Musar sur La Genèse 3:22

The sages also describe G–d as having gathered a little dust from every part of the globe so that wherever man would die, the local earth would not reject his remains since he contained part of it (Rashi Genesis 2,7). Both statements are accurate and point us in the same direction. It is well known that Adam incorporated within him all subsequent generations of mankind, for their very existence was through him. Our sages described all subsequent mankind as being related to Adam either through his head, his eyes, his hair, etc. [In present-day parlance this means that all of our genes were at one time part of the genes of Adam.] Even in death man is not totally severed from his connection with original man: the earth Adam was made of was holy soil, from the site of the earth of the altar mentioned. That piece of earth in turn contained earth from all parts of the globe, seeing that this site is the site from which the whole earth receives its sustenance. Had Adam not sinned he would have lived forever. Since he sinned, however, and was expelled from the garden of Eden because G–d did not want him to eat from the tree of life and live forever, he was bound to die sometime.

ענין כתנות אור שנהפך לעור . Originally, man wore clothing made from "light" i.e. the word Or spelled with the letter א, whereas after the sin G–d had to provide man with clothing made from hide. This teaches the need to refine one's body until one again reaches the spiritual level when one can wear clothing made of אור. One way of qualifying for such garments once more in the future is to accept any afflictions we experience in life with love, to perceive them as acts of G–d designed to help us refine our body. Even death itself is a means of refining the material the body is made of. This is why the Psalmist says: יקר בעיני ה' המותה לחסידיו, "The death of His pious ones is precious to G–d." There is a very interesting comment in the book עמק ברכה page 85 on Genesis 3,22: "What if man were to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat from it and live forever!" G–d's fear of that eventuality was based on His not wanting man to miss his chance at rehabilitating himself through death.

The deeper meaning, סוד, of the relationship between צלם and דמות, image and form, is the relationship between soul and body. The attachment of the Essence of G–d, the אין סוף, -to אצילות, the emanation closest to the אין סוף, -is similar to the attachment of our soul to our body. This is a comparison of a general nature, something we described as דרך כלל. The more detailed explanation of this, which I have given in my treatise תולדות אדם, describes the soul נשמה, as something Divine, originating in the upper regions of the Heavens. I have discussed also the sources of our other spiritual forces such as נפש and רוח in that treatise. Generally, we find those three spiritual forces as being mentioned in the Bible, though on rare occasions the Bible also uses two more names for our spiritual forces, חיה and יחידה. In my treatise תולדות אדם I have also discussed the meaning of such verses as ויהי האדם לנפש חיה, "Man became a living creature" (Genesis 2,7), as well as the verse היא היתה לאם כל חי, "She has become the mother of all living human beings" (Genesis 3,20), and הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו, "Here man has become like one of Us" (Genesis 3,22). The last verse alludes to the deeper meaning of the spiritual force called יחידה. In that connection we have also discussed the significance of דמות, the body. We have explained there that G–d created man with seven facets, the head to correspond to the upper three of the emanations כתר, חכמה, בינה, the two arms corresponding to the emanations, חסד, גבורה. The torso corresponds to the emanation תפארת, the "covenant" with the sexual organ draws the torso towards the emanation יסוד, whereas the two thighs corresponds to the emanations נצח, הוד. Man cleaves to his wife (Genesis 2,24) by means of the "covenant" with his sexual organ. The latter function of the body corresponds to the emanation מלכות. In the treatise בית ישראל, which follows the treatise תולדות אדם, I have dealt with the mystique contained in the various names for other parts of the body.

When Abraham told the three angels (men) at the time he invited them to come and rest under the tree, he already wanted to examine them as to their ritual purity. He did not say "rest under a tree," but "rest under THE tree." When Adam sinned, he sinned with the tree of knowledge. That tree brought death into the world. G–d Himself is on record as evicting Adam from the garden of Eden so that he should not be able to eat from the tree of life and thus live forever (Genesis 3,22).

Since the havoc wrought on G–d's creation was due to the original נחש, and that serpent was ערום, sly, or naked, i.e. brazen, Israel descended into the "iron crucible" of Egypt to experience ערום ועריה (Ezekiel 16,7), facing Pharaoh who is described elsewhere as the תנין הגדול, the great sea monster, the serpent being עפר לחמו, having been condemned to subsist on dust (Genesis 3,14). The letters in the name Pharaoh, i.e. פרעה when re-arranged spell העפר "the dust." This is the reason the first miracle Moses performed transformed the staff into a תנין to allude to Pharaoh. In order to cleanse themselves spiritually from the pollutant of the original serpent, Israel had to perform עבודת פרך, hard labour. Since the pollutant of that serpent had kept permeating more and more of the human being, it required potent cleansing measures to eradicate it. Had there not been such a pollutant, man would have lived indefinitely. As it is, the only two means to regain the original state of man are afflictions while he is alive, and the experience of death itself. Exile is one of the manifestations of such afflictions. So we have a progression of afflictions which will culminate in serenity, light, until the original light of creation which has been hidden will be revealed again. Nowadays the world is desolate, due to the sin caused by the נחש, i.e. our sins. Physical death is described in Genesis as טוב מאד, very good according to Rabbi Meir (Genesis 1,31). This is because it is the catalyst that leads man to repentance and thereby to eternal life and resurrection (Midrash Hagadol).

Reishit Chochmah queries how this is possible, seeing that both Adam and Cain had preceded Reuben in repenting for their respective sins. The answer given there does not satisfy the author, and he says that the difference is simply that Reuben's repentance was "self propelled," i.e. he had not needed to be told by G–d that he had sinned, and would face punishment, as had both Adam and Cain. Bereshit Rabbah 21,6, on Genesis 3,22, "and now man has become like one of Us," comments in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Kahane that G–d opened the gate of repentance for Adam by the use of the word "ועתה." We have other examples where that word introduces the concept of repentance, such as in Deut. 10,12, "and now Israel, what is the Lord your G–d asking of you except, etc."