Musar על בראשית 3:14

Since holiness exists only in the Holy Land, we are commanded to "depart from evil," i.e. to destroy all the sites where the Gentiles have worshiped This commandment applies only inside the boundaries of ארץ ישראל. Our sages (Chulin 13b) have alluded to this mystery when they said that Gentiles in the rest of the world are not considered as idol worshipers. This means that idol worshipers who live in the land of Israel which is under the direct rule of G–d serve Him in an inadequate manner, are heretics. This is what is called idol-true worship. The Gentiles who live in the rest of the world – which is under the authority of negative forces, חיצוניות, however – do not reject the authority under which they live. Just as it is a serious sin to destroy even a single stone of the Holy Temple, so it is a great מצוה to destroy – and never to rebuild – an עיר הנדחת, a city within the boundaries of ארץ ישראל the majority of whose inhabitants have turned to idol worship. Its very site has become defiled. Whatever applies to such a city applies to the מסית ומדיח, those that have seduced their fellow-Jews to turn to idol worship. Uprooting such cities or people is equivalent to uprooting the residual pollutant of the original serpent. Just as G–d cursed the serpent immediately (Genesis 3,14) without making any allowances or even asking why the serpent had seduced Eve, so we too have to deal with such phenomena without our customary recourse to finding every possible merit to save the transgressor from judicial execution. The commandment not to love the seducer enjoins us to emulate G–d's conduct in this respect. Since Genesis 3,15, G–d has made the animosity between human beings and serpents a natural phenomenon, something that we need not, or better should not strive to overcome. The false prophet similarly is part of the phenomenon of the pollutant of the serpent rearing its ugly head.

(Bereshith 3:14): "And the L-rd G-d said to the serpent: 'Because you have done this, you are more accursed than all the beasts… On your belly shall you go…" What is the intent of 'On your belly shall you go?' That its "supporters" would be broken and its feet would be cut off and it would have nothing to stand on. And when Israel do not want to support the Torah they give it [(the serpent)] supports and thighs to stand on and prevail." (Thus far, the holy Zohar.)

And we learn also in Pirkei d'R. Eliezer: "Anyone who speaks lashon hara against his friend in secret has no cure, as it is written (Psalms 101:5): 'He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I cut off [forever].' And it is stated elsewhere (Devarim 27:24): 'Cursed be he who smites his neighbor in secret.' Come and see [what happened to] the serpent. Because he spoke lashon hara between the Holy One Blessed be He and Adam and his wife, the Holy One Blessed be He cursed him (Bereshith 3:14): 'And dust shall you eat all the days of your life.'" (That is, just as it is written there "all the days of your life," the intent being that he not be cured even in the days of the Messiah, as stated in Berachoth 12b: "the days of your life" — this world; "all the days of your life" — to include the days of the Messiah" — so, here, he [the speaker of lashon hara] has no cure forever.) And I have seen also in the holy books that if one speaks lashon hara, his sustenance diminishes, like that of a serpent [i.e., "And dust shall you eat, etc."]

How many evils are dependent upon envy?The primeval serpent was envious of Adam and brought death to the world, and concerning him it was decreed. "Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shall you eat" (Gen. 3:14). Likewise see what happened to Cain and to Korah and to Balaam and to Doeg and to Ahithophel and to Gehazi and to Adonijah and to Absalom and to Uzziah, who hankered after that which did not belong to them! It wasn't enough that they were punished in that what they wanted was not given to them, but what was already in their hand was taken from them. From all of these instances, a man ought to learn to separate himself from jealousy and lust. If whatever a man has is not really his, for when tomorrow comes it may vanish, then what good will come to him from something that doesn't belong to him?

The second group consists of those who are begrudging to- wards others and lack the heart to give charity beyond a pittance to satisfy their pride. Yet when it comes to their own enjoyment they eat and drink freely and indulge themselves lightheartedly, making themselves as plump and robust as fatted calves. Concerning this group the Zohar comments (2:245a): These are the people who derive from the side of the snake. The mnemonic for them is the verse, “Whatever moves on its belly” (alluding to the snake; Vayikra 11:42). In other words, whoever has a large, fat belly emanates from the side of the one who was cursed with the words, “You shall move around on your belly” (Bereishis 3:14). Nevertheless, the members of this group have a little merit, even if they only give to satisfy their pride.

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).