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Why was it not good for Adam to be alone? And why was it that he needed a ezer kenegdo?
Genesis 2:18 (Mechon Mamre) יח וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, לֹא-טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ; אֶעֱשֶׂה-לּוֹ עֵזֶר, כְּנֶגְדּוֹ - And YHVH Elohim said: 'It is not good that (the) man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.'
Rashi points out that uniqueness would lead to misconceptions as to the meaning and purpose of the universe as well as a fundamental misconception of Hashem
And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man is alone; I shall make him a helpmate opposite him."
Rashi
It is not good, etc.: [Gen. Rabbah] Lest they [people] say, “There are two dominions: the Holy One, blessed be He, is alone among the heavenly beings, and He has no mate, and this one [man] among the earthly creatures, has no mate.”
Rav Hirsch shows the meaning as
It does not say: לא טוב לאדם היותולבדו, that it is not good for man to be alone, but לא טוב היות האדם לבדו "this is not good, Man being alone"
that is:
as long as Man stands alone it is altogether not good, the goal of perfection, which the world is to attain through him will never be reached as long as he stands alone. The completion of "good" was not Man but Woman, and it was only brought to mankind and the world by Woman.
...
A task which is too great for one person must be divided, and just for the accomplishment of the whole of Man's mission, Hashem created Woman for Man.
Rabbi Levi translates the term עזר כנגדו into English as
a help meet unto him
which means a help which is appropriate to him
He adds in explaining the idea of עזר כנגדו that
In a similar way, the wife is to take over a part of the obligations which comprise the great task of mankind, and thus make it possible for her husband to accomplish more perfectly the part that is left to him. But this is only possible if the being who is to be an עזר to him is כנגדו not עמו, does not work at what he is doing, but works opposite him. Were the other being a man, he himself would have all the obligations on his shoulders, and he would again need "help". That is why it is אשה, a "feminine" man, who stands, not with him, but next to him, נגדו, who works at another point in the same line, so that each one of them fills a separate position, and they mutually complement each other.
