La Genèse 2:17 Cabale : Sha'arei Kedusha, Sha'ar HaPesukim & Chesed LeAvraham

Know that when the first man sinned by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, both his body and soul took on a composition of good and evil. This is the matter of “the contamination of the serpent,”⁸Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 146a and elsewhere. that was instilled in Eve and Adam. This dross brought about illness, disease and death, both spiritually and physically. This is the meaning of the verse,⁹Genesis 2:17 “For on the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die” – meaning the death of the soul, as well as the death of the body.¹⁰The literal translation of the verse is, “Die, you shall die,” that is, both physical and spiritual death.

From then on, they only made use of the methods of ascending to the world of Action-Asiyah, and nothing more. However, because Action-Asiyah is the lowest of the four world, and additionally, because the angels of the world of Action-Asiyah themselves are composed of a majority of evil with a minority of good, and moreover, because the good and evil in them greatly adhere to each other, therefore there is no Godly comprehension and grasp in the world of Action-Asiyah, being that it is impossible to only grasp the good in it. Therefore, whatever grasp there is, is an admixture of good and evil, truth and false.⁹⁰⁴[The following passage from the Zohar, which is included as a note in this section, appears to either be an addition from an alternate manuscript, or added by the Chida]: This is similarly stated in Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 66 (97a), as follows: Rabbi Shimon said, “Woe to those people who set aside engagement in the study of the Torah, about which it states (Genesis 3:22), ‘And he shall take also of the Tree of Life,’ and engagement in the mitzvot, which are the fruit of the tree, about which it states (Gen. 3:22 ibid.), ‘and he shall eat and live forever.’ Woe to those who instead follow after those who entice them, who are from the side of the primordial snake (Nachash HaKadmoni). They entice them, telling them, “Come and learn how to command the angels who rule over the stars and the sun and the moon, and those who are appointed over the evil spirits and demons, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” It is about such people that it states (See Deuteronomy 17:3; Kings II 23:5; Jeremiah 44), “So says HaShem-יהו״ה to those who sacrifice and offer incense to the stars and constellations, to the sun and moon, and to all the hosts of the heavens; something that I never commanded.” The engagement in such matters is forbidden by the Holy One, blessed is He, as He commanded Adam (Genesis 2:17), “But as for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it etc.” Yeshu the wicked one, made use of this knowledge, and the same is so of the generation of Enosh, the generation of the flood, and the generation of the dispersion. The Holy One, blessed is He, uprooted them all from this world and from the coming world, as it states (Genesis 2:17), “On the day that you eat of it, die you shall surely die (Mot Tamut-מות תמות).” That is, “you shall die” (Mot-מות) in this world and “you shall surely die” (Tamut-תמות) in the coming world. This sin of making use of the holy names to command angels and demons is what brought about the destruction of the first Holy Temple and the exile of the Jewish people among the nations of the world, through which many were killed. For, each man sacrificed and offered incense to angels and demons, and drew the powers of impurity upon themselves. When the prophets would come and chastise them, the verse (Kings II 17:13-14) attests that they did not listen to the voice of the prophets and the seers. How would the prophet chastise them? He would tell them, “Repent and do Teshuvah, and if not, there will be the fulfillment of the verse (Deuteronomy 11:17), ‘He will restrain the heaven so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce, and you will be swiftly banished from the goodly Land that HaShem-יהו״ה gives you.’” They, however, made light of the words of the prophet, and ridiculed him, saying, “We need not be concerned with your words, as we will command the angels who are appointed over the rain, and we will force them to bring forth the rain.” However, because of them, the Holy One, blessed is He, exchanged His appointed angels in their tasks, and they were instead killed and the Holy Temple was destroyed because of them, and it is because of them that the Jewish people were exiled. This was the sin of Adam, through which the snake caused death to him and his wife. He enticed them with that tree, as written (Genesis 3:5), “God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God etc.” For this reason, the Holy One, blessed is He, commands man and tells him to contemplate that which is permitted to be contemplated, but not engage in hidden matters (See Deuteronomy 29:28).

(From someone else:) Our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the land that it should bring out fruit trees that make fruit, such that its tree [wood] and its fruit be the same [edible], but the land transgressed His command, may He be blessed, and brought out trees that make fruit, so that its tree and its fruit were not the same. But behold, its thought about this was for the good of Adam the first man, so that he should not err later in understanding His command, may He be blessed, when He said to him, But from the Tree […] you shall not eat from it (Genesis 2:17). And behold, the tree and the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge were the same. So Adam could have erred and said, “I was commanded about the tree and not about its fruit, and I only ate from its fruit.” And that was exactly the deceit of the snake, when it stated, Now the serpent was more cunning, etc. and it said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1). Meaning from the tree was forbidden, but not from the fruit. But Eve answered him that also from the fruit was forbidden. And that is its saying, It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden (Genesis 3:3). But afterward, she went back and conceded to the words of the snake, [as demonstrated] by its saying, And the woman saw that the tree was good, etc. (Genesis 3:6). Meaning, if she had seen that the wood of the [Tree of] Knowledge was not good for food, but rather [only] its fruit, she would have said, “If so, when the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded us, But from the Tree of Knowledge, you shall not eat from it, His intention was not about the tree itself, since it is inedible. Indeed, the understanding of His words is that they not eat its actual fruit.” However, now that she saw that the tree itself was good for food, she then said, “If so, when God, may He be blessed, commanded us, But from the Tree of Knowledge, you shall not eat from it, it was about the tree itself that He commanded us, and not about the fruit.” Then, she took from its fruit and ate. For she thought they were not commanded about the fruit, but about the tree, since it was also edible, as its tree and its fruit were the same. And that is why it began [this verse] by saying, that the tree was good for eating, and it did not mention the fruit. But afterward, with the eating, the fruit is mentioned, not the tree. And that is why the land brought out a tree that makes fruit, and not a fruit tree, to indicate to Adam that the intention of His saying, But from the Tree of Knowledge, you shall not eat from it, was about the fruit. (To here is from someone else.)