The most popular reason why man is called Adam is because man comes from the “adama” – the ground. However, there are other various names that Adam is called by; some are Ish, Enosh and Gevar. Why is it that “Adam” was the name chosen to represent man? We just finished a month long of holidays and the one underlying theme throughout the month – or I should say two months – is teshuva – repentance. During this period, we pound our hearts and we recite the thirteen attributes of G-d. As we said in our High Holidays issue, G-d guarantees us that if nothing else works, that if no other method of prayer is accepted, the thirteen attributes will go through. What is it about this particular prayer that has that kind of ability? The philosophy behind the recitation is we have to strive to be like G-d, and by reciting His attributes, we affirm our commitment to work on ourselves to have just the right measurement of kindness, mercifulness, temperament, etc. This is the reason why “Adam”, represents man the best. We learn in the prophets “Adameh Le Elyon”, which means we shall be similar to G-d. This is man’s mission in life. So our goal is to be like G-d, Adameh. |
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