...

...It was good this telling, good for the boys whose eyes grew wider and bigger with every word, good for the father whose eyes grew faraway as he spoke, good for the mother whose eyes grew misty as she spoke, good for sharing...

...and he looked at her and shook his head, and he laughed a big deep guffaw from the depths of his heart...

...She lowered her eyes then, embarrassed, but he took his same hand and cupped it under her chin, raising it until she was forced to look at him once more...

...God is indeed merciful beyond belief, filled with lovingkindness and with pity...

...We'll tell you the rest another night...

...The boys are outside...

...There are silvered olive trees, vivid pomegranate trees, graceful palm trees, majestic cedars, almond trees, fig trees, cinnamon trees, and many, many others...

...Goodnight, my children," said Eve, "I love you so," and she leaned down to give each of them a hug...

...Eve," said Adam gently...

...She trailed off, watching him anxiously, and Adam realized that she was waiting for him to agree with her decision...

...His two sons, Cain and Abel, were wrestling noisily with one another, and first Cain, then Abel got a mouthful of dust for breakfast as the other temporarily triumphed, victor becoming vanquished and then victor again all within a matter of moments...

...And, reassured, ending some vague, nameless fear, they closed their eyes...

...Eve," he said again softly, and as her eyes watched, he lightly stretched a hand to her cheek and brushed away a tear with a tender knuckle...

...Abel said, "z-----p," and imitated his mother's accompanying gesture...

...What you have just spoken I think I have known in my heart from the day they were born...

...I have been turning some things over and over in my mind for a long time now...

...She took a deep breath and began: "The tree of life is indeed a wondrous tree...

...Let's take a walk," said Adam...

...Its time you were asleep...

...She was silent, waiting...

...Yes, I sent them to play there so they wouldn't disturb you...

...Goodnight," she said and she stood up...

...he teased...

...let you sleep," she said...

...Mama is crying because—well, for many reasons," said Adam...

...Oh, Adam...

...What...

...Children, it's practically indescribable, but I'll try...

...Oh, well...

...But we did err, and yet we were forgiven...

...She nodded, and closed her eyes obediently...

...Her sobbing eased, and she lay still in his arms, an occasional shuddering sigh rocking through her...

...We must raise these children of ours to reflect God in mercy, pity, and lovingkindness, to be responsible and humane, Godfearing and righteous, sensitive and thoughtful...

...That's right, " said Adam, smiling, and Eve continued: All the trees of the world grow there at once, so that wherever you walk there is a canopy of green leaves and bright blossoms above your head...

...I know it wasn't right, but you were soundly asleep and after last night...

...Exhausted, she was soon asleep...

...Let's go outside," said Adam softly...

...We have much work to do," Eve said solemnly but eagerly...

...Sweet dreams," and he kissed his children...

...Are they not now as innocent and pure as we once were...

...And I have seen you gaze at a budding sapling with awe, marveling that this much grace and beauty were left us...

...Its leaves are deeply lobed, wide and full with a deep groove in each side...

...she cried...

...She squeezed little Abel's hand and began: "The Garden of Eden is the most beautiful place on earth...

...Well, we have children...

...Then his deep gruff laugh was joined by a lighter, bubblier laugh, and they knew Mama was laughing too...

...They're a great blessing from God," and they stood there, enjoying their children, for some minutes in the opening in the sun...

...From us, from me and from you...

...Eve said wistfully, "They're like we were in the Garden, before we tasted the fruit...

...The way they romp and play, the way they look at the fields and the grass and the sheep and the trees and the flowers, their wide eyes shining, their breath quickening—the world for them is new and full of delight...

...TTieir parents watched them with joy...

...It is not a beautiful tree...

...And it sings...

...Had we not sinned, our innocence and delight in the beauty and life of the world around us would have been endless...

...His heart was touched, and he laid his hand on the back which made another wall between him and the sound of her crying...

...Shhhh," he said comfortingly, and he took both of her hands and held them in his...

...Hand in hand, husband and wife strolled around behind their home and mounted a little hill, so that the fields, newly plowed, and the sleeping sheep on the grass stretched before them, the little tent standing behind them...

...He quickly slipped into his garments of leopard skin (Eve had laid them on the bed in readiness for him), and then he joined her at the opening...

...it has no flowers and its fruit is not especially pleasing to look upon, but oh what a marvelous tree it is----" Her voice trailed off, and a tear trickled down her cheek...

...Yes," agreed Adam, "so tomorrow night we finish the story," and he looked at her and laughed again, and she laughed with him, until the night resounded with their joy...

...So innocent, so unknowing, so____" She stopped, at a loss for just the word she needed...

...Be at peace," he murmured...

...Adam reached over and clasped hands with her...

...and he heard her desperate, heavy breathing...

...But the Garden," she cried in anguish...

...her hands, still clenched against her mouth...

...Goodnight, Daddy, goodnight, Mama," the boys said...

...Beloved, don't grieve so...

...That's better," he said, and he let her hear his love and relief through his voice...

...Yes," her husband agreed, and he put his arm around her waist...

...A bear hug, a bear hug," clamored the boys, and she hugged each of them as hard as she could...

...What a big talker...

...But then why—" "Dear heart, when you long for the Garden, you are forgetting what treasure we have here instead...

...She will be attending Bryn Mawr College in the fall...

...She turned, a fond smile deepening on her face as she looked at him and saw that he was awake...

...Suddenly, Adam laughed...

...As his eyes grew accustomed to the pale moonlight flowing through their tent's open flap, he saw that she was muffling the noise of her sobs by tightly covering her mouth with her hands and burying her head in the layers of soft sheepskin which were their bed...

...The leaves are as green, as fresh, as living as the first true day of spring, the kind when a breeze gathers all the scents and harmonies and sunshine and laughter of that day and plants them in your heart, and you know that it won't be cold and dark anymore, that's what the leaves are Uke...

...her cheeks, streaked with little pearls of water...

...Oh, Adam," she said, and her voice broke on a sob...

...Stretching powerfully, he said, "Thank you, Eve...

...I had a good sleep," but to himself he could not help thinking of the hours of needed toil which had slipped from him...

...His wife stepped back from the tent's opening into the room, and bright sunshine of a day already long started streamed in...

...Eve glanced quickly at her husband, who came and sat down on the sheepskin, then took Cain on his lap, while Eve placed Abel on her lap...

...Yes, do," echoed Cain, "and this time finish the story...

...And where do you think they learned this wonder...

...Tonight, you didn't even give me time to get to the precious stones, the spices, the animals, the birds— and we never have even spoken of the sin and the banishment, not to mention everything in between...

...Yes," said Adam gravely, "and now do you realize the task that is ours...

...Its fruit grows in hard little kernels in clusters close to the branches...

...Come see," and she smiled at him...

...I know, my love, I know," he said...

...And oh, the tree of life," she said, a tremor in her voice...

...You know I love them with all my heart...

...Well," said Eve, "the tree of knowledge is very like a fig tree...

...Eve," he whispered gently...

...In the Garden we would have been immortal...

...Its trunk is as smooth and strong and golden as light, its branches reaching out and widespread...

...What a big talker...

...Go back to sleep now," he said...

...And their laughter—every time I look at them laughing I see you...

...And the blossoms are as white as white can be, and so soft, so delicate, so tiny that what looks like one blossom is really a thousand and when the wind blows the blossoms into your hair, it is as if drops of sunshine glitter there...

...I Hilarie Gaylin is a senior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Maryland where she is co-Editor-in-chief of the literary magazine...

...That night, as Eve tucked the children into their own sheepskin bed, Abel said, "Daddy, Mama, tell us about the Garden again...

...Oh," she said softly, and her face shone...

...Outside, they stood in silence under the stars...

...Are you crying for happiness now, Mama...

...through them we will be alive even after we die...

...You never finish the story...

...The four year old and the three year old were noisy, nude, carefree, dusty, and completely unaware of observation...

...You can just catch glimpses of it through the branches of the trees of knowledge, but what you see is enough to delight your heart...

...You never tell us the end...

...Thus when God took us from the Garden, He blessed us saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply'— have children...

...Her hands pressed against her mouth more tightly, but her sobbing continued...

...Everything was going to be all right...

...I know, I know, as do I," he said...

...They loved to hear Daddy laugh...

...Eve, beloved, they are our immortality...

...The tears continued to slip down her cheeks...

...Now is their time of great discovery and wonder...

...All the trees there blossom and give fruit at the same time all year round, and as soon as you pick a blossom or a fruit, z-----p, another one grows in its place...

...asked Abel, touching a tear on his mother's cheek with a pudgy, curious, caring little boy's finger...

...He, however, lay awake a long while, staring at the top of the tent and remembering____ Adam woke to the sounds of children laughing and calling and scuffling...

...he asked...

...Tell about the trees in the middle," begged Cain...

...Not tonight," said Adam firmly, lifting both boys, putting them on the bed, and tucking them in...

...I know you grieve for the Garden, as do I. But tell me, do you dislike our sons that much...

...My love, what is done is done...

...When the wind blows, and its leaves rub together, a sound is created so haunting, so enchanting, so joyful that you want to cry for happiness...

...And in the very center of the Garden is a ring of the nine trees of knowledge, and in the very center of this circle is the tree of life...

...And when we look at one another with the swift sweet rush of our hearts, so glad that we are together in this exile, do you think that they do not notice or learn...

...He put his arms around her and held her close...

...Please, Daddy," said Cain, "just a little more...

...Inside the tent, the boys looked at each other and grinned...