창세기 2:17의 Chasidut
וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכָלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת׃
선악을 알게 하는 나무의 실과는 먹지 말라 네가 먹는 날에는 정녕 죽으리라 하시니라
Likutei Halakhot
And this corresponds to Rosh Hashanah, to the blowing of the shofar, which is the aspect of arousal from sleep. As is brought in the Kabbalistic texts, Rosh Hashanah corresponds to sleep, and the shofar representes arousal from sleep, since, "The whole world was created in Tishri" (Rosh Hashanah 10b). This is the aspect of disorder, Tav-Shin-Resh-Kuf, and when disorder is aroused, you must submerge yourself completely in sleep, which corresponds to the sleep of night. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, and the essence of repentance is to repent from haughtiness, humbling oneself and truly sensing one's lowliness and unworthiness. As our Sages said, "One self-chastisement is greater than one hundred floggings" (Berachot 7a), and, "He forgives transgression for the remainder" (Micah 7:18) - "to the one who makes himself a remainder" (Rosh Hashanah 17b). Therefore the essence of repentance is humility and humbleness, for all sins arise from disorder, from separating the Malchut and possessing it with haughtiness. That is the source of all judgments, to which the evil inclination and the forces of evil are attached, from which all sins arise. The holy books speak about haughtiness being the cause of all sins, since, "Whoever is haughty is as if he worshiped idols" (Sotah 4b), and, "Whoever acknowledges idolatry is as if he denied the entire Torah" (Chullin 5a). We find, all sins come through haughtiness, G-d forbid, for haughtiness separates disorder from order, which is the cause of all sins. Therefore, the essence of repentance for all sins is humbleness, making yourself as dust to be tread upon, sensing your lowliness and distance from Hashem, lowering yourself and breaking your heart before Hashem. That is how G-d will forgive a person, as written, "G-d will not scorn a broken and oppressed heart" (Ps. 51:19), and "Who forgives transgression for a remainder" - "for one who makes himself as a remainder". This is because humility and humbleness, one makes himself as Mah, as nothing and naught. In this way, one returns to order, represented by Mah, through which all judgments, which correspond to sins, disappear. Therefore, on Rosh Hashanah, which is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, the first day of Adam's creation, we must "sleep" - we must completely submerge ourselves as if we have no knowledge at all, but only cry out to G-d and declare Him King, in complete sincerity, without sophistication. On Rosh Hashanah Adam and Eve were created, corresponding to order and disorder. It was their task to rectify all the worlds, representing disorder, into order, to bring 'Eve' into 'Adam'. Had they done that, everything would have been brought into order, without any suffering and judgments, which represent disorder. But they blemished with their sin, and in doing so, they separated disorder from order, for their main sin was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which was the essence of the Primordial Serpent's enticement, as written, "For G-d knows that on the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you shall be like G-d" (Gen. 3:5). As our Sages said, "It told them, 'Every craftsman hates his fellow craftsman - G-d ate from this tree and created all the worlds'" (Genesis Rabbah 19:4). In other words, he aroused jealousy in them and a desire to rule: 'you shall be like G-d' - 'creators of worlds', as if to say, 'Why should you subdue yourselves to Him? If you eat from the Tree of Knowledge, you will be a Gd and a King just like Him!' All this is the aspect of 'I shall rule', in that one desires to draw Malchut/Kingship to oneself, and then everything gets in disorder, for the person himself is in disorder. That is why all generations of mankind became destined to die, for they had blemished order, corresponding to wisdom, the source of all sustenance, as in, "Wisdom sustains life" (Kohelet 7:12), as in, "Mah is our life?". With their blemish, they separated themselves from order, from wisdom, from Mah, the main source of sustenance, and death as opposed to life was the inevitable result. Their blemish also caused everything to become disordered, represented by all the blemishes and decrees that were a result of their sin, as written, "With toil you shall eat of it...thorn and thistle will grow for you" (Gen. 3:17-18), upon which Rashi comments, "When you plant wheat, the earth will give forth thorn and thistle". All this corresponds to the disorder they caused with their sin, which was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which caused all things to become disordered, since they had evoked disorder upon themselves with their sin. Not only did they not rectify, elevate and refine the world of the judgments that are attached to disorder, bringing everything into order, which is what they were supposed to do on the day they were created - for elevating the entire world to its source, merging disorder into order, was the very purpose for which Adam and Eve were created - but they caused great damage with their sin. The serpent first entices Eve, since she represents disorder, from which the forces of evil derive their power. The rectification should have been by merging disorder into order, by Eve being subservient to Adam, but the serpent overpowered Eve, representing disorder, enticing her to separate 'Eve' from 'Adam', disorder from order, so that Adam would follow Eve's will, so that disorder would rule over order. But they immediately repented and began rectifying everything, a rectification that would not be completed until the coming of the Messiah.
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Kedushat Levi
In the words of our author, the brilliance of the “sparks” which had not yet been sufficiently reduced in intensity for man, even an Adam, G’d’s personal handiwork, to be exposed to without being harmed by it, [absorbing it internally, Ed.] was the reason why G’d warned him on pain of death not to eat from it.
The author illustrates all this by means of a parable. A son had become estranged to his father, thereby losing the path he had walked and getting lost in all kinds of dead end alleys which he found difficult to get out of. When, in spite of these detours, he eventually found his way back to his father’s home, the joy of his having returned pleased the father immeasurably more than the satisfaction an obedient son who had never left the parental home in the first place could have afforded him.
When considering the relationship between the tree of knowledge and its roots in the celestial spheres, the words of warning issued by G’d, i.e. “on the day when you will eat from it you will die,” will become clearer. The tree of knowledge will remain alluring to its beholders as long as what they see reflects the thinly veiled brilliance of its celestial origin. Only after man violated G’d’s commandment did it cease to be such and assume more earthly proportions so that being exposed to it any further will spell eventual death as man had contaminated it. [“Death” may be perceived as the ultimate contraction of Divine glory on earth, G’d having veiled His spiritually illuminating light with so many veils that none of them reach man, and therefore cannot “revive” his spiritual resources. Ed.]
The good deeds performed by the righteous reverse this entire process and, ultimately, when brought to its successful conclusion, will enable a different world from the one we are familiar with to be revealed even on earth.
In the dialogue just described by the Torah, the first difficulty is the meaning of the word אף with which the serpent commences. Normally, we understand this word to mean: “although, in spite of,” or something to that effect. Why would the serpent begin the conversation by using this as an introductory word? Furthermore, why did the serpent “quote” G’d as having said פן תמותון, “lest you will die,” when in fact G’d had said [concerning a single tree Ed.] כי ביום אכלך ממנו תמות “for on the day you eat from it you will die.”(Genesis 2,17) G’d had made an absolute statement “you will die,” whereas the serpent changed the statement to a warning rather than a threat, i.e. “lest you may die,” describing death as a possible rather than as a definite result of eating from the tree.'
Prior to the sin, both Adam and Chavah did not appreciate the concepts of ascent and descent of “sparks” of the Shechinah, so that when they heard G’d mention the word “death,” they had understood it as a merely temporary condition, such as unconsciousness. They had not understood it as referring to the “death” of worlds, and that is why the serpent’s argument made sense to them, as they felt that the Creator would be contradicting all that He had created if He were to allow it to disintegrate so easily by a relatively insignificant action such as eating from the fruit of the tree.
When our sages in Chagigah 14 relate that four people “descended” into the pardess, (acronym for “peshat, drush, remez, sod) the four disciplines used to explore the depths of the Torah, and that only Rabbi Akiva, returned unscathed, they meant to warn us not to embark on such excursions as they might result in our death. Adam and Chavah entertained doubts about the exact meaning of the result of disobeying G’d’s prohibition and its consequences for anyone disregarding this command. These doubts made them potential victims of the serpent, who phrased the ”threat” in such a manner that Chavah thought there was logic to the serpent’s words, especially when by repeating: לא מות תמותון, the serpent claimed that no manner of “death” would result from her eating from the fruit of the tree. The serpent implied that creatures who are ranking as high in G’d’s hierarchy as Chavah and her husband, did not have any reason to fear “death.” The serpent implied that the unscreened “light” emanating from the Shechinah was not beyond their ability to digest without harm, on the contrary, they would gain additional wisdom, and become able to tolerate even more intense rays of Divine “light.”
The author illustrates all this by means of a parable. A son had become estranged to his father, thereby losing the path he had walked and getting lost in all kinds of dead end alleys which he found difficult to get out of. When, in spite of these detours, he eventually found his way back to his father’s home, the joy of his having returned pleased the father immeasurably more than the satisfaction an obedient son who had never left the parental home in the first place could have afforded him.
When considering the relationship between the tree of knowledge and its roots in the celestial spheres, the words of warning issued by G’d, i.e. “on the day when you will eat from it you will die,” will become clearer. The tree of knowledge will remain alluring to its beholders as long as what they see reflects the thinly veiled brilliance of its celestial origin. Only after man violated G’d’s commandment did it cease to be such and assume more earthly proportions so that being exposed to it any further will spell eventual death as man had contaminated it. [“Death” may be perceived as the ultimate contraction of Divine glory on earth, G’d having veiled His spiritually illuminating light with so many veils that none of them reach man, and therefore cannot “revive” his spiritual resources. Ed.]
The good deeds performed by the righteous reverse this entire process and, ultimately, when brought to its successful conclusion, will enable a different world from the one we are familiar with to be revealed even on earth.
In the dialogue just described by the Torah, the first difficulty is the meaning of the word אף with which the serpent commences. Normally, we understand this word to mean: “although, in spite of,” or something to that effect. Why would the serpent begin the conversation by using this as an introductory word? Furthermore, why did the serpent “quote” G’d as having said פן תמותון, “lest you will die,” when in fact G’d had said [concerning a single tree Ed.] כי ביום אכלך ממנו תמות “for on the day you eat from it you will die.”(Genesis 2,17) G’d had made an absolute statement “you will die,” whereas the serpent changed the statement to a warning rather than a threat, i.e. “lest you may die,” describing death as a possible rather than as a definite result of eating from the tree.'
Prior to the sin, both Adam and Chavah did not appreciate the concepts of ascent and descent of “sparks” of the Shechinah, so that when they heard G’d mention the word “death,” they had understood it as a merely temporary condition, such as unconsciousness. They had not understood it as referring to the “death” of worlds, and that is why the serpent’s argument made sense to them, as they felt that the Creator would be contradicting all that He had created if He were to allow it to disintegrate so easily by a relatively insignificant action such as eating from the fruit of the tree.
When our sages in Chagigah 14 relate that four people “descended” into the pardess, (acronym for “peshat, drush, remez, sod) the four disciplines used to explore the depths of the Torah, and that only Rabbi Akiva, returned unscathed, they meant to warn us not to embark on such excursions as they might result in our death. Adam and Chavah entertained doubts about the exact meaning of the result of disobeying G’d’s prohibition and its consequences for anyone disregarding this command. These doubts made them potential victims of the serpent, who phrased the ”threat” in such a manner that Chavah thought there was logic to the serpent’s words, especially when by repeating: לא מות תמותון, the serpent claimed that no manner of “death” would result from her eating from the fruit of the tree. The serpent implied that creatures who are ranking as high in G’d’s hierarchy as Chavah and her husband, did not have any reason to fear “death.” The serpent implied that the unscreened “light” emanating from the Shechinah was not beyond their ability to digest without harm, on the contrary, they would gain additional wisdom, and become able to tolerate even more intense rays of Divine “light.”
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