פירוש על בראשית 3:15

ואיבה אשית AND I WILL SET ENMITY — Your sole intention was that Adam should die by eating it first and that you should then take Eve for yourself (Genesis Rabbah 20:5), and you came to speak to Eve first only because women are easily influenced and know how to influence their husbands; therefore “I shall put enmity [between thee and the woman]”.

AND THOU SHALT BRUISE THEIR HEEL. This means man will have an advantage over you [the serpent] in the enmity between him and you for he will bruise your head but you will bruise him only in his heel, with which he will crush your brain.

ואיבה אשית, woman would henceforth be an object of disgust even in her own estimation, as described in the Talmud (Shabbat 152) “although a woman is a vessel full of excrement and her orifice full of blood,” (men run after her as if she was the most desirable creature) This was going to be the relationship between males and females in the future, not only that between Adam and Chavah [who apparently could not bring himself to have intercourse with her for the next 130 years. Ed.]

ואיבה אשית בינך ובין האשה. And l shall place hatred between you and the woman. G'd applied the principle of גואל הדם, a relative avenging a killing who is permitted to kill the slayer without trial. This is so because the serpent's deed brought death to all of Eve's descendants. The nature of the revenge matches what the serpent had done. Humans will strike at the head of the serpents, seeing that the original serpent had initiated man's downfall and the head is the beginning of life, it is the area which is smitten by the angel of death. Whenever it attacks man, the serpent will aim at the heel because man in the end trailed, i.e. followed the advice of the serpent when sinning. The word "heel" may also simply be an allusion to the serpent's having lost its legs, being forced to move on its belly.

ואיבה אשית, you, the serpent, made the woman feel as if you had her best interests at heart, as if you loved her; and as if your advice to her was motivated by love; I, G’d, will turn this love into hostility. בין זרעך ובין זרעה, between your offspring and between her offspring. The hostility between the serpent and the human species will not be an unalterable condition of life, seeing that in the Messianic era this enmity will be resolved and as we know from Isaiah 11,8 in those days an infant will suckle at its mother’s breast next to a snake’s lair without worrying.
הוא ישופך ראש, when he finds you he will smash your head whenever he is able to, whereas ואתה תשופנו עקב, when you slither along the ground on your belly and are unable to harm him higher up, you will bite his heel. The words ישופך and תשופנו describe inflicting of injury and smashing respectively, as we know from Job 9,17 אשר בשערה ישופני, “for he crushes me for a hair.” [with minimal provocation. Ed.] All of these verses are dealt with by the kabbalah, the interpretation of the text along mystical lines.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman: It should be, "There shall be!" But it is since the serpent is actually found among women, as it is found in Bereishit Rabbah, Chapter 98:14 - and also in her sleep, it loves to suckle her milk and does not hurt her - however when she awakens, she runs away from it; and it also runs away, as if he became her enemy. And this is the metaphor, "I will put": After it loved her and was used to being with her, it became her enemy.

ואיבה אשית, “and I will put enmity, etc.” Actually, we do not hate the serpent more than any of the other reptiles and creepers. The verse only hints that the body [the very existence, Ed.] of the serpent was already predestined to harbour within it calamity for man, as we indicated in our commentary on the previous verse. This manifested itself when the serpent seduced Chavah and through her death was decreed on the whole species of mankind. This is the deeper reason of the ongoing enmity between human beings and the serpent. We see in the serpent the cause for our eventual death. This is also alluded to by the fact that on another occasion the Torah called the serpent שרף, a name also applicable to the angel of death who is referred to as the angel שרף, in Isaiah 6,6. Another verse where the serpent is referred to as שרף is in Numbers 21,6 את הנחשים השרפים. The reason the snakes were called by that name was that they were direct descendants of the original serpent about which we read here.
Therefore the verse continues: הוא ישופך ראש ואתה תשופנה עקב, “he will strike your head, and you will strike at the heel.” In this instance the Torah permits man to attack the animal even if it did not pose an immediate threat to him. The word עקב need not be understood literally, but is an allusion to man’s final day, his death. You are already familiar with what we learned in Baba Batra 16 that serpent-Satan and death are merely different sides of the same coin.

Your intention... You might ask: Why was the serpent not concerned that Chavah would eat first, as he gave to her first? The answer is: The way of women is to honor their husbands by giving to them first, so the serpent reasoned that Chavah would do so — and once she sees him die, she will not eat! Alternatively, the serpent thought he would stop her from eating. Another answer: The serpent reasoned that Adam, who was commanded not to eat from the tree, would die. But the woman was not commanded, and would not die even if she ate. For it was to Adam that Hashem said: “But from the Tree of Knowledge... you shall not eat.”

I will put hostility. See Rashi. The serpent assumed that Chavah would offer the fruit to her husband first, and when she saw that he died she would refrain from eating.

ואיבה אשית, “and I will set enmity, etc.” Rashi’s comment, printed in our chumashim as belonging to this verse, although appearing at the end of G-d’s speaking to the serpent, refers to the original intention of the serpent to cause Adam’s death as a result from eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge; the reason it had not tried to seduce Adam, G-d was well aware of, was that it is easier to deceive women, so that the woman was used as the serpent’s tool in seducing Adam. The Torah adds this line in order to show how much the punishment fitted the crime, the ultimate objective of the serpent having been (according to Rashi’s source (B’reshit Rabbah,20,5 ) that it would marry the woman.

הוא ישופך HE WILL BRUISE (or, POUND) THEE— Like (Deuteronomy 9:21), “And I beat in pieces” which Onkelos translates by ושפית “I pounded it.”

ובין זרעך ובין זרעה, not only between Adam and Chavah, but also between their respective male and female offspring.

He shall strike you on the head: First he will try to strike you.

And you would marry Chavah. [Rashi knows this] because “I will put hostility” implies that Hashem was punishing the serpent for loving her.

You may well ask how could the Torah in the same breath as allowing man to avenge himself on the serpent permit it to attack man's heel? What kind of penalty is it for the serpent to be allowed to continue harassing man? The answer is simply that the serpent could have retorted that no one forced Eve to listen to its advice. Our sages (Kidushin 42) have formulated this by asking rhetorically: "When the instructions of the teacher conflict with those of the disciple, whose instructions is one to follow?" If Eve had followed this simple piece of logic there would not have been any unfortunate developments as a result of the serpent's argument. The serpent therefore felt aggrieved that Eve's lack of logic had caused it permanent harm. There is an allusion as to how long this condition of enmity between man and the serpent will continue. As long as man, i.e. Israel, is ראש, deserving of the title "head" by performing G'd's commandments, it will prevail over the tempter called serpent and smash it. On the other hand, when Israel ignores G'd's commandments, the serpent will bite it because Israel has itself become like a heel instead of like a head.

הוא ישופך ראש, “he will strike your head,” seeing that you are crawling on the ground,

ואתה תשופנו עקב AND THOU SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL — As you will have no height (not stand erect) you will be able to bite him only on the heel, but even at that spot you will kill him. The word תשופנו is of the same import as the verb in (Isaiah 40:24). נשף בהם “It bloweth upon them.” When a serpent comes to bite, it blows with a kind of hissing sound. Although the words ישופך and תשופנו have different meanings, since they constitute “a play upon words” by sounding similar, they are both used here.

הוא ישופך ראש, these thoughts crossing man’s mind will reduce the satisfaction he obtains already in the early stages of sexual intercourse, a feeling gradually reinforced when he considers the potential harm he may cause himself by indulging in copulation, diminishing both the qualitative and quantitative enjoyment of it.

And you shall strike him on the heel: In the end, you will also attempt to strike him. But without that, a serpent does not hurt without a "charm" from above.

You will be unable to... We could say that Rashi is answering the question: Hashem cursed man separately. So why is man’s curse mixed here with the serpent’s curse? Rashi answers: It is entirely the serpent’s curse and disgrace, as it conveys that the serpent will be unable to stand upright. But Re’m explains that [Rashi is answering the question:] Why is, “And you [the serpent] shall strike him...” mentioned in the serpent’s curse? It is no curse! [Rashi answers that it conveys, “You will be unable to stand upright.”] And this point cannot be learned from, “On your belly you shall crawl,” since that teaches merely that his legs were cut off — but if he wanted to stand upright, perhaps he could. Thus the Torah says: “You shall strike him on the heel,” [to convey that he cannot stand upright].

ואתה תשופנו עקב, “whereas you will only be able to attack the heel.”

ואתה תשופנו עקב, he who initially derives pleasure from his superiority will eventually cause himself harm at the end of the pleasure cycle.

But, even from there... Rashi is answering the question: It is written, “He shall strike you on the head, and you shall strike him on the heel,” implying that the only difference between man and snake is where they strike. What about the other difference? The man kills the snake but the snake does not kill the man! Therefore Rashi explains, “Even from there you will kill him.” (Re’m) Alternatively, Rashi is answering the question: It is written, “He shall strike you on the head,” i.e., a blow which surely kills. And then it is written, “You shall strike him on the heel,” using the same word. But if the snake strikes the man’s heel, he will not die. Why does the same word connote death here, but not there? Thus Rashi explains, “Even from there you will kill him.”

The form נשיפה is used. Rashi is answering the question: Why does it not say expressly, “You shall bite him (תשכנו)”? (Gur Aryeh) But Re’m explains: ישופך is an expression that connotes crushing [a blow] to the [snake’s] head. However, תשופנו is an expression that connotes the hissing of a snake. Nevertheless, for the sake of eloquence, the Torah often equates words [that sound alike] even though their meanings differ.