Musar על בראשית 3:3

First let me explain a few of the finer nuances in the verses which forbid man to eat from the tree of knowledge. The Torah twice says: ממנו, "from it," ומעץ הדעת טוב ורע לא תאכל ממנו כי ביום אכלך ממנו מות תמות "From the tree of knowledge of good and evil, do not eat from it, for on the day you eat from it you will surely become mortal" (Genesis 2,17). During the conversation between Eve and the serpent, however, the word ממנו occurs only once, i.e. ומפרי העץ אשר בתוך הגן לא תאכלו ממנו ולא תגעו בו פן תמותון, "And from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, the Lord has said 'do not eat from it and do not touch it lest you die'" (Genesis 3,3). Another difficulty in the text is the fact that in the original command by G–d we find the words “2,16) ”עץ…ומעץ הדעת and 2,17), and also the serpent itself refers to "the tree itself" (3,1). Eve, on the other hand, mentioned only a prohibition of the fruit of the tree (3,3). Only afterwards do we read in verse 6 of the conversation between Eve and the serpent: ותרא האשה כי טוב העץ למאכל, "the woman saw that the tree was good for eating." Another difficulty is the fact that surely Eve was an extremely intelligent woman. What could have prompted her to tell the serpent of an additional prohibition, that of touching the tree, when such a prohibition had not been issued by G–d? A further difficulty is that since Eve knew that G–d had not prohibited touching the tree, why did the fact that the serpent pushed her against the tree and she did not die influence her to the extent that she accepted the serpent's argument that just as touching the tree had not proved fatal to her, eating from it would not have fatal consequences either? (compare Bereshit Rabbah 19,3 that the serpent pushed Eve against the tree). How did Eve deduce a prohibition from something that had not been commanded? Yet another difficulty is the wording of the punishment. The Torah quotes G–d as saying to Adam: ארורה האדמה בעבורך, "The Earth will be cursed on your account" (Genesis 3,17). This means that Earth was punished at that time for a former misdemeanour. Why was Earth not punished at the time it failed to produce the kind of trees it had been commanded to produce?

We have another allusion to Jacob in the course of the Torah's report of Eliezer's journey, when the Torah describes Eliezer thanking G–d in that verse with the words: אשר הנחני בדרך אמת, "who has guided me on the path of truth." He referred to the קפיצת הדרך he had experienced i.e. the telescoping of the distance from Kiryat Arba to Charan into a single day's journey. Something similar happened to Jacob on his journey to Charan in Genesis 28,11 (see Rashi). Eliezer told his hosts that if they were prepared to do a חסד and אמת for him all well and good, seeing that Jacob would be destined to "redeem," i.e. justify G–d's having saved Abraham from Nimrod's furnace. This is the deeper meaning of חסד ואמת. When Jacob, whose children were all loyal to the tradition founded by Abraham and Isaac appeared on the scene of history, the whole universe became rejuvenated. Jacob personified the purpose of Creation which is intended to be fully good and to continue indefinitely as symbolized by the tree of life in the center of the garden of Eden. Ishmael, who represented the קליפה, the husk, preceded Isaac; it is in the nature of things for the husk to appear before the fruit, the kernel.