Madreigas haadam ch
1):The issue of the nature of the Tree of Knowledge according to how we
picture it is very difficult to understand. How is possible that Adam the
greatest of G-d’s creation who contained
all the souls of mankind - should
transgress a direct command from G-d on the very same day that he received the
command? This is especially difficult since he knew that the punishment for
disobedience would be death – this is something that none of us – with our poor
intellects would even think of doing. Even according to the view of the Rambam
that the basis of the sin was a mistake – this requires clarification – How could
he come to making such an error since before the Sin his mind was purely
rational without any material influence – so how could he make an intellectual
error? If you accept that this created nature made it impossiblr to err
regarding good and evil but only regarding truth and lies, what was he supposed
to do if in fact the error was about truth? Furthermore how did the sepent
mislead Eve what was her error? It is inconceivable that she believed the
sepent’s assertion that she would not die more than G-d Who said she would die?
What was her response to the serpent saying that they might die when in fact He
said they would certainly die?
Knowledge of evil is of
two types. The first type does not arouse lust and desire while the second type
does. For example I might know that taking
a certain drug is extremely pleasurable such as smoking opium.
Scientists say that immediately after
placing opium in one’s mouth
there is a feeling of detachment from the physical and the appearance of
many diverse and wonderful images each new one more pleasant than the previous
pass before his eyes. Within the context of these dreams and vision’s, this
kiss of death he passes entirely from the world. Nevertheless even though we know how pleasant the experience is it
doesn’t arouse in us a lust or desire because we know also how harmful
Adam before the Sin was
entirely rational intellect without any influence from desire or emotions. Thus
his physical, material side had no influence whether for good or bad. He was
fully aware of the bad and yet he only did what was good. His mind was like
that of an angel, while his physical being was like an external garment. This
expessed by the verse in Job 10:11): You clothed me with skin and flesh. Just
as we are not ashamed of our clothing to the point that we would change them
for others that is how his body was perceived by Adam.. That is why it says
they were naked but not embarrassed. There was only a single difference between
his and our clothing. His clothing was eternal and never needed changing. There
was only aspect distinguishing him from an actual angel. An angel has
absolutely no free will. He canot do evil even if he wanted because his essence
is doing good. The first man Adam was not that way. Even though his mind
functioned without the slightest influence from his physical nature,
nevertheless he had the option of not being like an angel i.e. he could live a
life of free choice and not the existence of an angel. He had that choice.
Thus his free will was
not like ours - choosing between good and evil or truth vs lies. . Rather he could choose between living as an
angel or like us. And this choice depended on whether he ate from the Tree of
Knowledge. If he wanted to be like an angel without any threat to his
spirituality, he just needed to refrain from eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
Then his conscious awareness would be so strong that there would be no normal
natural urge or desire that could influence him in the slightest. However if he
wanted to live a normal human life of free-will, if he wanted to arouse lust
and desires within himself so that he could do battle with them and defeat them
- all he needed to do was eat from the Tree of Knowledge. That would
immediately arouse desires lusts and inclinations to produce a strong battle
with his intellect. And if his intellect was successful in defeating his lusts
and desires - then he would be elevated to greater heights than he was before. That
is because of the principle – that the reward is according to the effort. Then
he would continue living forever as before eating from the Tree of Knowledge. However
if he was not successful in defeating his natural lusts, and the natural
physical powers ruled over him – then he would be mortal and obviously die.
That is because he would be a natural being -and not a spiritual one -which
does not live forever.
This is what G-d said
to him, “From all the trees in the Garden you May eat except for the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil which you should not eat from because the day you eat from it you
will surely die.”Apparently these words were not made as a command and warning
but rather they were simply advice. In other words, “I am offering you advice
that you shouldn’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge in order that you not arouse natural
lusts within you because I know that if they are aroused within you you will
not be able to overcome them and as a consequence you will die.That is not a
punishment for eating the fruit since the eating is not a sin – but rather
because you will be controlled by your physical nature and not your spiritual
one and a natural being inherently cannot be eternal.”
That is why Eve replied
to the Snake’s question of What did G-d say?” From the Tree in the Garden don’t
eat because you might die”. The inference from “might die” is that in reality
it was possible to eat from it and not die.. Because even after eating from the
Tree of Knowledge it was still possible to defeat the natural lusts and then
not only would the eating not be wrong but it would be beneficial because they
would be elevated to a higher spiritual level than they were before.
That is why the serpent answered her by saying’”You will not
certainly die but rather you will become like G-d knowing Good and Evil”. In
other words “You shouldn’t have any doubts about being able to survive the
challenge’ because you definitely will and then you will become like G-d. And
just as G-d’s knowledge about Evil has not the slightest influence as we see from the Thirteen
Attributes of G-d (Shemos 34:6-7) “a God
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and
faithfulness, faithfulness, extending
kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and
sin; yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents
upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.” Why is this considered praise? The explanation
is that even though the sinner is not absolutely forgiven for his sins,
nevertheless G-d’s knowledge of the sin and His need to punish the sinner does
not influence the attributes of being slow to anger and having abundant
kindness which existed prior to punishing the sinner. That is because for G-d,
the necessity to punish is not a type of anger or concern but is rather just an
intellectual awareness and something required by justice. Therefore the
attributes of Justice and Mercy can exist together for G-d .which is not true
for humans. Because if a man is angry or irritated about someone, he is not
able to contain his anger till a later time like it was prior to the transgression
so that it has no influence at all. This is what the Serpent replied to Eve
that even after eating from the Tree of Knowledge and consequently experiencing
the natural lusts and desires that would result from that she would experience
it merely as a type of awareness. Therefore it would be worth it for her to eat
of the fruit in order to acquire greater levels of spirituality And this is how
the Serpent convinced Eve. It misinformed her by promising her that she would
definitely not fall to a lower level but instead would achieve a higher level
of total control of herself, while in reality this would only happen if she
defeated her natural desires. At the end it became clear that it was a mistake
to think she could easily win the battle with her natural desires. That
realization they finally had made them ashamed.
From this we see clearly that it was not a good idea to eat from the
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Because if nothing had changed what was there
to be embarrassed about? If in fact they could easily vanquish their desires as
if they didn’t exist just as before they transgressed – what was the blemish “Who
told you that you were naked?” But the truth was originally – before the
arousal of lust and desires – their intellect was primary and they had no
reason to be embarrassed. Because their body was merely a type of garment.
However after eating from the fruit when lust was aroused in them which they
couldn’t control – it was only then they felt a need for clothing to cover
themselves to help subdue their lust to some degree and since they are stronger
when naked. This why G-d said “Who told you that you are naked?”Did you eat
from the Tree which I told you not to eat from? Didn’t I tell you don’t test
yourself. And you say it is not a problem. Consequently your defeat in your
battle with nature and that now you are ruled by your natural lusts and desires,
cursed is the ground… because you are dirt and you will return to dirt” and
thus death was decreed for them
the ocr has mistakes
הנה עניז עין הדעת, כנוי שסצריר בשכלנו, הוא דבר שקשה םאר להבין, איך הוא נאםת שאדם הראשון, נחיר הנבראים, יציר כפיר של הקב"ה, אשר נו נכללר כל חנשםוח, יעברו על םה שצרח השם בפירוש עוד נאותר חירם שצרחו, נשעה שידע אח עונש המיתה שישיבתו אחרי כן, רבו שאפילו אנחנו לפי קם שכלנו לא היינו עושים כזאת. היעלה על הדעת דבר כזה ~ א l : לפי דעת חדםב"ם ז"ל, שעיקר חהםא חיה דון פוערת, צריכים אנו להבין הדבר, איך בא לידי טעות, םאחד שקודם ח n םא חיה שכל פשוםז בלי שום החפ;ילרת םבעית, אין היה הסערת בשכלו י ואם נניח כמר שאםו שכזציארת בריאותו היה באופן שלא היה יכול לםעדת נעביד חםרב והרע, אולם נעני j חאסח והשקד חיה בו נzקום לפוערת, וחיה שם הטעות כעניז האמת וחשקו, m חיה לד לעשרת סאחד שסעה י כסח חסית הנחש ת חוח רכסה הסעה ארתה 'l רני יעלה על הדעת שחדה האמינה לדברי הנחש כי לא תםות, יותר םלדברי השם ? םה זה השיבה כששאלה הנחש ~ ,,אף כי אםר אלקים ונד' וספרי העץ וג i ' פן תםדתרן", והלא הברוא אסר להם שדואי יםדתד י
ידיעת הרע סתחלקת לשני חלקים : הא'( היא ידיעה שאינה םערררח וצדן ותשוקה. רחב'( ידיעה שסעודות רצון ותשוקה. דרך משל : אבר יודעים, כי שתיית סם פלוני הדא דנו סתרק בזאר, ויש סםים כאלו כסר עשיך חארםיוס, שחרא נחשב לדבר היותר נעים שבעולם. חכמי הבזבע אוסרים, כי םעשני חארפיד c סיד שלוקחים הםקסות לתוך פיהם חם סרנישים חתפשסרת הגשסיות, חסונות שדנות וםשו u ת כל אחת יותר בעיסה כחברתה, עוכרות כנד עיניחס. וכתוך חלומות ררז'ות כאלו, בםיתת נשיקה כזר הם נפפורים סן העולם לכסדי. ובכל זאת, אף שיודעים אנו את פחיקות חסם הזח, אין הידיעה הזאת סעודות אצלנו שום רצון וחשוקה, יע i ני חכרת תשכל בנזקו
ידיעת הרע סתחלקת לשני חלקים : הא'( היא ידיעה שאינה םערררח וצדן ותשוקה. רחב'( ידיעה שסעודות רצון ותשוקה. דרך משל : אבר יודעים, כי שתיית סם פלוני הדא דנו סתרק בזאר, ויש סםים כאלו כסר עשיך חארםיוס, שחרא נחשב לדבר היותר נעים שבעולם. חכמי הבזבע אוסרים, כי םעשני חארפיד c סיד שלוקחים הםקסות לתוך פיהם חם סרנישים חתפשסרת הגשסיות, חסונות שדנות וםשו u ת כל אחת יותר בעיסה כחברתה, עוכרות כנד עיניחס. וכתוך חלומות ררז'ות כאלו, בםיתת נשיקה כזר הם נפפורים סן העולם לכסדי. ובכל זאת, אף שיודעים אנו את פחיקות חסם הזח, אין הידיעה הזאת סעודות אצלנו שום רצון וחשוקה, יע i ני חכרת תשכל בנזקו
