ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף ירמיהו 3:1

A moral/ethical approach would read together the words לאמור זה הדבר; this would reflect a teaching by Bamidbar Rabbah 22,1 where we are exhorted to be very circumspect with keeping vows and oaths. King Yannai owned two thousand asses and they all perished on account of a true oath [but an unnecessary one. Ed.] The example quoted in the Midrash has someone swear to his friend that he would consume a certain amount of food and drink in a certain place. Both parties went to that place and the one who had sworn the oath consumed the requisite amount of food and drink. A short while later all his asses perished. The moral lesson to be derived from this is that if G'd is so particular about a true but needless oath which a person swears, how much more particular will He be if someone perjures himself! In our paragraph the Torah goes on record that there are certain vows and oaths that G'd commands people to swear, i.e. לאמור זה הדבר, "to utter this word." לבני ישראל לאמור. According to Sanhedrin 56 the word לאמור is a reference to גלוי עריות, unchaste behaviour, illicit sex. [based on Jeremiah 3,1: לאמור הן ישלח איש את אשתו והלכה מאתו והיתה לאיש אחר, הישוב אליה עוד? הלא חנוף תחנף הארץ ההיא. "To say: 'if a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, can he ever go back to her? Would not such a land be defiled?'" The unusual position of the word לאמור at the beginning of this verse leads to interpreting it as a "verbal under-taking" such as in marriage Ed.] In verse three the Torah uses the word איש to hint that "a man" who is able to control his carnal urges should employ the legislation of making vows to help him resist the evil urge to sleep with people forbidden to him. In other words, the vow entered into by a Nazirite who wants to reinforce his resolution to resist sexual temptation, is acceptable to G'd. We have a number of Midrashim discussing situations when Biblical personalities needed to reinforce their resolution to resist such temptation. (Ruth 3,13, Vayikra Rabbah 23,11, Psalms 119,106 "I have sworn an oath to keep Your just rules.")

And I heard from the crown of my head, the rabbi, my father and teacher, may his memory be a blessing for life in the world to come, that he explained it according to the disagreement between Rav and Rabbi Yochanan in Nedarim 59: As one master holds that living animals are [permanently] rejected (from being fit for a sacrifice) and one master holds living animals are not [permanently] rejected. And because of that, when [Hoshea] told him, “Israel has sinned,” he held that living animals are [permanently] rejected. And ‘anything that was [first] fit and [afterward] rejected does not return to being fit.’ And likewise, [since] the Jewish people were fit and rejected, they cannot go back to being fit. And it is for this reason that he said (Pesachim 87a), “Exchange them for another nation.” For that which we learned (Yoma 86b), “Great is repentance, etc., as it is written (Jeremiah 3:1), ‘you have committed adultery with lovers, etc.” – Hoshea was before that. So he reasoned that it was true that living animals that were rejected and became fit and were rejected could not become fit again. The Holy One, blessed be He said, “What can I do for this elder?” The intention [of this] is in the way of, ‘the Elder has already decided,’ and he thought that this was the law. Hence He had to arouse him from a different angle. So at the end, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him that he should learn from Moshe. The intention is to say to him that the opinion of our teacher Moshe was becaise Tzipporah was the daughter of Yitro, and her conception and birth were not in holiness (as a Jew), and she was not pedigreed. On account of that, when the Divine Presence spoke with him, he separated from the woman, meaning the one that was known. And if our teacher Moshe did like this with Tzipporah the completely righteous woman – even though Moshe was very high, the master of [all] the prophets – he should have nevertheless learned to separate from the harlot. For living animals that were [first] fit and [afterward] rejected do not return to being fit. And likewise this one [that Hoshea married], had been fit, but then rejected with her harlotry. But Hoshea answered Him, “I have children from her.” Meaning to say, this one went back to being fit by Your word, since You commanded me to marry her. And if you want to say that he should have separated since she was a harlot in the same way that our teacher Moshe separated from Tzipporah since she was pedigreed – whereas there was no proof from the other prophets, since their wives were pedigreed, and even though the level of Moshe was greater – there is nevertheless a big difference between this one and Tzipporah. That is why he said, “I cannot release her”; meaning to say, to separate from her like Moshe, since Tzipporah was a righteous woman and this one is a harlot. “And I cannot divorce her,” since I have children from her. And his intention is that he was now in doubt. As living animals are not [permanently] rejected, since he saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not exchange Israel for another nation. So how could he divorce her? As he would violate a prohibition, ‘for He detests divorce.’ So the Lord said, “But what is your wife? A harlot, as she never came back and became fit. But that which I commanded you was to rebuke you for your opinion, since you did not delve into the law, but you immediately said, ‘Exchange them!’ And that which you became in doubt when you saw that I did not exchange them, you should have doubted it earlier when [you] said, ‘Israel has sinned.’ And [even] if the law is that living animals are rejected, what is the question here? Moreover, they are My children, the children of My tested ones, holy seed, the shoot of My planting, the root will not lie. And they are able to repent.” They are not rejected, even according to the opinion that reasons living animals are rejected, like the Tosafot wrote there concerning that which is lacking time in itself or in its owners, see there. This is the essence of the words of the crown of my head, my father and teacher, may his memory be for a blessing for life in the world to come.

ויצו ה' אלוקים, the commandment mentioned here may either apply only to the specific fruit Adam was not to eat, or it is a dual commandment, the positive commandment being to eat the other fruit in order to keep healthy, and to shun the fruit of the tree of knowledge precisely for the same reason, as it would prove extremely harmful. G’d emphasised the importance of eating in order to keep alive and healthy by repeating and saying אכול תאכל, meaning: “be sure to eat!” Such repetitions are always used in the Torah when the Torah wants to underscore a point. A well known example is Deuteronomy 11,22 שמור תשמרון, where the Jewish people are warned insistently not to become guilty of violating the preceding commandments by ignoring them. A similar repetition is found a few verses earlier (11,13) when the performance is urged with the words שמוע תשמעו, “be sure to listen (and carry out).”
Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 15,6) claim that Adam had been commanded 6 commandments. This verse was written where it was to illustrate that chronologically, this was immediately after he had received these commandments.
They said furthermore that the word ויצו referred to the prohibition to commit idolatry. This word has again been used to describe such a prohibition in Hoseah 5,11 כי הואיל הלך אחרי צו. “because he followed the path of idolatry.” The word Hashem in that verse refers to the law prohibiting cursing G’d by invoking His name. (compare Leviticus 24,16) The word אלוקים in the same verse refers to the need to deal with offenders of the law by legal means (compare Exodus 22,27) The words על האדם in our verse refer to the prohibition to shed human blood, something spelled out in greater detail in Genesis 9,6. The word לאמור alludes to illicit sexual relations including incest. The prophet Jeremiah 3,1 refers to widespread non-observance of this legislation even among the Jewish people. The seventh law was spelled out in detail, i.e. not to eat flesh while the animal from which it stems is still alive. This law was not applicable before Noach had thanked G’d for his deliverance, as all flesh had been forbidden as food until that time.