חסידות אויף בראשית 2:16

And through this one understands the holy reading in this parsha, 'and God commanded etc from every tree of the garden you shall eat, yea, eat, yet from the tree of good and evil you shall not eat from it, for on the day you eat from it you shall die, yea, die' (Genesis 2:16-17). There are many specific questions: (a) the doubling of the expression eat, eat; (b) the expression 'from it' is superfluous; (c) the doubling of 'die/die'; (d) what Rashi explained, and this is his language - "because she added to the commandment she ended diminishing it" (Rashi on Genesis 3:3) is difficult, since didn't she know that in truth Hashem had not ever forbidden to touch? Therefore no proof can be brought from touching to eating, because eating was truly the commandment.

And it appears to me that the root of the issue is this, that the Blessed Holy One of Blessing said "from all the trees of the garden you shall eat, yea, eat" (Genesis 2:16) - a hint to Torah, which is the tree of life, "eat" is an expression of hidden, the explanation is that this is learning for its own sake which is the root and the essence, as the Blessed Holy One of Blessing warned about, and at any instance, if you have not yet reached [the level of] Torah learning for its own sake, in any instance "you will eat", meaning, for your benefit [is] learning not for its own sake, and this is "you will eat": be present, and do not depart from My Torah. "And from the tree of good and bad you shall not eat from it" specifically, meaning, the physical things are in them - the mixture is also good, which are the holy sparks that are in every physical thing; "shall not eat from it", the explanation is that your intention should not be exclusively from the material and physical sides only, rather only from the spiritual side, in which the holy sparks are, from that you shall eat. "Because from the day you eat from it you shall surely die מות תמות" (Genesis 2:17) - mot tamut meaning, "die-mot" in the next world, the eternal life, and the expression "die - mot" is also hidden, a hint to the next world, the eternal life, [and] "die - tamut" in this world.

And likewise is it with Adam the first man. Behold, this tree from which the Holy One, blessed be He, forbade him to eat on that very day — it was not because evil was mixed into its essence. God forbid, it was not like that. And that is why the Targum (Onkelos on Genesis 2:17) explained, "those who eat the fruit attain wisdom [to distinguish] between good and evil." This means one acquires wisdom in his essence to distinguish between good and evil by eating its fruits. And this knowledge is a big danger, as was stated; perhaps he cannot stay with the good, God forbid. But when he did not know [the difference] at all, behold what did the Holy One, blessed be He, gain with his creation, that he should choose the good and despise the evil if he does not know good from evil? Hence [what is correct is that] the Holy One, blessed be He, warned him not to eat from this tree before the arrival of the Shabbat day. And on that day, He commanded him, saying, From all the trees of the garden you shall surely eat (Genesis 2:16), that he should only eat from the other trees (and as we explain well later on in the section, "And He commanded, etc.," and on the verse, And the eyes of the two of them were opened [Genesis 3:7]. See there carefully.) As through this, he would perfect himself with the holiness of his Creator, since they are the plantings of the Lord [alluding to Numbers 24:6). And there was certain much holiness in them and the Torah praised them as pleasing to the sight and good for food (Genesis 2:9). And that is a byname for the goodness of the light of God and His holiness that flows into them. And especially since the Tree of Life was there, the holiness of which is well known concerning its stature. And with this joining together with the holy Shabbat day, the holiness infused in him would allow man to connect himself with His holiness and bind himself up with the Life of all the Worlds. And it would then be permitted to eat from this tree, and he would certainly then know to separate the evil from the good and the chaff from the food and despise the evil and choose the good, and his impulse would not draw him to cling to the evil, God forbid. However, Adam the first man ate the fig before it was ripe, before its time, as he did not wait for the Shabbat. So he attained the knowledge [to distinguish] between good and evil, but he did not have the power of holiness strongly and firmly rooted in him [yet]. And hence he believed [he could succeed], and did what he did. And we will not mention [these things] about the work of the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He; you can find them in their places among the statements of the sages, may their memory be blessed. It follows that the blessings were not drawn to the canopied dwelling, to the home of the house of our God, but descended into the husks and the evil. And through this, evil was mixed in with good and all of the words were blemished as a result, as is well known. But let us return to the main aspect of the tree of knowledge, that is, its amazing stature due to the essence of the intention of the creation, which is to choose the good and to bring down through it all of the blessings specifically for the good. And all of this is praise of the garden. And [R. Alshekh] wondrously continued with the praises of the garden saying, behold...