The Era of Adam HaRishon

The topic of the Eitz HaDaas, as we imagine it, is very hard to understand. How is it possible that Adam HaRishon, the most perfect of all creatures, handiwork of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, whose soul comprises all future souls, transgressed what Hashem specifically commanded him on the very day he was so commanded [which, Chazal say, was the day he was created], when he was aware of the punishment of death that would overtake him [after the sin of eating]? Even we, with our puny intellect, would never have done that. Can you even imagine such a thing happening?

And even according to the Rambam’s opinion that most of the sin [of eating from the Eitz HaDaas] was really a mistake, we must understand the matter of how he made such a mistake, since before the sin, he was pure intellect, without any effect from the body on it. How could his mind have made such a mistake?

If we accept what he [the Rambam] says, that the reality of Adam’s creation was that he could not err in differentiating between good and bad, but there was room for error in differentiating between truth and falsehood. That was where the mistake was made, in the matter of truth and falsehood. What should Adam HaRishon have done?

With what did the snake seduce Chavah and how did he cause her to err? Can it be that she believed the words of the snake (that they would not die) more than the words of Hashem [that they will die]? What did Chavah answer the snake when it asked, “Is it true that Hashem [forbade you to eat]?” (Bereishis 3:1). She said, “From the fruit of the tree...maybe you will die.” But didn’t Hashem tell them they would definitely die? [Chavah quoted Hashem as saying something He never said.]

Knowing evil is divided into two parts. The first is knowledge of the bad which does not awaken desire; the second is knowledge which does awaken desire. For example: we know that taking certain drugs is [considered] a very sweet experience. Smoking some drugs, like opium, is considered the most pleasant experience in the world. People who understand nature say that as soon as opium smokers take the pipe into their mouth, they feel freed from their body. Various and changing images pass before their eyes, each more pleasant than the other. And from inside such dreams and hallucinations, with this kiss of death, they are gone from the world. Yet, even though we are aware of the sweetness of this drug [and know how enjoyable it is], we have no desire for it. The mind’s understanding of the damage that it does is such deep recognition, that our nature, which craves sweetness, recognizes the loss it causes, despises it, and does not choose to do it at all. There is another type of knowledge [of evil]. We know that desire, jealousy, and the pursuit of honor remove one from the world. Yet, although we are aware of the evil in these things, this knowledge is not strong enough to beat the desire. Knowledge of these evils is purely intellectual; our nature does not recognize that they are bad; just the mind knows.

Adam HaRishon’s mind, before the sin, was unaffected by any influence from the outside, or from his nature or his ko’ach. His desires and nature did not have the power to divert his intellect and block out his recognition of what was good and what was bad. He knew what was evil and recognized it; nevertheless, he only did good. He had the intelligence of an angel, and his body was like a garment he was wearing. As the pasuk says, “You clothe me in skin and flesh” (Iyov 10:11). Just as we are not ashamed of our garments until we need new ones, so, too, Adam and Chavah were not embarrassed to walk around undressed [which was normal for them. They had no need to wear another garment on top of their body.] As the pasuk says, “Man and his wife were both undressed and they were not ashamed” (Bereishis 2:25). [They were not ashamed of being naked, because they were wearing their bodies, so they were perfectly dressed.] The only difference between Adam’s “garment” and ours is that his body was an eternal raiment [he never had to take it off or launder it].

Adam was like an angel in all but one thing. When an angel has had his choice removed from him, if he wanted to do bad, he would not be able to, because he exists only to do good.

Adam HaRishon was not like that. His mind was not affected by any natural desire that would warp his thinking. Nevertheless, he was given the ability to decide not to be an angel anymore. If he wished to live a life of choice rather than the life of an angel [who has no choice], this power was in his hands. His “choice” was not like our choices—that is, between good and evil, between truth and lies. Adam’s choice was between living like an angel and living like a person. And this depended upon whether he ate from the Eitz Hadaas. If he wanted to live like an angel without endangering his spirituality, he had to be careful to not eat from the Eitz HaDaas. As an angel, his intellectual awareness would be so strong that no natural instinct or desire in the world, come what may, would affect him at all [because an angel is not affected by anything] unless he decided to choose a life of choice.

If he wanted to awaken within himself desires and lusts so that he could fight and overcome them [and thereby rise higher than the angels], it would be necessary for him to eat from the Eitz HaDaas. Then, natural traits and inclinations would immediately awaken within him and wage war against his intellect. If he succeeded in this war and conquered his traits and powers and subjugated them to his mind, then he would rise to a level even higher than before eating from the Eitz HaDaas, because the reward a person gets is according to his effort, according to the pain he suffers.

He would be immortal, like he was before eating from the Eitz Hadaas. But if he doesn’t succeed in overcoming his nature, and his natural forces rule over him, then he would necessarily have to die, because he would be a natural being [not an angel], and natural beings cannot live forever, because a body must eventually die. [The body will change; cells will stop replenishing themselves and the body will die.]

This is as Hashem said to him: “Of every tree in the garden you may eat, but from the Eitz HaDaas of good and bad, do not eat from it, for as soon as you eat from it, you shall die” (Bereishis 2:16). It is possible that these words were not said as a command and a warning [not to eat], but rather as advice, meaning to say, “I am giving you some advice, Adam. I am advising you not to eat from the Eitz HaDaas, so that desire and lust will not awaken within you and affect your neshamah, for I know that if they awaken within you, you will not be able to conquer them completely and then you will never get back to being a malach; you will be a human being and you will have to die.” Death will not be a punishment for the sin of eating, for it is very possible that the eating itself was not a sin; rather, it will be because your nature will rule you, and a natural being cannot live forever. All bodies die.

That is why, when the snake asked Chavah, “Is it true that Elokim said, ‘From the fruit of the Eitz HaDaas do not eat?’” (Bereishis 3:1–2)— she was careful to say, “maybe you will die.” The fact was that it was possible they would not die right after eating from the Eitz HaDaas. Had they succeeded in asserting total control over their nature after eating, then eating from the Eitz HaDaas would not have been considered a sin. On the contrary, they would have achieved a much higher level than before [greater than an angel]. That is why the nachash answered her, “You will not die... and you will be like Divine Beings that know good and bad.” That is, do not be afraid that you will not pass this test, because you will certainly succeed, and you will be like G-d. When it comes to the Ribbono shel Olam, He knows about evil but it makes no impression upon Him at all. It does not change Him.

And seemingly, what is going on here? The explanation is as follows: The Ribbono shel Olam does not cleanse the rasha from his sin, the sin is there. Nevertheless, the Ribbono shel Olam’s recognition of the sin and the need He has to exact repayment do not disturb the earlier middah of mercy and kindness, because for the Ribbono shel Olam, so to speak, the need to punish is not due to anger or strictness, but rather to knowledge [that the punishment has to happen; like a surgeon has to cut]. ...

...The Ribbono shel Olam’s intellect and judgment compel this, therefore the middos of judgment and mercy support each other. It is not so with humans. A person who bears a grudge or is angry at someone cannot really control his anger until after some time has passed. Before he manages to contain his anger, it has a profound effect on his thinking process. This is what the snake was saying to Chavah: “Even after eating from the Eitz HaDaas, the natural feelings you will have when you become human by eating from the tree will only be intellectual knowledge. If so, wouldn’t it be worthwhile to eat [from the Eitz Hadaas] in order to reach a higher level than before? [You will know and experience something that is beyond your ken of experience and the knowledge you have now, and you will be greater in the choices you make then than now. Now, you do not have choice; you can only be good. Then, after eating from the Eitz HaDaas, you will know bad, but you will not be bad.”]

This is how the snake conquered Chavah, the way he fooled her: he promised her that they would not fall from their level. On the contrary, they would go up to a higher level, to the level that one arrives at once one conquers one’s middos and tendencies. If this would be true, as the snake said, if Adam really had the possibility to win this war, then he would not have lost anything by eating the fruit. But at the end it became clear that it was not this way; he made a mistake in his calculation. For immediately after he ate from the fruit, “Their eyes opened, and they saw they were naked” (Bereishis 3:7). It then became clear that he should not have eaten from the Eitz HaDaas. Had he been able to really conquer his nature as if it didn’t exist, it would have taken him back to where he was before the sin; so why should they be ashamed and embarrassed? If the awakening of his desires and the awakening of the drives inside him had not darkened his seichel and did not make any shortcoming inside him, why would he say he is naked? There should be no effect on him.

Originally, when the desires and middos were not awakened in him, and the main thing was intellect, he had nothing to be ashamed of because his body was his garment. Only after eating, when his desires awakened and he could not conquer them, did he start to look for clothing to cover himself, to quiet his desires a little, because when he is naked, desire awakens more in him.

This is what Hashem said to Adam: “Who told you that you are naked? Did you eat from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? Did I not tell you not to go into this nisayon? And you said, ‘It’s nothing.’ Since you received a blow in your battle against your nature, and desires and nature have already taken control of you, ‘the ground is cursed because of you, for you are dust and to dust you will return’” (Bereishis 3:19). Then it was decreed upon him to die.