Chasidut על בראשית 5:5
Kedushat Levi
He (serpent) said to the woman; ‘although G’d has said you must not eat from any of the trees, etc;’ lest you die.” ….The serpent said: “you will surely not die, etc.”'.
Furthermore, it is clear from what follows that Adam and his wife did not die on the day they ate from the tree of knowledge. In fact Adam lived for close to 1000 years! (Genesis 5,5). Our sages have already had difficulty in reconciling these two verses.
In order to understand the whole episode, we must first of all understand what wiles the serpent used in order to seduce the woman. How could the serpent, a mere creature, persuade a human being to defy the law of its Creator? We must understand the serpent’s argument as follows: the serpent made it clear that it was aware that everything in this universe was created by G’d through a directive issued by word of mouth as when He said: “let there be light.” The continued existence of the universe is dependent every second since it began, and continues to depend on this original light created by G’d through His first directive. It follows that the tree of knowledge which also came into being by Divine command could not possibly be a source of harm and even death, seeing it too had been created subsequent to the original life-giving force in the universe, the light created on the first day. The serpent therefore argued that it follows that when G’d issued instructions not to eat from the trees in the garden, the reason for this command could not have been that it was a source of death for anyone eating from its fruit. Since this was so, why should man listen to a latter command, instead of to His initial command, as a result of which they had become living human beings!
This, however, was part of the perverted logic employed by the serpent. The truth of the matter is that the “root” of the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden goes back to a period preceding creation of the physical universe and the “falling off” of 288 “sparks” from the Shechinah into the world of the קליפות, regions polluted by impurity, i.e. our physical universe.
Furthermore, it is clear from what follows that Adam and his wife did not die on the day they ate from the tree of knowledge. In fact Adam lived for close to 1000 years! (Genesis 5,5). Our sages have already had difficulty in reconciling these two verses.
In order to understand the whole episode, we must first of all understand what wiles the serpent used in order to seduce the woman. How could the serpent, a mere creature, persuade a human being to defy the law of its Creator? We must understand the serpent’s argument as follows: the serpent made it clear that it was aware that everything in this universe was created by G’d through a directive issued by word of mouth as when He said: “let there be light.” The continued existence of the universe is dependent every second since it began, and continues to depend on this original light created by G’d through His first directive. It follows that the tree of knowledge which also came into being by Divine command could not possibly be a source of harm and even death, seeing it too had been created subsequent to the original life-giving force in the universe, the light created on the first day. The serpent therefore argued that it follows that when G’d issued instructions not to eat from the trees in the garden, the reason for this command could not have been that it was a source of death for anyone eating from its fruit. Since this was so, why should man listen to a latter command, instead of to His initial command, as a result of which they had become living human beings!
This, however, was part of the perverted logic employed by the serpent. The truth of the matter is that the “root” of the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden goes back to a period preceding creation of the physical universe and the “falling off” of 288 “sparks” from the Shechinah into the world of the קליפות, regions polluted by impurity, i.e. our physical universe.
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