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Misconception: According to thetraditional viewpoint, Chava was creat-ed from one of Adam’s ribs.

Fact: According to the opinion ofRashi and many other medieval com-mentators, “woman” was created fromone side of Adam, not from his rib.

Background: The creation ofwoman is described in Bereishit 2:21-22:“And the Lord God caused man(haAdam) to fall into a deep state ofunconsciousness, and he slept; And Hetook one of his [sides or ribs, ‘tzela’] andclosed up the place where it had beenwith flesh. And the Lord God built thetzela that He had taken from the maninto a woman, and He brought her tothe man.” There are three basic ways tounderstand which part of man was usedto create woman: rib, side or tail. Theexplanation that is least known is foundin the Talmud (Berachot 61a), where itis suggested that Chava was createdfrom Adam’s tail.1

The other two explanations arebased on the translation of the word“tzela.” Shmuel in Bereishit Rabbah(17:6), who is cited by Chizkuni, assertsthat tzela means “rib.”2 If indeed a ribwas used, the logical follow-up questionis, which rib did God take? The typicalperson has twelve ribs on each side;3

Shmuel states that he does not knowwhich rib was taken, but that it was nei-

ther the uppermost nor the lowermost.According to Targum (Pseudo-)Yonatan,God used the thirteenth rib from theright side to create Chava.4 Radal(12:33) on Pirkei D’Rebbe Eliezar citesLikutei Torah that it was the sixth rib.Meam Loez on Bereishit 2:21-22 sug-gests that there are fifteen ribs on eachside, and the thirteenth from the rightside was used to create Chava.

Targum Onkelos translates tzela as“il’ah,” the Aramaic word for rib, found,for example, in Daniel 7:5. Anotherancient targum, Targum Neofiti, alsofavors the rib translation.5 Abarbaneland Rabbi Sa’adiah Gaon (Tzuker ed.,5744, p. 280) suggest that Adam wasinitially created with an extra ribexpressly for the purpose of using it tocreate Chava. The Sdei Chemed cites theSiftei Kohen6 as claiming that animalshave twelve ribs on one side and elevenon the other7 so that they should not bemore complete than man, who had onerib taken from him! The Talmud states(top of Sanhedrin 39a): God was not a“thief” as a consequence of this tzela-snatching because He took only onetzela from Adam and returned a com-plete maidservant to serve him.8 Thisstatement indicates that the rabbisunderstood tzela to mean a “mere” riband not a complete side. Seforno doesnot explicitly state what tzela means,but by stating that God used a smallamount of material, he indicates anacceptance of the “rib” translation.

But there is another way of under-standing the word tzela, based on theMidrash (Bereishit Rabbah 8:1; VayikraRabbah 14:1), the Gemara (Berachot61a) and the Zohar (Bereishit 34b-35a;Shemot 55a; 231a).9 As is known, thereare two narratives detailing the creationof mankind—the first in chapter one ofBereishit, the second in chapter two. Inthe first account, according to somecommentators, it appears that Adamwas not solely a male, but was rather abeing consisting of both male andfemale halves.10 In chapter two, accord-ing to this explanation, this two-sidedhuman was separated into the two gen-ders, and it is this surgical procedurethat is described in the verse.

According to the Zohar, the twotop “yuds” that make up the Hebrew let-ter tzaddi represent this “double-faced”creature originally created by God.Sources debate whether the two beingsfaced the same direction or oppositedirections; this argument forms thebasis of the debate between Rabbi YosefKaro and the Arizal regarding how toproperly write a tzaddi.11

In Bereishit Rabbah (17:6), RabbiShmuel bar Rabbi Nachman under-stands tzela as “side,” and Rashi and IbnEzra (Bereishit 2:21) adopt thisapproach as well.12 Rashi, following inthe footsteps of the Midrash, supportshis claim by pointing out that tzela isused in other places in Tanach to mean“side” as well (Terumah 26:20, 26-27).13

LegalEase

What’s the Truth about...Adam’s Spare Rib?

By Ari Z. Zivotofsky

Rabbi Dr. Zivotofsky is on the faculty of theBrain Science Program at Bar-Ilan Universityin Israel.

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Rambam also accepts “side” as the cor-rect translation (Guide to the Perplexed2:30). Ralbag (Bereishit 2:21) suggeststhat while Adam “slept,” God miracu-lously created a type of “placenta”attached to Adam’s side through whichHe created Chava.

The text seems to support thetranslation as “side” because in thedescription of the creation of woman,there is no mention of a soul beinginfused into Chava’s body. In the initialcreation, (the double-sided) Adam wasfashioned from dirt and God infusedhim with a “living soul” (2:7). Thisomission in the second creation storysuggests that woman was created fromsomething that already contained thebreath of life and that a new infusionwas unnecessary.14 Moreover, in the firstcreation story, the text constantly shifts,using both singular and plural forms inreference to the “man” God created.Furthermore, the story includes a bless-ing to “them” to be fruitful and multi-ply (1:28). Both the use of plural andthe blessing itself would indicate thatthere was a female (half ) in existence atthe time. Also, in the first creation story,the text uses the term “created” whendetailing the making of man(“va’yivrah”) (1:27), while in the secondstory, it uses the term “built” for Chavasince she was not created ex nihilo(“va’yiven”) (2:22). All of the above sup-port the view that Chava was takenfrom Adam’s side, as opposed to his rib.A final proof for this point of view isthat nowhere else in Tanach is tzela usedto mean “rib.” It is instead used exclu-sively to mean side, usually in relationto a building.

Essentially, neither “rib” nor “side”is the sole “correct” translation of tzelain Bereishit 2:21-22. Rather, there areearly sources for both translations. Onthe one hand, Targums Yonatan andOnkelos and an opinion in the Midrashfavor “rib.” On the other hand, Rashi,Ibn Ezra, Rambam, Ralbag and a differ-ent opinion in the Midrash all prefer“side.” Some commentators, such as theRadak (Bereishit 2:21-22) present bothopinions without a preference. The

modern trend has been to follow the“spare rib” tradition; the vast majority ofcontemporary English translations ofthe Chumash translate tzela as rib.15

It would be interesting to knowwhich tradition was more accepted inthe pre-Tannaitic period. But, unfortu-nately, several ancient sources includingthe Septuagint (Bereishit 2:21-22),Josephus (Antiquities I 1:35) andJubilees (3:5),16 do not seem to favor onetranslation over the other. Irrespective ofwhether woman was created from a sideor a rib, she was created from “bone ofmy [Adam’s] bones and flesh of myflesh” (Bereishit 2:23),17 and in thatmanner differed from the rest of thecreatures, over whom Adam was to havedominion. The Midrash (BereishitRabbah 17:8) notes that unlike all otherspecies in which male and female werecreated simultaneously from the sameraw material, Adam was created fromraw material and Chava from Adam,18

in order to maximize their affinity foreach other. The question of whether arib or a side was used is a technicality;what emerges from the creation story isthe equality of the two genders.19

Rabbi Sa’adiah Gaon20 explainsthat the creation of Chava from Adam’stzela was done with wisdom: Becauseshe was created from his rib, Adam willhave mercy on Chava as one of hislimbs, and she will regard him as thesource of her life; he will look after herlike one guards a piece of himself, andshe will follow him the way a limb fol-lows the body.

Indeed, it is a mistake to read thesecond creation story solely as a literal“surgery.” On a deeper level, it depictsthe relationship between man andwoman. In describing the account,Abarbanel states that Chava was not cre-ated from Adam’s foot so that he wouldnot consider her a lowly maidservant,nor from his head so that she wouldlord over him. Rather, she was createdfrom his side so that she would be equalto him.

The Ohr HaChaim sees a messagein the creation of mankind—that eachhuman male and female has a specific,

unique partner that he or she is associat-ed with, unlike animals (2:18, end).Ramban elaborates on this theme(Bereishit 2:24). Following the creationof woman from man’s tzela, from hisflesh and bone, the verse in Bereishitstates that man shall therefore “leave hisfather and his mother and ... cleave tohis wife and be one flesh.” Rashiexplains that this cleaving occurs via off-spring. Ramban, however, rejects Rashi’sunderstanding because cleaving wouldthen apply to animals, yet the versetreats it as a uniquely human experi-ence. Ramban explains that the versemeans that a man should remain with awoman, in contrast to animals whomate and then leave. Finally, it may verywell be that because Chava was createdfrom Adam’s body, the Talmud (Yevamot62b) derives that a man should love hiswife as his own body. �JA

Notes1. The motivation behind this expla-

nation might be that because every otheranimal has a tail, man most likely also hadone originally, which was then taken to cre-ate woman.

2. Interestingly, the popular “rib”interpretation is not mentioned anywherein the Talmud, which discusses the othertwo opinions.

3. The Mishnah states that man haseleven ribs on each side (Oholot 1:8).Melechet Shlomo (on the mishnah) suggeststhat it is possible that the mishnah did notcount the uppermost one. Kehati, citingTiferet Yisrael, says that the twelfth rib is notcounted because it is considered a vertebra.Surprisingly, Rambam—the physician—does not comment on this statement. Y.L.Katzenelsohn, in his classic Ramach Aivarim(chap. 5 in his Talmud und Medizin, 1928,pp. 277-279), says that the first rib is notincluded because it is considered part of thechazeh (sternum). He draws from the rab-binic discussion of the structure of thesebones to prove that the rabbis did not relyon Greek anatomy derived from monkeydissections, but acquired their knowledgefrom their own human dissections.

4. Implying that modern man hastwelve ribs on each side.

5. As does the Christian King JamesBible, published much later.

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6. On page 10b, not 9b, as stated inSdei Chemed. This work is not by the sameauthor as the more famous Siftei Kohen(Shach) on Shulchan Aruch.

7. The Shulchan Aruch (YD 54:1)states that animals have eleven “real” ribscontaining marrow, followed by several oth-ers (three, according to Shach, 54:2) withno marrow. If an animal has extra ribs, it isstill considered kosher (Rema, YD 54:3).

8. A similar account is found inBereishit Rabbah 17:7. Cf., Bereishit Rabbah17:8, where all of the exegeses relate towoman as if she were created from bone,i.e., “rib” of Adam, and not from his side.

9. See related sources cited by RabbiReuven Margolis in Nitzutzei HaZohar, p.231a, n. 8, and in Torah Sheleimah, Sha’areiTzion to Bereishit 2, 257.

10. This is based on Bereishit 1:27:“And God created haAdam in His image, inthe image of God He created him, maleand female He created them,” i.e., one enti-ty that was actually two. The creation ofman is summarized in a third place,Bereishit 5:1-2, and there, too, it appearsthat man and woman were created togeth-er: “This is the book of the chronicles ofman: on the day that God created Adam,

He created him in the image of God. Maleand female He created them and He blessedthem and called their name Adam on theday they were created.”

Chazal were concerned that there beno misunderstanding that the original cre-ation was really two separate beings. Theythus noted that one of the changes miracu-lously made by all seventy-two sages whotranslated the Torah into Greek (Megillah9a; Mesechet Sefer Torah 1:9; Tanchuma,Shemot 22; Yalkut Shemoni, Bereishit 3) wasto write the above verse (Bereishit 5:2) as:“male and female He created him [insteadof them],” (zachar u’nekeivah baro instead ofbarum). See, however, Yerushalmi Megillah1:9, that the change was to “zacharu’nekavav—He created the male and hisopenings.” (This version is found in severalother older sources, such as Bereishit Rabbah8:11, Mesechet Sofrim 1:7 [Higger ed.; thestandard printed edition in 1:8 has the otherversion] and Avot D’Rebbe Natan, version B,chap. 37.)

The notion of a two-sided being isalso found in the legends of other cultures.Plato (428-347 BCE) describes the creationof three different back-to-back creatures,which Zeus split in half and then later per-mitted to re-join by copulation (Symposium189-193). For halachic applications of thetwo-faced Adam, see Ketubot 8a; Shu”tChatam Sofer 7:34 and Rabbi Jacob Reisher,Shevut Yaakov 1:4.

11. See Rabbi Hershel Schachter,MiPninei HaRav (2001), 267.

12. Philo says that a side was specifi-cally used so that the two would be createdas equals (Questions and Answers on Genesis,no. 25).

13. In the verses in Terumah, Onkelostranslates tzela differently than he does inBereshit. In the former, he translates it as“s’tar,” side, and in Bereishit 2:21 as “il’ah,”rib. Tzela is used many other times withregard to the Tabernacle and its utensils,always meaning side (e.g., Vayakhel 36:25,31, 33 [mishkan]; Terumah 25:12, 14;Vayakhel 37:3, 5 [aron] and 36:27 [incensealtar]), and Onkeles almost always translatesit as s’tar (side).

In the other books of the Tanach,tzela is also used to mean the side of abuilding (i.e., a room; Ezekiel 41:5-8) andthe side of a hill (2 Samuel 16:13).

14. Cited in Da’at Mikra, in the nameof the Italian exegete Rabbi YitzchakShmuel Reggio (1784-1855). This alsoimplies that Adam “gave” Chava life the wayGod gave Adam life. Similarly, the use of

the word tzela may be intended to invokethe similar sounding word “tzelem” (image),used several times in the creation of Adam.This is as if to say that just as Adam wascreated in the tzelem of God (Bereishit 1:26-27), so too was Chava created from thetzela(m) of Adam.

15. One notable exception is theArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash, whose edi-tor states in the introduction that wheneverthere’s a debate on how to translate a word,he relied on Rashi. In this case, too, thetranslation follows Rashi and tzela is there-fore translated as side.

16. The Septuagint and Josephus’works, all of which were written in Greek,translate it as “pleura,” a word that can meaneither “rib” or “side.” The term in the Ge’ezversion of Jubilees is “gabo,” a word that alsocan have both meanings. Thanks to Dr.Michael Segal for help with these sources.Strangely, translations of both theSeptuagint and Antiquities that I checkedrender the word as “rib” in English. Dr.Louis Feldman, professor of classics and lit-erature at Yeshiva University, recently toldme that in the vast majority of instances,pleura clearly means side. Thus, unlike whathe originally thought when he wrote hisEnglish translation of Antiquities, he nowleans towards “side” as being the correcttranslation. Similarly, Professor EmeritusMoshe Tzippor, of the Department of Bibleat Bar-Ilan University, originally translatedpleura as “rib” in his recent rendition of theSeptuagint into Hebrew, but has since toldme that he erred and the word should betranslated as “side.”

Philo (Questions on Genesis, 1:25,Marcus ed., 1961, p. 14-15, and LegumAllegoriae 2:19-2:70) uses the same wordpleura, but it is clear from the context thathe means “side.”

17. This could be understood merelyas a metaphoric expression very similar tothat used by Lavan in Bereishit 29:4.However, in this context I think it indicatesboth a closeness, as in the metaphor, as wellas a factual statement that would seem tosupport the “side” translation.

18. The Midrash highlights thisanomaly by suggesting that, indeed, Adam’soriginal “partner,” Lilith, was also createdfrom the ground, but she was not a success-ful shidduch (Aleph Bet d’ben Sira and Zohar,cited in Torah Sheleimah, Bereishit 2, 256).

19. But not the sameness!20. Moshe Tzucker, ed., Perushay Rav

Sa’adiah Gaon to Bereishit (New York,5744), 280.

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