Commento su Genesi 3:16

עצבנך THY PAIN — viz., the trouble of rearing children (Eruvin 100b).

‘T’SHUKATHECH’ (AND THY DESIRE) SHALL BE TO THY HUSBAND, meaning for cohabitation. Yet you will not have the boldness to demand it by word, rather he shall rule over thee. It will all be from him and not from you. Thus are the words of Rashi. But this is not correct, for modesty is praiseworthy in a woman, just as the Rabbis have said:³⁹⁶Eruvin 100b. “This is a good quality in women.”
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said: “And thy desire shall be to thy husband, meaning your obedience.” This means you will obey whatever he commands you for you are under his authority to do his desire. However, I have found the expression t’shukah used only in connection with desire and lust.
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that He punished her that her desire for her husband be exceedingly great and that she should not be deterred by the pain of pregnancy and birth or that he keeps her as a maid-servant. Now it is not customary for a servant to desire to acquire a master over himself, rather his desire is to flee from him. Thus her punishment is measure for measure; she gave [the fruit of the tree of knowledge] also to her husband and he ate at her command, and He punished her that she should no longer command him, but instead he should command her entirely at his will.

He shall strike you on the head, and you shall strike him on the heel: Most of the commentators said that the evil impulse draws its strength from the primordial serpent; and that the evil impulse is comparable at first to the thread of a spider, but afterwards to the ropes of a wagon. That is why it is stated, "He shall strike you on the head": As if he is alacritous and goes out and fights against his evil impulse at the head - meaning, at first, immediately when it comes upon him - then [the man attacked] will "strike you." For a person can easily defeat and remove it from upon him, like one who removes the thread of a spider. However, if at the head of its words, he makes room for his impulse and goes after its advice one day after another, until it becomes strong like the ropes of a wagon - then it is difficult to defeat it. And it is just the opposite, it defeats you. That is why it is said to the serpent, "and you shall strike him on the heel." For the heel is the end. And what it wants with this is that if he wants to fight you (the evil impulse) at the end, then you will strike him and defeat him - since it will be difficult for a person to remove the ropes of a wagon from upon himself. As the evil impulse is already tied to him with ropes of love for pleasures. So it becomes 'difficult to separate one engaged in intercourse with this uncircumcised and impure one.' And it is also a metaphor for repentance: That a person who does it in his youth - that is at the head of the days of his [youth] - it is easy for him to change his path. However at the heel, at the end, when he has already become used to his actions, 'even when he will age, he will not veer from it,' and then "you will strike him." And this is also said about the stringent transgressions - idolatry, sexual immorality, murder and that which is similar to them: Your impulse cannot make you transgress them so easily. Who is foolish [enough] to veer there; who will listen to it for this thing, to transgress these central transgressions? Rather with the heel - meaning the light commandments that a person tramples with his heels - "you will strike him." For it will be easy for you to make him transgress these. As this is the way of the evil impulse, since it begins with the heel and goes and spreads to the head; like the poison of a snake, which begins in the heel and goes and spreads to the head. So too does the evil impulse begin with the easy commandments that people trample with their heel; and afterwards, one transgression drags along another transgression. So it rises from the light ones to the stringent ones, as it stated (Psalms 38:5), "For my iniquities have gone over my head." And this is a metaphor for the sins that are the head of all the sins. That is why it is stated (Lamentations 1:9), "Her uncleanness clings to her skirts; she gave no thought to her end." For the understanding person will pay attention to when the evil impulse comes to defile him in his skirts - meaning in the lowest place, like the heel. Then it will rise from there and spread, and his end will be bitter. For it will raise him from the light ones to the stringent ones. And the evil ones will not understand, however the intelligent ones will understand.