Commento su Genesi 3:17

ארורה האדמה בעבורך CURSED BE THE GROUND FOR THY SAKE — It will produce to you cursed objects such as flies, fleas and ants; it may be compared to the case of one who gets into depraved ways, and people curse the breasts at which he was suckled (Genesis Rabbah 5:9).

כי שמעת לקול אשתך, by attributing to G’d such negative characteristics as lying and jealousy.

ולאדם אמר. And G'd had said to Adam. We need to understand why G'd mentioned Adam's "listening to the voice of his wife;" It would have sufficed to say: "because you ate from the tree, etc.;" Besides, why did the Torah add the word "to the voice?" Could the Torah not simply have said "because you listened to your wife, etc.?" Having in mind that we explained that Adam had not been aware at the time he ate that the fruit he ate was from the tree of knowledge, it would not have been appropriate for the Torah to simply say: "because you ate from the tree, etc." since in fact he did not eat from the tree knowingly but inadvertently. The Torah therefore had to spell out that Adam's sin was accepting the words of his wife without checking them. As a result of his failure to investigate his wife's words more closely, he "ate from the tree." The reason the Torah refers to the "voice" of Adam's wife is to alert us to the fact that Adam was satisfied that it was his wife talking; he did not bother to analyse what she was saying. When she told him: "take and eat," this is what he did. He did not ask where the fruit came from. The Torah alludes once more to Adam's error in not giving Eve precise instructions when it says: "from the tree which I told you not to eat from." Adam had only told Eve not to eat from the fruit of the tree. The lack of adequate information at the time Adam relayed G'd's command to Eve was a major cause of the tragedy.

ולאדם אמר..מן העץ, the words מן העץ must be understood as “from the fruit of the tree.”

Because you listened to your wife, etc.: He did not begin [by] saying, "Because you ate from the tree, etc." Rather, because He did not punish him like He said - "for on the day you eat from it, you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17) - hence God explained to him that if he had eaten contemptuously, it certainly would have been fit to punish him immediately. And this is like the way of Scripture with Nadav and Avihu, "when they came close before the Lord and died" (Leviticus 16:1). Such that it was their coming close before the Lord that caused them to die immediately for their sin, since they brought a strange fire; and it is explained there. If so, also with Adam who was then standing there close in front of the Lord - if he had sinned volitionally, it would have been fit that he would die immediately. Hence God said to him, "Because you listened to your wife, etc." - and that is only inadvertent - your punishment is only that which is required according to your status now.

אשר צויתיך לאמר, ”which I had commanded you to say, etc.” The addition of the word לאמר is a reminder to Adam that he was supposed to also have cautioned the animals against eating from that tree.

Comparable to one who adopts... The text of Rashi should read: “A second explanation: This is comparable to one who adopts evil ways...” [This correction must be made] because the first view holds that the curse was on man, by means of the soil, whereas the analogy conveys that the curse was on the soil, since man was created from it. A question arises: Here Rashi says that the earth was cursed because of [man’s sin], but earlier (1:11) Rashi said that it was because the earth disobeyed Hashem’s command. The answer is: Both sins caused the earth to be cursed. (If for its own sin alone, the earth would be cursed to give one-third of its regular produce. But [the curse of] thorns and thistles were for both their sins.) (Devek Tov)

Adam, dem das Gesetz, das er selbst empfangen, zum Schutze anvertraut worden, hätte seinem Weibe entgegentreten sollen. אדמה ,ארורה האדמה בעבורך, der Menschenboden, die Erde, insofern sie Schauplatz und Bühne des Menschen ist. Was sie an sich, als kosmischer Körper ist, steht hier ganz außer Frage. Weil aber die Oberfläche allerdings für den Menschen geschaffen, so stehen sie in inniger Wechselwirkung zu einander. — בעבור, wörtlich: im Hinübergehen zu einem Zweck, ähnlich בגלל: in Herbeiführung. In den meisten Stellen wird mit בעבור der Zweck, mit בגלל die Ursache, das Mittel angegeben. למען ייטב לי בעבורך וחיתה נפשי בגללך, um deinetwillen, wörtlich: um zu dir zu gelangen, um deine Gunst zu erhalten, wird man mir Gutes tun und in deiner Veranlassung werde ich leben bleiben. Also hier: nicht weil du gesündigt hast, sondern zu deiner Besserung, zu deinem Heile ׳ארורה וגו wird die Erde in ihrer Entwickelung gehemmt, wird sich ferner nicht frei entfalten können um deiner Besserung willen, zu deinem Besten; wird dir nicht mehr lächeln, nicht mehr aus freien Stücken dir ihre Früchte bieten; nur mit Entsagung von vielem wirst du etwas genießen, בעצבון תאכלנה. Den Menschen in diesem עצבון zu üben ist der Zweck des Unsegens, der die Erde trifft. "בכל עצב יהי׳ מותר, in jeder Entsagung liegt Gewinn" ist Prinzip der Erziehung noch heute. Entsagung macht den Menschen frei, kehrt das Bessere, Edlere, Gottzugewandte in ihm heraus, macht ihn unabhängig von der Außenwelt, von dem, was die Erde bietet und versagt, und lässt ihn den eigentlichen Wert seines Selbst in der Pflichttreue gegen Gott, und darin auch zugleich seine nimmer zu trübende Seligkeit finden. In die Schule dieser Entsagung wird der Mensch geführt. Indem jeder Genuß, das "Gute" durch Entsagung, Arbeit und Schmerz erkauft werden muß, so führt ihm schon sein sinnliches Leben immer die Wahrheit vor die Augen, dass nicht immer das Bittere bös und das Gute nicht immer das Süße sei, und diese Vorschule der Entsagung erhebt ihn endlich zu der Meisterschaft des Lebens, die leicht und froh dem sinnlich Süßen um des sittlich Guten willen entsagt. Alle מתנות טובות, das Herrlichste, was Gott uns verleiht, ist nur auf dem Wege der יסורין zu gewinnen, lehren die Weisen.

ארורה האדמה בעבורך, “the earth will henceforth be cursed on your account.” [Seeing that the expression בעבור is usually understood as introducing a positive result, our author wanted to justify its use here. Ed.] He understands the earth being cursed as the result of Adam not having been able to resist his powerful craving to taste the forbidden fruit. He cites the use of the expression עבור as being used in a similar sense when the Israelites for the first time, instead of eating bread that descended from heaven. i.e. manna, eating bread that had originated from earth, something that they had on occasion longed for even in the desert. (Numbers chapter 11 and 21) Compare Joshua 8,11-12 where the Israelites eating normally grown food is described as עבור הארץ, according to our author as something they craved as having grown from the earth. The fact that G–d tells Adam that the earth will bring forth thorns and thistles instead of “bread,” shows that the punishment fits the crime, as thorns and thistles are certainly not what Adam craves in response to his working the soil.

And to Adam he said, "Given that you have eaten from the tree and the evil impulse has entered so greatly into you, there is no protection [from you] besides the knife." As if man was not afraid of death, he would rob, extort, abuse and destroy the world because of the evil impulse. Therefore He penalized him with death; and also [with] exertion, which 'causes iniquity to be forgotten.'

ולאדם, Rabbi Yehudah, son of Rabbi Shimon points out that the word for G-d appears a total of 71 times before this word. This is an allusion to the number of judges that comprise the Jewish Supreme Court, known as Sanhedrin. The verse is a hint that G-d convened the Supreme Court in the celestial regions to decree the death penalty on Adam. If, after making your own count you found that G-d’s name had already appeared 73 times, you must remember that in the expression: בצלם אלוהים or in והייתם כאלוהים, the word ”elohim, is not sacred, as it does not mean “G-d,” but “angel.” Our author had drawn attention to this already in his commentary of Genesis 1,27.

ותאכל מן העץ, thereby rebelling and causing yourself death as you had been warned about. Because you listened and accepted the argument to think of G’d as imperfect, ארורה האדמה, the earth will not continue to put its potential at your disposal without your having to exert yourself by hard labour. Furthermore, also because you rebelled and violated My command,

The ground will be cursed for your sake (beavurkha): The literal meaning of every, "for the sake of (beavur)," is for his good, so that it be like this. And it is like in, "for the sake of your blessing me" (Genesis 27:19). And here too, its literal meaning is, for your good. For after the love of God left you, the best thing before you is that the ground be cursed, and you come to, "with toil you shall eat from it" - with labor and with much work.

ארורה האדמה, the earth would be deprived pf part of its goodness. It would not respond to Adam’s efforts to cultivate it in full measure, i.e. many of the seeds he would plant would fail to germinate and grow. Bereshit Rabbah,20,8, quoted by Rashi, writes that instead of producing useful plants, the earth would henceforth also produce weeds and harmful plants. Not only that, but that these plants would germinate certain parasites.

The reason G'd cursed both the earth and Eve but not Adam is due to the earth's failure on the third day of creation to produce trees exactly as G'd had commanded. Had the earth produced only trees whose trunk were edible, or only trees whose trunks were not edible, Eve could not have made the error she made. It was only because the tree of knowledge was different in this respect that made Adam's failure to warn her not to eat from this tree result in tragic consequences. G'd therefore cursed the earth as the cause of all that had happened. Since G'd expelled Adam from the garden and made him toil the unresponsive earth, Adam was punished for having accepted his wife's urgings without checking. He had greedily indulged his desire, and as a result he would forever more remain in a state of sadness that he could not earn his livelihood without hard work. He would now eat grass of the field in lieu of the fruit of the trees of the garden for which he did not have to toil. In future when he would have to labour to secure his food supply he would know exactly where it came from.

And that blessing that He blessed them on the sixth day, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28), was after they were corrupted, such that reproduction was necessary. Know [that it is so], as it is written [there], "fill the earth and subdue it." And if it was before they were corrupted, He should have said, "fill the Garden," since that is where they resided before [this]. Rather that blessing was after they were corrupted, but it was written with the creation [earlier nevertheless].

ולאדם אמר, ”and to Adam He had said:” B’reshit Rabbah, 20,3 in commenting on the words: “and He had said to Man,” writes that of all creatures only three perform sexual union while facing one another’s face; they are: the human beings, the snake and the fish. They enjoy this distinction because in the Holy Scriptures we read that each of these species had been spoken to by G-d, directly. Man had been addressed by G-d in our chapter. The snake had been addressed by G-d also in our chapter. The fish that had swallowed and spat outJonah had also been addressed by G-d directly, as we read in Jonah: 2,11.

All the days of your life: That you should not think that there only be a need for the working of the land the first time. About this, He said, "all the days of your life." And all of this is for man's good, that he should not go away from the paths of God. And it is like they said (Avot 2:2), "Toil in both of them causes iniquity to be forgotten." And it is like I wrote in Parashat Shelach on the verse, "the Land is very very good" (Numbers 14:7), see there.

בעצבון תאכלנה, you will have to work the soil until you will be able, finally, to eat its produce, whereas up until now you did not have to toil in order to assure yourself of your food supply. All you had to do was to pluck the fruit from the trees in Gan Eden. When the Torah had spoken of Adam’s task in Gan Eden being לעבדה ולשמרה, (2,15) the amount of physical work required to attend to that task was minimal. Now he would have to work intensively, as illustrated by the metaphor “you will eat your bread in the sweat of your brow” (3,19).

כי שמעת לקול אשתך, “because you (preferred) to listen to the voice of your wife, etc.;” instead of to My voice. She had revealed the secret to you that the serpent had revealed to her, you cannot claim to have been ignorant, and that is why you have to be punished.

תאכלנה, a reference to the harvest. We have similar constructions, where at first glance one might think that the text refers to eating what is inedible. Adam was not meant to eat אדמה, soil, anymore that the people who sat at King Solomon’s table were meant to eat the table. (Kings I 2,7) באוכלי שולחנך, refers to the people mentioned in that verse, eating from the food served on the king’s table. We find more such examples, such as Isaiah 36,16,ואכלו איש גפנו ואיש תאנתו, where the reference is not to people consuming their vineyard and their fig tree, but the fruit of their vineyard and the fruit of their fig tree, although the prophet mentions only the source of that fruit. We have elaborated on this in our volume on Hebrew grammar מכלל in the first section of that book.

ארורה האדמה, “the soil has become cursed;” the earth had been guilty on its own account, as G-d had commanded it in Genesis 1,11: תדשא הארץ עץ פרי עושה פרי, “to produce edible trees bearing edible fruit;” however the earth had failed to produce edible trees (compare 1,12) The curse on the earth lasted only as long as Adam would live on it, i.e. כל ימי חייך, “as long as you are alive.” If you will make a careful count, you will find that from the day Adam died until Noach was born, no one had been born, and with Noach’s birth the original blessing returned to the earth. Noach’s father, Lemech, was aware of this, this is why he exclaimed at the birth of his son (Genesis,29) זה ינחמנו ממעשי ידינו ומעצבון ידינו מן האדמה אשר אררה ה'. “this one is destined to comfort us for the hard work we had to do and the disappointments we have experienced as the result of G-d having cursed the soil.”The Torah, after the deluge, testifies that Noach became an outstanding farmer, איש האדמה, who also planted a vineyard. (Genesis 9,20)

כל ימי חייך, as long as the human species will exist on earth.

בעבורך, not “on account of you,” but “relative to your harvest.” We find the word עבור meaning: “harvest,” in Joshua 5,11, where the Israelites are described as for the first time eating from the produce of the Holy Land (instead of manna). The Torah had told us that subsequent to the earth’s having been cursed it would (not exclusively) produce thorns and thistles although it had been sowed with perfectly good seeds. (3,18)

כל ימי חייך, “all the days of your life.” If you were to ask that if the earth only produced thorns and thistles how was Adam able to live on it for 930 years as testified by the Torah? (Genesis 5,5) Besides, had the Torah not warned him that he would die on the day he ate from the tree of knowledge? He was allowed to continue living for a while as part of his excuse had been perfectly logical, namely his argument that he had thought that G-d had given him a wife only for his benefit not as someone who would seduce him into sinning.